Energy Bills Are Rising (Again): Why We Don’t Rely on the Grid

The news dropped last week, and it makes for grim reading. Despite wholesale gas prices falling across Europe, energy bills in the UK are rising again in January.

According to reports in The Telegraph today, the energy price cap is ticking up to £1,758. But the real headline isn't the price hike—it’s the reason for it. Wholesale energy costs are dropping, yet bills are rising due to "non-wholesale costs"—network charges, green levies, and funding for infrastructure like Sizewell C.

Analysts are warning this is "likely to be an enduring trend." In fact, non-wholesale charges now account for more than 60% of the total energy bill.

At Just Paper Tubes, we saw this coming. It begs the question: Why wouldn’t you invest in solar?

We Didn't Wait for the Grid to Fix Itself

For the last 12 years, while others were hoping for energy prices to stabilise, we were busy putting panels on our roofs.

To date, we have installed just under 300kW of solar capacity across our facilities. We haven't just dabbled in renewables; we have aggressively covered our factory roof space to generate our own power.

Why? Because when you manufacture energy-intensive products like industrial cores and heavy-duty carpet tubes, you cannot afford to be at the mercy of a grid where 60% of the cost is levies and taxes.

Closing the Loop with Battery Storage

We didn't stop at the panels. As mentioned in our recent case study, we have now integrated a liquid-cooled Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).

Image courtesy of Sungrow

The news today confirms that "network charges" are driving bills up. By storing our own solar energy, we don't just generate power; we control when we use it. We can run our winding machines and drying ovens using our own stored sunshine, bypassing the grid during peak charge times.

What This Means for Your Tube Prices

You might be wondering, "Good for JPT, but how does this help me?"

Simple: Stability.

If our competitors are relying 100% on the grid, their overheads are about to jump in January, and potentially again in April. That cost has to go somewhere—usually onto the price of your tape cores, label cores, or high performance film cores.

Because we generate a massive portion of our own energy:

1. We are insulated from the volatility of network charges and government levies.

2. We can hold our prices steady when the market goes crazy.

3. We offer security of supply.

Image courtesy of Sungrow

The Bottom Line

We are producing 50 million cores a year. Whether you need precision label cores or rugged industrial cores, you need a supplier that is financially stable and investing in the future.

The experts say rising bills are an "enduring trend." At Just Paper Tubes, we decided a long time ago that we weren't going to pay for that trend.

Why wouldn't you invest in solar? We certainly did.

📢 Something Big is Coming...

As the country prepares for the Chancellor's statement, we are preparing a statement of our own. The energy market is changing, and so are we.

Find out more at 7am on the 26th of November (Budget Day!).