Business Electricity Prices: Fixed & Flexible Contracts

Award Winning Business Energy Consultants, we provide a fully risk managed flexible electricity procurement service to large energy intensive users.  Or we can combine your business into an electricity portfolio product with other like-minded organisations that are looking to have the ability to spread energy purchasing decisions throughout the life of the contract. Thus, taking advantage of market conditions and helping lower costs and reduce your business electricity prices. For those seeking a more traditional fixed electricity price approach or a business electricity price no standing charge option we have a huge choice of suppliers and options for you.

We pride ourselves on quality, reliability and customer satisfaction and this is just a few reasons why:

> Confidence – Are you confident you’re getting the best deal from your business energy supplier? We are committed to offering the most commercially viable energy solution, however on the rare occasion, better prices are available by going direct to the supplier, we will be happy to explain the pros and cons of choosing this option.

> Comparison Service – Our business is comparing business electricity deals for you, saving you money and time.

> Comparing Offers – Offers are notoriously difficult to compare, as different suppliers bundle different elements together, which makes the precise factors very difficult to isolate. Potential suppliers can be asked to respond to a customer request by listing the various aspects of the prices and charges that are to be applied.

> Free Energy Management – All half hourly customers benefit from your own monthly energy reports and we provide a comprehensive diagnostic tool for analysing and manipulating your supply data.

> Personal Service – Talk to a Catalyst expert about cutting your business’s electricity bills today.

> Independent Advice – We are totally independent of any supplier and we will search through our comprehensive panel of suppliers to find the right solution for your business.

> Comprehensive Supplier Panel – We have supply agreements with every major energy business electricity supplier in the UK and we also have agreements with all of the independent suppliers who operate within certain market sectors.

Catalyst offers a comprehensive and independent electricity procurement service, offering a range of supplier quotes suitable to your business electricity requirements. Before helping you to select the most competitive and appropriate contract to meet your specific needs. You are under no obligation to accept our recommendations and are free to choose from another energy supplier in our detailed report. If you are happy with your quote, we will then complete all of the outstanding administrative tasks to ensure the smooth implementation of your new supply contracts for;

> 03 – Single Rate Supply meters and

> 04 – Day and Night Rate Supply meters

The transfer process will take approximately 6-8 weeks to complete and we will manage the transfer process on your behalf, and assist you in any queries that may arise during this transition period. We can also provide quotes on 05-08 Meters, Half Hourly Meters, and any Business Gas requirements that you may have at the same time. Then we have maximum demand meters where the MPAN profile is from an 05 to and 08, which is a monthly billed meter. The first two digits of a full MPAN reflect its profile type and on a maximum demand meters these range from 05 to 08 and generally, though not always, use less than 100 kWh in a half-hour period.

> 05 – Commercial Maximum Demand – Poor Load Factor (0-20% Load)

> 06 – Commercial Maximum Demand – Medium Load Factor (20-30% Load)

> 07 – Commercial Maximum Demand – Good Load Factor (30-40% Load)

> 08 – Commercial Maximum Demand – Excellent Load Factor (>40% Load)

The load factor refers to the percentage of the available capacity that the supply is importing through the meter. In addition to our standard commercial electricity procurement solutions, we can help with the organisation and preparation of all new electricity meters and new electricity connections.

Our business energy consultants can add significant value to any project requiring an interface with the electricity industry including; New Electricity Meter Connections, New Gas Meter Connections, Upgrades & Network Reinforcement and Temporary Builders Supplies.

We can offer as much or as little support as you require. Some clients engage us at the earliest possible stage of a development leaving us to initiate and co-ordinate every single aspect of the projects total utility energy needs.

On other occasions clients merely need a helping hand with perhaps initiating a new electricity meter installation on their new connection, or arranging the safe removal of live services prior to a building’s demolition.

No matter the size of your business or your product requirement, we can offer a range of products from all suppliers based on your exact business electricity requirements.

If you are looking for our small business electricity prices and want to compare electricity prices for small business online then click here to compare gas and electric unit prices instantly.

With a half hourly electricity supply you have a huge choice on the type of contract that will best suit your exact requirements and our team of consultants will offer practice advice and recommendations based on what they think will work best for your consumption and needs.

For a basic example, it is currently possible to ask for a ‘pass through’ contract or an all-in contract.

> Pass Through – With a pass through contract the pure energy price is set down and it is agreed that all other distribution charges are passed through directly. This can be particularly beneficial when a customer wishes to compare a suppliers raw energy prices for half hourly electricity contracts.

> All Inclusive – Some suppliers will offer ‘all-in’ pricing with an all-inclusive energy contract where the supplier has to take a view on the likely level of these extra charges throughout the length of the contract.

> Standard – The vast majority of half hourly electricity contracts are all inclusive contracts as they are convenient and simple, and offer a single price for electricity, and so expenditure and budgets are relatively easy to work out.

