The hike in electricity prices last October would not have come as a shock to businesses if power suppliers communicated better and customers read their bills more closely.
That's the lesson from an enquiry by the Utility Regulator into a jump in electricity costs which left some companies facing bills up to forty per cent higher.
The cost of power rose dramatically when a big rebate came to an end last Autumn.
Instead of forewarning customers some suppliers waited until after prices went back up before letting them know about the tariff changes.
That said none of the businesses surveyed by the Utility Regulator had asked why they had been benefiting from a big drop in costs and how long the discount would last.
Most had been told by their suppliers the rebate would come to an end but only a few had built it into their budgeting.
That said the Regulator has some criticism over the way businesses were informed about the rise in charges.
He said : "The use of a line on an invoice to inform customers about changes in tariffs is not a particularly effective way to pass a message about prices to decision makers within a customer's
organisation."
Pressure group Northern Ireland Manufacturing, which represents over 400 businesses has made it clear it is unhappy with the report saying its conclusions were disappointing.
Chief Executive Bryan Gray said excessive energy costs would doubtless impair the ability of the Executive to attract energy intensive foreign investment to Northern Ireland.
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