Compare business electricity prices in Wales

How do you compare business electricity prices across Wales?

Clearsight Energy compares business electricity prices for businesses across Wales across a wide panel of UK suppliers. Wales is part of the single Great Britain electricity market, so any licensed supplier can quote a Welsh meter, but it has two network operators: National Grid Electricity Distribution in the south, where MPANs begin with 21, and SP Energy Networks’ Manweb area in the north, where they begin with 13. You send us a recent bill, we price the meter like for like, you choose, and we handle the switch.

• Network operator. Two network operators, National Grid Electricity Distribution in South Wales and SP Energy Networks in North Wales.
• MPAN prefix. 21 in South Wales, 13 in North Wales.
• Switching time. Four to eight weeks, no interruption to supply.
• Contract types. Fixed, pass-through or flexible, one to five years.
• What is negotiable. Wholesale timing, supplier margin and standing charge. Network charges and taxes are not.

Wales is two electricity regions that happen to share a border with each other, and a business with sites in Cardiff and Wrexham will see two different network lines on otherwise identical bills. The south is the M4 corridor: Cardiff and Newport’s offices and hotels, Swansea and Port Talbot’s heavy industry, the Valleys’ manufacturing estates and the food and drink producers of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. The north is Deeside and Wrexham’s industrial estates, the tourism economy of Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey, and a great many farms, holiday lets and rural businesses on supplies that were never sized for what they do now.

This page covers what sets a Wales business electricity price, where Wales businesses most often overpay, how the local network works, and how we compare and switch. If you’d rather just send a bill, start here.

Why do Wales businesses pay more for electricity than they should?

Almost every Wales bill we review has at least one of these on it. None of them shows up as a line called “overpaying”. They show up as a unit rate that looks fine and an annual total that isn’t.

A rolled-over contract nobody renewed

Miss the termination window and most suppliers roll you onto out-of-contract or deemed rates. We see it most in hospitality in Cardiff, Swansea and along the north coast, and in seasonal businesses where the renewal letter arrives in the quiet months and nobody is there to read it.

Capacity agreed for a previous occupier

Industrial units in the Valleys, at Deeside and Wrexham and around Port Talbot and Swansea carry the authorised supply capacity agreed for what they used to do. If you’re on a half-hourly meter you pay for that capacity every month whether you draw it or not, and reducing it is a request to the network operator rather than the supplier.

Rural supplies at their limit

A farm diversifying into a shop or holiday lets, a village pub adding a kitchen, a caravan park adding hook-ups. Rural Welsh supplies are often single-phase or small three-phase, and adding load runs into the limit of the network. That’s a network operator conversation with its own lead time, and no supplier can shortcut it.

Comparing unit rates instead of the annual bill

Standing charges vary widely between suppliers for the same meter. The quote with the lowest unit rate is often not the cheapest year, and it’s the annual total we compare.

VAT and Climate Change Levy relief never claimed

Charities, chapels, community buildings, village halls, sports clubs and very low users can pay 5% VAT and be exempt from CCL, but only with a declaration. Wales has thousands of them, and most are on 20%.

Where does a Wales business electricity bill actually go?

A Wales business electricity bill is wholesale energy, the supplier’s margin and standing charge, network charges set by the local network operator, and taxes. The first three are negotiable. The network charges and the taxes are not, whichever supplier you choose. Here’s how that breaks down.

Who runs the electricity network across Wales?

Wales has two electricity network operators. National Grid Electricity Distribution runs the wires across South Wales, from Cardiff, Newport and Swansea through the Valleys to Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, where MPANs begin with 21, and SP Energy Networks’ Manweb licence runs North Wales, from Wrexham and Flintshire to Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey, where MPANs begin with 13. National Grid Electricity Distribution’s South Wales licence, which was Western Power Distribution until 2022, covers Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Bridgend, the Valleys, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. SP Energy Networks’ Manweb licence, the old Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board area, covers Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy, Gwynedd, Anglesey and most of Powys, and continues east across Cheshire and Merseyside. The line between them runs roughly through mid-Wales, and a business in Aberystwyth is on National Grid while one in Machynlleth is on SP Energy Networks.

South Wales network charges sit in the middle of the national range; the Manweb area is similar, a little lower on some tariffs. On a small supply that’s inside the unit rate. On a half-hourly supply it shows as separate lines. The live issue across Wales is capacity for new connections, particularly in rural areas and around the industrial regeneration at Port Talbot, Deeside and Anglesey, where new load and new generation are competing for the same substations. If you’re planning a fit-out that adds load, start the network conversation before the lease.

Confirm it from your bill. The first two digits of your MPAN are the distributor ID. For Wales that’s 21 in South Wales, 13 in North Wales. The network recovers its costs through DUoS charges collected by whichever supplier you use, and you can’t switch away from it. What you can switch is the supplier.

How does switching business electricity supplier work across Wales?

Any business across Wales can switch electricity supplier, the switch is paperwork, it takes four to eight weeks and nothing at the site changes. Every licensed supplier can quote any GB meter, so your region doesn’t limit who will price you, only the network element they all pass through. We compare quotes from a range of licensed UK suppliers, and you can see who we work with on our suppliers page. Here’s how a comparison runs from start to finish.

Which businesses across Wales do we work with?

We work with businesses across the whole of Wales: Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Bridgend, Barry, Pontypridd, Merthyr, Caerphilly and the Valleys, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Haverfordwest and Pembroke, Aberystwyth, Newtown and Brecon, and Wrexham, Deeside, Mold, Rhyl, Llandudno, Bangor, Caernarfon and Holyhead. Most of what we price in Wales is pubs, restaurants and hospitality, hotels, manufacturing and industrial sites, offices, retail and logistics and warehousing, with a steady run of farms and agriculture, schools and education, care homes, leisure and fitness and charities.

If you run several sites, across Wales or across regions, multi-site business energy explains how we handle an estate as one portfolio, and what an energy broker does covers how we work.

Should a Wales business take a fixed, pass-through or flexible electricity contract?

Most small and medium businesses across Wales are best served by a fixed price for one to three years, and larger half-hourly sites are the ones that should look at pass-through or flexible. A fixed contract buys certainty, at a premium, and you get no benefit if wholesale prices fall during the term. A pass-through contract fixes the energy and lets the network charges float, which suits a site with steady load and a finance team that can handle a variable line. Flexible procurement buys energy in tranches and is normally for larger half-hourly sites or multi-site groups.

Whatever you sign, write down the termination window. Most suppliers want notice in writing somewhere between 30 and 180 days before the end date. Miss it and you can be rolled onto out-of-contract rates, which is the single most expensive thing a busy business does with its electricity and entirely avoidable.

Why do Wales businesses use Clearsight Energy?

We’re an independent business energy broker based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, working with businesses across the UK. Since 2019 we’ve compared, switched and managed electricity, gas and water contracts for businesses from single-meter shops to multi-site estates.

• Independent. We compare across a wide panel of UK suppliers and we’re not tied to any of them.
• Like for like. Every quote on the same start date and term, with the annual total shown, not just the unit rate.
• The switch handled. Notice served, transfer managed, nothing physical changes at your site.
• Renewals watched. A reminder well before the next termination window, so the contract never rolls over.
• Rated Excellent on Trustpilot from 186 reviews, and you can read them.

Electricity is usually one of several meters. We also compare business gas across Wales and business water, and can review all three at once.

Guides and other locations

Nearby on the same or neighbouring networks:

All our business electricity locations:

Wales business electricity questions