However, the ‘convenience’ element will inevitably have a cost. In general, because of the reduced risk to the supplier, pass-through contracts are likely to result in slightly keener prices.

You may also have an appetite for more risk and be willing to look at the possibility of a fully flexible contract which can deliver significant business benefits.

Generally speaking as a rule of thumb the closer that you can get to next day delivery purchasing then the lower the prices will be.

However the same can be said for the level of risk involved as you are beholden to the market price at that point of entry, so if events have caused a sudden and rapid increase in prices then you have no other choice but to purchase energy at this going rate.

Also as a rule of thumb the larger your energy consumption portfolio the more choice of these types of products becomes available to you. With the ability to dip in and out of the market and select block of energy for forward delivery.

Because of the complexity of these types of contract we encourage an on going relationship for all of our half hourly customers.

This is achieved through your dedicated Account Manager who will manage and guide your account through the various stages of the contract life cycle.

This ensures a smooth journey and a great customer experience, as we work to ensure that you get the best value for money with our solution at all times.

We will also provide you with our monthly market report to keep you updated with the latest price changes, or regulatory requirements that could affect your business costs. When appropriate we will also suggest an opportunity to secure future energy contracts inline with the wholesale energy market.

All energy suppliers are required to collect this data in order to bill you accurately and they must provide access to this data.

In addition to our monthly market report all half hourly meters along with the half hourly data provides a great source of information for improved on site energy management.

But be warned just because suppliers have to give you access to your own meter data, it doesn’t mean they should let you have it for free, with many suppliers charging an annual fee to access this information.

We provide all of our half hourly customers with free access to this data in the form of a personalised consumption report for your business, which will help identify potential energy savings on site and even provide your very own carbon consumption report based on your actual energy usage.

All half hourly customers benefit from your own monthly energy reports and we provide a comprehensive diagnostic tool for analysing and manipulating your supply data.

> Investigate in more detail when and how energy is used.

> Identify and monitor exceptional usage patterns.

> Benchmark energy consumption between buildings or processes.

> Identify potential control setting problems & energy cost penalty. Improve forecasting & setting of energy budgets.

> Increase visibility gives greater incentive to reduce & control costs.

> Improve data for future procurement contract renewals and tariff optimisation.

> Evaluate the effectiveness of cost reduction measures.

> Measure your business carbon footprint.

> Half Hourly Electricity Requirements & Future Pricing

If you are a large commercial customer on a half hourly meter you must have a contract based on readings taken each half hour period during the day. These are known as half-hourly metered contracts and the price of electricity will vary depending in part of the national demand for power at particular times in the day and seasons of the year.

These prices for each month fluctuate throughout each day as energy contracts are traded ready for future onward delivery in some long term cases suppliers and energy traders are exchanging long term contract out to 5, 10 or even 15 years in some cases.

Fixed energy contract prices are made up of the monthly delivery cost over the life of a contract, for example if your contract was due to start in January and you wanted a 12-month fixed price agreement with a supplier, they would calculate the price for each month at the current market rate, and then average these out over the 12-month period.

Suppliers then need to include additional costs for the delivery and distribution of the energy to your premises, the cost to serve your account, and of course the supplier’s margin.

Only the delivery cost element is regulated by the industry regulator Ofgem, and although the costs do change periodically the supplier will allow for these changes in any contract that they provide.

Our role as an energy broker is to determine what influencing factors are effecting these short term and long term energy prices, and this could be anything, for example weather, economic factors, micro economics and even future government polices.

We use this information to assess the constantly fluctuating monthly future delivery cost of energy to determine a suitable time to obtain offers, and over what time scale to achieve the most optimum result for our customers.

In simple terms, if long term prices were lower than short term prices, it may be advantageous to select a longer term contract as this would lower the average cost over the length of your contract.

The delivery element of the contract is fixed and regulated so each supplier will simply pass the same charges through to their customers each time. We can however target the cost to serve and the supplier’s margin element of your contract though as our management of your account removes this costly element from the supplier.

We also have a very close working relationship with all of our suppliers, so we are familiar with working this to our advantage to achieve the best result for your contract and your business requirements.

It is also possible to take advantage of these monthly fluctuating half hourly electricity costs by opting to look at alternative methods for purchasing your energy. These include a range of flexible solutions that allow you to set the fixed parts of the contract and purchase the energy element separately as you require it.

These types of half hourly electricity contracts remove the price certainty that a fixed contract provides, but they can be very effective dependent on your company’s appetite for risk. You are able to purchase blocks of energy over several different periods ranging from 6-monthly, quarterly and monthly or in extreme cases even for next day delivery.

To ensure compliance customers must have appropriate metering (Code 5 or above) for a half hourly supply, which are operated and maintained by an approved Meter Operator (or MOP), under a MOP contract.

The data from these meters must also be collected by an approved Data Collector sometimes abbreviated as a DC. A full list of the current and approved meter operators and data collectors is available from the industry regulator, Ofgem.