The Suppliers We Tender Across
Not one price from one company. A genuine market tender.
Business Electricity Rates – Here is the thing almost nobody tells you about business electricity: less than half of your bill is the actual electricity. The rest is network charges, taxes and levies, most of it passed straight through, and it is where bills quietly go wrong.
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What Makes Up a Business Electricity Rate
Two visible parts, and a large third part most businesses never look at.Unit Rate (p/kWh)
What you pay per unit of electricity. On a half-hourly meter this splits into day, night and sometimes evening and weekend rates. It bundles the wholesale cost plus supplier margin.
Standing Charge (p/day)
A fixed daily charge for your connection and meter. Larger sites also pay availability or capacity charges based on their agreed kVA.
Non-Commodity Costs
The big one. Network charges (DUoS, TNUoS), balancing (BSUoS), and levies (Capacity Market, RO, CfD, FiT, CCL). Often 55 to 60 percent of the total bill.
Business Electricity Rates - Why Most of Your Bill Is Not the Electricity
This is the single most important thing to understand about business electricity.On a typical business electricity bill, the wholesale energy is only around 40 percent. The rest is non-commodity: the cost of the wires, the grid, balancing the system and government policy. These are the charges that:
> Rise every year regardless of your contract, often by more than the energy itself.
> Are passed through or fixed depending on your contract type, which changes who carries the risk when they move.
> Are frequently billed wrong. Wrong capacity band, wrong DUoS band, availability charges for capacity you do not use.
> Can often be reduced without changing supplier at all, by correcting your agreed capacity or shifting load off peak periods.
Read the full breakdown on our non-commodity costs guide. Getting these right is usually worth more than shaving the unit rate.
How to Work Out Your All-In Rate
The only number worth comparing, and the one suppliers do not lead with.Your all-in p/kWh is your total annual cost, including every non-commodity charge, divided by your annual usage. That is the number that makes two very different-looking quotes comparable.
> A low headline unit rate can hide a high standing charge, high capacity charges or a pass-through structure that exposes you to rising network costs.
> A fully fixed rate looks higher per unit but carries none of that risk. Which is right depends on your site and your appetite.
> Half-hourly data is the key. With HH data we can model your exact consumption profile and price it accurately, rather than working off an estimate.
This is exactly what our worked-up p/kWh analysis does. See compare business electricity or today’s wholesale prices.
How We Cut Your Electricity Costs
Three steps, and we do the hard part.1. Send Us a Bill
A recent bill and, ideally, your half-hourly data. That is everything we need to see your rate and your non-commodity charges.
2. We Analyse and Tender
We check every charge is right, correct your capacity if needed, then tender the market on an all-in basis.
3. You Choose, We Manage
You pick the option, we handle the switch, then we keep watching the bill for the life of the contract.
Business Electricity Rates FAQs
What is a good business electricity rate per kWh?
It depends on your consumption, region, meter type and contract length, and crucially on your non-commodity charges, which vary by site. Larger users pay less per unit. The reliable test is an all-in p/kWh comparison across suppliers using your half-hourly data.
Why is so much of my electricity bill not electricity?
Because roughly 55 to 60 percent of a business electricity bill is non-commodity: network charges for the wires and grid, balancing costs, and government levies. These are largely passed through and rise every year, which is why they are worth watching as closely as the unit rate.
What is the difference between fixed and pass-through electricity contracts?
On a fully fixed contract the supplier carries the risk of non-commodity charges rising during your term, and prices that risk in. On a pass-through contract you pay those charges as they change, so your unit rate looks lower but your bill can move. Which suits you depends on your site and your appetite for risk.
What are DUoS and TNUoS charges?
They are network charges. DUoS pays for the local distribution network that delivers power to your site, TNUoS pays for the high-voltage national transmission grid. Both sit within your non-commodity costs and both rise annually.
Can I reduce my electricity costs without switching supplier?
Often yes. Correcting an oversized agreed capacity (kVA), fixing a wrong DUoS band, or shifting load away from peak periods can all cut the bill without changing supplier. We check for these as part of a review.
Do business electricity rates include VAT and CCL?
Quoted rates usually exclude both. Business electricity carries the Climate Change Levy and 20 percent VAT as standard, unless you qualify for the reduced 5 percent rate.
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Helen · 13 June 2017
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Catalyst are honest in informing you whether the contract (electric in my case) is the most cost effective.
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