Best Energy Suppliers for Small Businesses

We know that there’s never been a more worrying time for businesses when it comes to energy bills. The average unit price of electricity for small/medium businesses in the UK rose 86% between Q3 2020 and Q3 2022.

Prices increased steeply in 2021, and have only climbed higher since then. We know you want to find the best energy deal possible – and need crystal clear info to do so. When your contract ends, you should look to negotiate a better deal with your provider or switch to a new one.

So we’re here to guide you, with the results of our new research into the best energy suppliers for small businesses.

The six best small business energy suppliers:

Here’s an easy comparison chart that shows a summary of each company’s prices, support options, and green energy:

As a small business owner, nothing is more important to you than finding the best energy price possible. So we’ve kept that as our top consideration, and chosen our top energy companies based on their best offer of a fixed rate one-year contract.

If you want to find out more, simply click to read about how we’ve gathered our research.

What small businesses should look for in their energy providers:

Here are the features you should look out for when thinking about which energy company to go with:

✓ A competitive price

You’ll have to compare suppliers to see who’s willing to give your business the lowest overall bills. You should pay attention to which charges are included in your quotes, and which aren’t. For instance, will there be installation fees to switch provider? Remember VAT will be added onto the bill.

✓ Good customer reviews

You want a supplier you can rely on to be consistent, fair and honest. You want to be able to contact them easily if need be, and a good way to find out if you’ll be able to is to read customer reviews.

✓ Eco-friendliness

If you choose a renewable energy plan, you can sometimes avoid extra costs added onto your energy bills because of environmental taxes, such as the Climate Change Levy.

✓ Tariff choice

Most of the time, a longer contract with a fixed rate will end up being the cheapest. However a new startup might not be set on staying in their premises for long, so it would be better to choose a flexible tariff option. That means a contract you can leave at any time without exit fees.

1. ScottishPower

What’s ScottishPower customer service like?

ScottishPower has three out of six possible customer support channels available to business customers:

• Phone line (open Monday to Friday 9am until 5pm)
• Webchat (also available on its phone app)
• Email support

This is a decent offering, with more options than British Gas Lite, SSE, and EDF Energy. But it’s not as good as E.ON Next or Octopus Energy, who offer one and two more channels than ScottishPower, respectively.

With a Trustpilot score of 3.2/5, we reckon there’s some room for improvement with assisting business customers.

How green is ScottishPower?

ScottishPower doesn’t offer renewable backed energy as standard, so it’s a bit behind on the market trend towards greener energy supply. You’ll have to pay around £200 more per year for a tariff that supports renewable energy.

How does ScottishPower pricing compare to competitors?

ScottishPower provided the most lowest pricing for combined electricity and gas bills for a small business. It also gave us the cheapest gas tariff. For that reason, businesses seeking the best deal on business energy should look first to ScottishPower.

What kind of businesses should use ScottishPower?

If you use moderate amounts of electricity and gas, you’re likely to get a good deal with ScottishPower. If you run a café, nursery, dance studio, small school, religious premises, garden centre, gym or similar, then check out ScottishPower.

We wouldn’t recommend this as the top choice for restaurants, who would probably use more gas than the average small business. Restaurant owners should check out our guide to the best business energy suppliers instead.

2. British Gas

What’s British Gas Lite customer service like?

British Gas Lite customer service is, well, light. Very light, in fact. In order to benefit from the cheapest electricity prices on the market right now, you’ve got to sacrifice the ability to speak to a human assistant on the phone. Only premium plan customers get that kind of luxury. Instead, you get a webchat support channel.

Its customer service offering is as bad as EDF Energy, which are both worse than SSE Energy Solutions, Octopus Energy, E.ON Next and ScottishPower.

British Gas Lite gets 3/5 on Trustpilot, which would suggest some customers are less than enchanted with the limited support available.

How green is British Gas Lite?

British Gas Lite is green… if you’re willing to shell out for it. Another cost of cheaper electricity is reliance on fossil fuels, which obviously isn’t sustainable in the long-run. But we can understand choosing a less sustainable option when finances are particularly tight.

Of its regular tariffs, just 24% of British Gas’ fuel mix is sourced from renewables.

How does British Gas Lite pricing compare to competitors?

British Gas Lite provides the lowest overall business electricity pricing compared to rival energy companies. We understand that there aren’t any “cheap” electricity prices around at the moment, but for a small business, British Gas Lite might be the best you can do.

What kind of businesses should use British Gas Lite?

