We’re helping SMEs take the heat out of energy bills

And a big part of this is VMS thinking of new initiatives that could help our 400-plus member firms save money.

One of these has been trying to find ways to reduce their ever-rising energy bills – and in fact businesses in Britain have been found to pay the most for these out of all developed countries across the world. What’s more, this April, firms in Moray Speyside will be among those facing rising National Insurance contributions, and after dealing with issues like Covid and Brexit.

VMS started working with Glasgow-based Eyebright Utilities, which is effectively a broker between energy firms and businesses, helping save the latter money. It comes as many SMEs say energy bills are continuing to cause them sleepless nights.

Eyebright reviews an organisation’s previous bills, and basically does a comparison and tries to get them the best energy deal.

One example among VMS members is the WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre on the Moray coast, which Eyebright helped save £5,000 a year on its energy bills. What’s more, The Grampian Hotel in Keith reduced its yearly gas bill by about a third, equivalent to a saving of more than £2,500, giving it longer-term budget certainty. We also had a self-catering property that saved £2,000, plus other small businesses who have saved about £800 to £3,000.

Altogether, it’s been about £20,000 worth of savings that we've done for businesses in the region, who are really happy with this – understandably! That’s obviously a fantastic saving, but we're trying to encourage more businesses to use it.

And any money they save can instead be invested in more staff, upgrading their services, or just keeping the lights on, which in turn all benefits the local area and the Scottish economy more broadly.

One of our members was even having their windows replaced to help make their property more energy efficient, so they can take the money they save on their energy bills via Eyebright to help pay for this, which will consequently lower their energy bills further – something that’s obviously especially helpful during the winter months, which have been especially cold this year.

It also comes as VMS in 2022/23 saw a 25 per cent jump in visitors to more than 877,000, which is 70,000 more than our previous best year, and contribution to the economy rise to £187 million from £146m. That’s a huge increase, and it was amazing to see, because it then just shows there's potential for growth.

Tourism is a really important sector for Moray, and has a major role to play in Scotland as a whole and its economy. VMS is now looking at more ways to help our members become even more efficient as a key part of this picture.

Gemma Cruickshank is the CEO of Visit Moray Speyside, the destination organisation for the Moray region of Scotland.