If you run a business, you have probably been called by an energy broker. Possibly several. What is less clear from the outside is what a broker actually is, and what it does for you.
Here is a straight answer.
What an energy broker is
An energy broker is an intermediary between your business and the companies that supply energy. The broker compares suppliers on your behalf, obtains prices for your particular site, and handles the paperwork involved in agreeing a contract.
A broker does not generate your energy, does not supply it, and does not bill you for it. Your contract is with the supplier. The gas and electricity reaching your premises travel through the same national network whoever you contract with, so nothing physical changes and nothing is interrupted.
You may also see brokers called consultants or third party intermediaries. TPI is the term the industry and the regulator use.
Why business energy has no price list
You cannot look up business energy prices the way you can look up a home energy tariff, because they are not published. Suppliers price each business supply individually, against your meter numbers, your consumption history, your region, your contract length and your start date. Two identical-looking shops on the same street can be quoted different rates.
Those prices are short-lived too, often valid for hours rather than days, because suppliers price against a wholesale market that moves constantly.
That is why comparison websites work for home energy and not for business energy. There is nothing to list. Comparing the market properly means requesting live prices from many suppliers, for your specific supply, within the same short window.
What a broker does before you sign
Collects your details: a recent bill, your meter numbers (MPAN for electricity, MPRN for gas), your annual consumption and your contract end date.
Takes a Letter of Authority, which lets the broker request information and prices from suppliers on your behalf. It does not commit you to a contract.
Requests prices from multiple suppliers at once, so the offers are comparable rather than gathered piecemeal over a fortnight.
Checks the detail behind the headline rate, because contract length, standing charges, capacity and the start date all change what a deal actually costs you over its term.
What happens after you sign
Agreeing the contract is the visible part of the job. Most of the work comes afterwards, and it is the part businesses rarely think about until something goes wrong.
A switch has to complete. The incoming supplier registers your meter and the outgoing one issues a final bill, and transfers do get held up, most often over an outstanding balance or a contract the old supplier believes is still running. Someone has to notice and resolve it, or you simply stay where you were on the rate you were trying to leave.
Then there is the contract term. Estimated reads that never get corrected, a charge that appears from nowhere, a bill that does not match what you agreed. We take those up with the supplier directly, so they do not land on your desk.
Then there is the renewal. Contract end dates are easy to lose track of, and missing one rolls you onto out-of-contract rates, among the most expensive a supplier charges. We track the dates and come to you in good time, with the market checked, rather than leaving you to notice.
If you run several sites, all of it multiplies: different suppliers, different meters, different end dates. We manage them as a single portfolio with one point of contact.
Where Energy Observe fits
We have been an independent broker since 2009, we compare 20+ suppliers rather than a panel, and we are a member of the Energy Ombudsman scheme. We are based in South Yorkshire and we answer the phone, which our customers mention more often than anything else.
If it would help to talk it through, ring us on 01709 874506 or get a quote. You can also read how we handle business gas and electricity, or our step-by-step guide to switching business energy supplier.