If you don’t use any gas at your business premises (either for cooking, heating, hot water, and so on), then British Gas Lite is the best option. Businesses best suited to British Gas Lite include: cinemas, night clubs, high street shops, IT centres, small garages, salons, print shops, photography studios, and certain offices for professional services (such as law and accounting).

3. Octopus Energy

What’s Octopus Energy customer service like?

It’s pretty fantastic, by all accounts. Here are all the customer support channels you’ll get access to with Octopus Energy:

• Phone support: 9am-5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-4pm Friday
• Email support (answered seven days a week)
• Sign language video chat

That’s not as many channels as E.ON Next (which has all of the above plus a Whatsapp service and online forum). However, Octopus Energy has the highest Trustpilot score of any energy company we’ve ever seen: 4.8/5. That’s better than E.ON, which scored 4.2/5.

How green is Octopus Energy?

It’s green ✅ Octopus Energy provides renewable backed energy to all of its customers, and won’t charge you extra. That makes it stand out compared with British Gas and ScottishPower, which both charge extra for a business energy tariff that funds renewable power.

How does Octopus Energy pricing compare to competitors?

If your small business prioritises green energy supply, then Octopus Energy will likely give you the best price on the market. At least, it did in our research. The combined electricity and gas bill quote from Octopus Energy 5% cheaper than the one we got from SSE Energy Solutions (another green business tariff).

That said, it’s not the cheapest overall on the market. If you go with Octopus and ignore its green credentials, you’re looking at the second most expensive provider of the Big Six. Octopus Energy is therefore pricier than British Gas Lite, ScottishPower, and EDF.

What kind of businesses should use Octopus Energy?

Sustainable, eco, green, vegan or earth-friendly businesses should choose Octopus Energy, as it’s the cheapest renewable business energy supplier on the market.

4. E.ON Next

What’s E.ON’s customer service like?

E.ON has the widest range of customer support options compared to all other Big Six providers. These are:

• Phone support: 9am-5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-4pm Friday, then an out-of-hours number
• Speech or hearing limited customers can use text relay
• Email support
• Sign language video support
• WhatsApp support (8am-10pm, seven days a week)
• Community discussion forum

It seems the above channels are run pretty well, given E.ON Next has a Trustpilot score of 4.2/5.

How green is E.ON Next?

E.ON is a market leader in supplying all of its customers electricity which funds renewable energy. It’s better than EDF Energy, ScottishPower and British Gas Lite, which all charge extra for green business tariffs. But it’s not the only one – SSE Energy Solutions provides all customers with green energy too, and it’s investing in much larger renewable energy projects such as wind turbine construction.

How does E.ON Next pricing compare to competitors?

It’s impossible for us to compare E.ON Next pricing to its Big Six rivals because we couldn’t get any fixed tariffs online. E.ON couldn’t provide any out of contract pricing either, stating: “Our rates can change daily and vary by area too”. But we noticed rivals like British Gas Lite and ScottishPower published their out of contract (also known as “deemed”) tariffs online. They include regional breakdowns too, showing it’s not impossible to do so.

We did get a variable tariff from E.ON. Next – which means it’s going to change throughout the year – but it was actually only mid-market value for money. Even the variable rate wasn’t as cheap as the fixed rates of British Gas Lite and ScottishPower. That indicates E.ON Next could be a slightly more expensive provider on the UK energy market today.

What kind of businesses should use E.ON Next?

Anyone who’s struggled with long waiting times to get through to human support from energy suppliers should consider switching to E.ON Next. Reason being there are just so many help channels that you’re likely to get answers to your electricity and gas supply questions faster than with other Big Six rivals.

Similarly, if you’re an inexperienced business leader and could do with more in-depth help, E.ON Next is also a good choice for you. Given its green energy tariffs, small organic shops, ethical fashion retailers, vegan manufacturers and eco campaign groups would be wise to consider E.ON Next too.

5. EDF Energy

What’s EDF Energy customer service like?

It’s not the strongest of Big Six suppliers. Like British Gas Lite, there’s just a webchat option and no phone line or email.

In other ways EDF Energy customer care is better than British Gas Lite though, as it scores 4.2/5 on Trustpilot which is far higher than the latter’s 3/5.

How green is EDF Energy?

Renewable energy backed tariffs don’t come as standard for business customers of EDF Energy. That’s the same as British Gas Lite and ScottishPower – only the quote we got from EDF Energy was higher than these two competitors.

You should be aware EDF Energy is a significant nuclear energy producer. Opinions differ about the security of nuclear as an energy source, so you should bear this in mind in case that’s an ethical concern relating to your business.

How does EDF Energy pricing compare to competitors?

