Business gas for care homes

Care homes run flat-out 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Heating, hot water, kitchen and laundry all draw gas continuously. There’s no “out of hours” tariff that makes sense here. Standard small-business gas contracts don’t price that flat profile well. We compare suppliers across the open UK market with continuous-operation sites in mind.

The mechanics of switching gas are the same as for any commercial site. We cover them in our guide to switching business gas. But care-specific questions matter: how the contract treats resident-critical load, whether multi-home operators can consolidate gas across the group, and how to time renewals outside CQC inspection cycles.

Our wider business gas service covers the whole UK market. For care homes we also look at VAT and CCL treatment for charity-status operators, biomethane options for groups with net-zero commitments, and DM metering thresholds for larger homes with on-site laundry and kitchen.

Charity-status care homes and VAT

Care homes operated by registered charities qualify for the 5% VAT rate on the charitable proportion of gas supply plus 100% CCL relief on the same proportion. Commercial operators don’t qualify for those reliefs, but you may still get sector-relevant tariffs at higher annual volumes. The supplier needs the VAT declaration form to apply charity reliefs. We submit it alongside the contract so the lower rate kicks in from day one.

Multi-home operators and group renewals

If you run several care homes under one parent, consolidating gas onto a single supplier usually unlocks volume tiering. You also get unified billing and one renewal calendar to manage. We model consolidated against keeping each home on its own renewal so the FD or owner sees the saving before committing.

Heat pump transition and gas contract length

If the home is planning to move from gas heating to a heat pump, the gas contract length matters. A 36-month fixed signed today might run past the install date, leaving you paying a standing charge on a meter you’ve turned off. We model contract length against your transition plan so you’re not stranded. Where the transition is years away, a longer contract with locked-in rates makes sense.

How a care home gas switch works with us