A specialist purchasing consortium based in York is warning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Yorkshire to prepare for significant increases in their utility costs.

Beacon Commercial, part of Beacon, the purchasing consortium in Clifton Moor for the independent hospitality industry, says SMEs could see rises of more than 30 per cent in utility charges at the next contract renewal with some seeing larger increases if they do not shop around for competitive deals.

In spite of five years since competition was allowed in the domestic utilities market, 19 million householders have switched services to save money, yet businesses have failed to follow their example even though there has been competition in the non-domestic market for much longer, said Paul Connelly, utilities and services buyer for Beacon.

Updated: 09:46 Thursday, August 26, 2004