npower Braces For England Vs Slovenia Power Surge

Released on: June 24, 2010, 4:36 am
Author: npower
Industry: Energy

npower is bracing itself for a huge surge in demand at 3pm on 23rd June, as thousands of businesses turn on TVs across the country to watch England take on Slovenia in the final crucial qualifying match in South Africa.

According to new research from npower, official supporter of the England 2018 FIFA World Cup Bid, 58% of businesses plan to let footie fans watch the big game, with over a third (39%) planning to screen the match at their places of work to boost morale.

Data from National Grid shows that England's last crucial match on a working day, against Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, created the second biggest TV pick-up of all time at 2,570MW, as the nation tuned into to see if England could beat the eventual winners.

To save energy while watching the game, npower is now urging businesses to turn off computers, copiers and other non-essential equipment to keep energy consumption to a minimum.

Office equipment is responsible for approximately 20% of energy use in most offices and half of this stems from PCs and monitors at a cost of £300 million per annum to businesses, according to the Carbon Trust. Switching equipment off for even just a few hours will stop energy waste and save money.

Kevin Peake, marketing director at npower, commented: "It is great that businesses are planning to get behind England and allow workers to tune in to the team's progress in South Africa. However, while energy consumption may not be the most obvious concern for bosses, just installing one extra appliance, such as a TV, and keeping it on for the duration of the working day, will have an impact.

"Our advice is that businesses should switch off computers, laptops, printers, photocopiers – basically anything that won't be used while England are playing - to encourage greater energy efficiency".

The research also showed that employees would appreciate their boss backing England, as they would work, on average, an extra 56 minutes to compensate for their boss allowing them to watch the match at work.

Kevin Peake concluded: "Clearly, bosses are aware that many employees would find some way to keep up-to-date with the game, so allowing them to watch it is a perfect excuse for some team bonding".

- ENDS-

Notes to Editors
npower conducted the research of 3000 UK workers during February 2010.

About npower:
npower is one of the top energy suppliers to the UK business market, serving over 238,000 small to medium sized enterprise sites and around 17,000 industrial and commercial customers, with over 100,000 sites

npower is dedicated to helping UK businesses use energy more efficiently and therefore spend less money on their bills. npower aims to have a positive impact on the communities it serves and reduce customers' carbon footprint whilst always improving its service to customers.

For major energy users, npower offers multi-utility management consultancy to enable organisations to improve efficiencies right across the procurement/consumption chain.

npower customers include BT, Wembley Stadium plc, AstraZeneca and Sainsbury's.

For media information, please call:
Greg Phillimore
Account Director
Public Relations
McCann Erickson
Communications House
Highlands Road
Shirley
West Midlands
B90 4WE
0121 713 3795
http://www.npower.com/

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