Business energy contract renewal

Our business energy contract expires next month, what should we do?

Get like-for-like quotes this week. A supplier can price a new contract to start the day the current one ends, so there is still time to choose rather than roll over. Pull the latest bill for the MPAN or MPRN, the annual consumption and the end date; check whether the contract needs written notice and serve it if so; then compare the renewal offer against other suppliers on the same start date and term, on annual cost. If the end date passes with nothing agreed you move to the supplier’s published out-of-contract rate, which you can leave at any time, so the only mistake is to wait.

For electricity, contract ending: what to do and when has the step-by-step; for gas, the gas version.

How do I read a business energy renewal letter?

Microbusinesses must receive a renewal notice around 60 days before the end date showing the current rates, the proposed rates, the annual consumption the supplier has used, and what happens if you do nothing. Treat it as the supplier’s opening offer to a customer it expects to keep, not as the only option. Check the end date matches your records, check the consumption figure against real usage, and look at the standing charge as closely as the unit rate, because that is where most recent cost increases have landed. Then put the same supplier in competition with the others on the same start date and term.

How do you negotiate better rates on a business energy renewal?

• Bring real data. Twelve months of actual consumption, by month, and the meter type. A price built on an estimate is usually wrong in the supplier’s favour.
• Compete it. The renewal price improves far more often when the incumbent knows other suppliers have priced the same meter on the same terms.
• Ask about the term. One, two and three-year prices sit at different points on the forward curve; ask for all three rather than the one the letter offers.
• Ask about the standing charge. Suppliers have more latitude on it than they volunteer.
• Fix the credit position. A clean payment history and direct debit can change the quote; a disputed invoice can block a switch.
• Don’t negotiate against a prediction. Nobody can say where wholesale prices go next, and a decision should rest on the annual cost and the certainty you need.

Why did our business energy costs jump so much this year?

Usually one of five things: a fixed contract ended and the account rolled onto out-of-contract or deemed rates; a new fixed contract was priced on a higher wholesale market than the old one; the standing charge rose with network charges, including the increase in transmission charges from April 2026; consumption changed and a tolerance clause was triggered; or a bill error, such as the wrong VAT rate, an estimated read or a missing Climate Change Levy exemption. The first is the most common and the most fixable. Invoice validation covers the errors; out-of-contract rates covers the rollover.

How do you renew business energy across multiple sites?

Line the end dates up. Sites with different end dates are priced on different days and different curves, so the first renewal is often used to co-terminate the estate: shorter contracts on some sites so that everything ends together next time, after which the whole portfolio can be priced as one on one day. Keep a register with every MPAN and MPRN, meter type, end date and consumption, and give the supplier the lot. Half-hourly and non-half-hourly meters are priced differently and may suit different suppliers, which is normal. Multi-site business energy explains how we run an estate as one portfolio.

Can someone handle our business energy renewal for us?

Yes. A broker takes the bill, prices the meters across the suppliers it works with on the same start date and term, shows you the annual cost of each option, serves any notice, handles the registration and keeps the calendar so the next renewal starts on your timetable rather than the supplier’s. We do this from the suppliers on our panel; we are paid by the supplier you choose through a commission included in the price and disclosed on the quote, and we say so when the renewal offer you already have is the one to take. How we are paid explains the model.

Renewal questions