EDF Energy’s fixed rate electricity price quote was the third cheapest of the Big Six – coming in at 3.4% more expensive than ScottishPower and 4% more than British Gas Lite.

We couldn’t get a gas and electricity tariff quote for our chosen Liverpudlian nursery owing to “ongoing energy market volatility”, EDF Energy’s website told us. That’s a bit concerning, and signals that it might be impossible to switch to EDF Energy for gas supply as a new customer.

What kind of businesses should use EDF Energy?

EDF Energy would suit a wide range of businesses including shops, bakeries, automobile repair and retail facilities, educational institutions, sports clubs, and public buildings. Whether or not you should choose EDF Energy depends on the individual quotes your small business gets.

6. SSE Energy Solutions

What’s SSE Energy Solutions customer service like?

It’s really bad. It’s the worst. With a frankly scary Trustpilot rating of 1.2/5, we wouldn’t trust SSE Energy Solutions to take our soup out the microwave, let alone sort out its customers’ concerns quickly.

There’s a phone line open Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 5pm, plus a webform for written contact.

How green is SSE Energy Solutions?

We’re pleased to say all business plans from SSE Energy Solutions include renewable electricity. SSE Group is one of the largest UK investors in wind energy projects. It’s green ✅

How does SSE Energy Solutions pricing compare to competitors?

We got the highest electricity and combined gas and electricity quotes from SSE Energy Solutions. That means the Liverpudlian nursery we looked at would pay more with SSE than British Gas Lite, ScottishPower, EDF or Energy Octopus.

What kind of businesses should use SSE Energy Solutions?

If you’re running an eco business and for some reason don’t want the cheapest energy price on the market, then you’re good to go with SSE. Hopefully you won’t need to make use of customer support.

Otherwise, we recommend business leaders avoid SSE Energy Solutions until the customer review scores start to improve.

The small business energy market

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: small businesses have a bad deal when it comes to business energy. Just take a look at the difference in rates, according to a government study:

Average business gas and electricity prices in the UK at the end of 2020. Information taken from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy’s quarterly energy prices report

While some of this is down to cost differences, a huge part of this problem is that small businesses tend to switch less frequently and are generally just less engaged with the market.

It makes sense, when you think about it. A very large business may have an employee dedicated to monitoring energy usage and negotiating bills. Plus, they have more bargaining power – their business is worth a lot more, after all. For smaller businesses, there is rarely a person dedicated to sorting out the utility bills. People tend to accept them for what they are, and give them little thought. This is, of course, a generalisation – but the imbalance that exists is certainly no coincidence.

So, just how much is this imbalance costing small businesses? Around £180 million a year in the UK alone, according to the CMA. They cite a lack of price transparency and high exit fees as the main culprits.

So how can your small business break this cycle, and get the best possible energy rate? Honestly, you’ve got to put some legwork in and compare deals from different suppliers. Then you can choose the energy company that’s offered you the fairest tariff.

We can make it a bit easier though, if you give us some contact details we’ll put you in touch with energy brokers to discuss your tariff options.

How did we conduct our research?

We conducted extensive research into the Big Six business energy suppliers, comparing each one based on:

• Pricing (the best fixed rate tariff quote sourced through the online tool on each provider’s website).
• Customer satisfaction (the average Trustpilot score).
• Customer support options (the number of channels you can use to access assistance from the supplier).
• Green energy (whether or not renewable energy investment comes as standard or costs extra).

We obtained quotes for a sample small business based on the following factors:

• A small nursery in Wavertree, Liverpool
• Standard electricity meter (not top-up)
• Annual electricity use: 20,000 kWh
• Annual gas use: 20,000 kWh

We chose the cheapest tariff which was:

• Obtained online, direct from the provider
• Discounted due to payment with direct debit
• Fixed for one year (with the exception of E.ON Next)
• Exclusive of VAT and Climate Change Levy
• Inclusive of Feed In Tariff charge
• Exclusive of government discount (which is added onto your bill automatically)

Next steps

Few things in this world are more certain than this: comparing energy providers will get you a better deal for your gas and electricity, no matter the size of your business. Thanks to the service we offer, it needn’t be the painstaking process it once was – just tell us a bit about your business and its energy needs by answering a few questions, and we’ll match you up with small business energy suppliers that can cater to your needs, and offer you the best rates. You’ll be contacted with tailored quotes that come directly from these suppliers, so you can compare the numbers and ask any questions you have.

And remember – there is no ‘one best supplier’ for everyone! Factors like location and usage have a big influence on which supplier will be able to offer you the best deal. That’s why it’s crucial to get quotes that are tailored to your business.