Large Business Energy
Energy contracts for larger businessesWhen your business uses a lot of energy, how you buy it is just as important as who you buy it from.
For most large businesses, we advise a fixed contract: one agreed price for the whole term, so you know exactly what you’ll pay and can budget with confidence. Our Energy Team will talk you through the options for your sites.
- Who counts as large: 50 or more employees, a large turnover or balance sheet, or high energy use.
- Fixed for certainty: a fixed price protects your budget from wholesale swings for the length of the contract.
- More than the unit rate: network and policy costs sit on top of the energy itself, and half-hourly data is the starting point for an accurate price.
- What we do: we compare prices from suitable suppliers for you, present the options that best suit your business, and our Energy Team is on hand to talk them through.
Does Your Business Count as Large?
Business energy customers are sorted by size, and the rules that apply to you change with it. You’re a large business if you have 50 or more employees, a turnover of over £6.5 million or a balance sheet of over £5 million, or if you use over 200,000 kWh of electricity or over 500,000 kWh of gas a year. Some suppliers go by business size and others by energy use when they decide which protections apply.
That’s a broad group. It covers manufacturers, hotel groups, hospitals, large offices, multi-academy trusts and retailers with dozens of branches. What they have in common is that a small change in price per kWh adds up to a large sum across a year, so the way you buy your energy deserves real attention.
Large businesses also sit outside some of the protections microbusinesses get. That’s one more reason we do the groundwork with you: you see a written selection of the most suitable options for you, and our Energy Team talks you through it, before you sign anything.
Why Do We Advise a Fixed Contract?
On a fixed-rate contract, your unit rates and standing charges are fixed for the length of the contract, so your cost per kWh doesn’t change with wholesale prices. You get a known price to budget against, your finance team gets a figure it can plan around, and nobody in your business has to watch the market.
Picture a manufacturer that uses electricity around the clock. On a fixed contract, it agrees a price once and knows its cost per kWh for the whole term, whatever happens to wholesale prices in the meantime.
You may also hear about flexible (or structured) contracts, where energy is bought in smaller portions over time. They leave your final price open to the market, and they need someone in your business to decide when to buy and sign off each purchase. If you’re weighing one up, talk to our Energy Team first and we’ll help you decide what’s right for your business.
How Do You Get the Best Fixed Price?
Timing is everything with a fixed price, because you lock in the price available on the day you sign. That’s why we always advise arranging your next contract as early as possible, normally 12 months before your renewal date. Starting early lets you take advantage of forward pricing, rather than taking the short-notice prices on offer in the last month or two.
What Else Are You Paying For?
The price of the energy itself is only part of what you pay. Every energy bill has to cover wholesale energy, network costs for building and improving the pipes and wires that transport energy, policy costs for government social and environmental schemes, and suppliers’ operating costs. That’s how the household energy price cap breaks down, and the same kinds of cost sit behind your business unit rate.
These are often called non-commodity costs, because they aren’t the energy (the commodity) itself, and for a larger site they can include maximum demand and kVA charges too.
With so many parts to a bill, it pays to have someone checking. We offer bill validation to all our customers: we check bills against the agreed contract rates and recorded consumption, and take up errors with the supplier, so you don’t have to.
Half-Hourly Data and MHHS
If your site has a half-hourly meter, its electricity use is recorded for every half hour of the day, and that data is the starting point for an accurate price. Where we can, we gather your meter details, usage and contract end dates before we ask suppliers for prices, because it gives you more accurate pricing and suppliers almost always need it for a quotation.
The rest of the market is catching up. Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement (MHHS) is one of the biggest changes to the electricity retail market, basing settlement on actual consumption for each half hour of the day. All suppliers had to be able to take on MPANs under the new arrangements by milestone M14, which the MHHS Programme says was delivered on time on 28 October 2026. Full transition, the end of meter migrations, is due on 7 May 2027. We keep track of it all for your sites, so you don’t have to.
How Black Sheep Utilities can help
As an independent business energy and water broker, we work with businesses of every size. For a large business, that means:
- A written comparison We compare prices for your business electricity and business gas from suitable suppliers and present a shortlist of the right options for your business.
- Renewals planned around you If you ask us to, we’ll plan the renewal around your board or finance committee dates.
- Every site in one place We manage multi-site energy accounts, keep every contract end date on record and can link related companies and billing entities.
- Clear terms We disclose our commission in full, in writing, before a contract is signed. Our Letter of Authority (LOA) lets us help you, not make decisions for you. Help with your contracts, bills and supplier queries: yes. Enter into a contract on your behalf: no. Some brokers ask for a “level 2” LOA that lets them sign contracts for you. Ours is a level 1 LOA, so only you can agree a contract.
Book an appointment with our Energy Team to talk through how you buy your energy, or call us on 01273 914000. You don’t have to do it alone.
Frequently asked questions
What is a large business for energy?
A large business is one with 50 or more employees, a turnover of over £6.5 million or a balance sheet of over £5 million, or one using over 200,000 kWh of electricity or over 500,000 kWh of gas a year. If that’s you, our Energy Team will talk you through how to buy.
What is flexible energy procurement?
It’s buying your energy in smaller portions over time rather than fixing one price for the whole contract, which leaves your final price open to the market. For most large businesses we advise a fixed contract instead, and our Energy Team will talk you through what suits your sites.
Is fixed or flexible energy better for a large business?
For most large businesses, we advise fixed. A fixed price gives you a known cost per kWh for the term, while flexible buying leaves your final price open to the market. Our Energy Team will talk it through with you and present the options that best suit your sites.
What are non-commodity costs?
They’re the parts of an energy bill that aren’t the energy itself, such as network costs for the pipes and wires and policy costs for government schemes.
What does MHHS mean for large businesses?
Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement bases electricity settlement on actual use in each half hour. Full transition is due on 7 May 2027, and we’ll keep an eye on it for your sites.
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For more information
01273 914000To talk about your business energy, phone us on the number above, or request a quote and one of our energy experts will call you at a time that suits you.