Business electricity rates

The UK non-domestic average is 24.14p per kWh including the Climate Change Levy, for Q1 2026 (DESNZ, published 30 June 2026). That is down 6.2% on the year. Small premises pay well above it and large users below it. Your own rate turns on consumption, region and signing date.

Business electricity rates by usage, August 2026

Correct as of August 2026, excluding VAT. Each range is the spread across three published broker panel averages: Bionic (1 to 10 August 2026), Love Energy Savings and businesselectricityprices.org.uk (August 2026 figures only). The top row is single-sourced. How we check and date every figure is in our pricing methodology.

Read the standing charge column before the unit rate. Panels published in the same month disagree by 137p a day in the 25,000 to 55,000 band. The daily charge follows your site, your voltage and the capacity reserved for you. None of that fits a national average, so anyone printing a single number there is guessing.

One thing about every rate table online, this one included. Panel averages carry broker commission inside them, and one of the panels above says so in its own notes. We charge 1.5p per kWh, gas and electricity, every contract length. It is printed on your quote before you sign.

What makes up the rate

Wholesale

The cost of buying the electricity. Ofgem puts wholesale at roughly 40% of a business electricity bill (Ofgem, 31 March 2026). It is the part that moves, which is why a rate quoted in March and the same supplier's rate in August are different numbers.

Network costs

The cost of moving electricity to your meter, set by your regional network operator. Larger sites also pay a daily availability charge on reserved capacity, used or not, and a further charge if you exceed it (Yu Energy, checked August 2026). Distribution unit rates split into red, amber and green time bands, with the red band running 4pm to 7pm on weekdays.

Policy costs

Government decarbonisation schemes, plus the Climate Change Levy. That has been 0.801p on every kWh of electricity since 1 April 2026 (HMRC), a line households never see. Exemptions and Climate Change Agreement relief are in our Climate Change Levy guide.

Commercial electricity rates

Commercial electricity rates fall as consumption rises. DESNZ consumption bands put very small users, up to 20 MWh a year, at 36.11p per kWh including the levy. Extra large users above 150,000 MWh pay 21.13p, against a UK average of 23.99p (DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices tables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2, Q4 2025, reproduced by BusinessEnergyUK). Band data lags the headline by a quarter, which is why that gradient carries an older date than the figure at the top.

Region moves it again. One supplier's published out-of-contract rates span more than 10% between its cheapest and dearest distribution areas on otherwise identical terms (Crown Gas & Power, applicable from 1 May 2026).

If your site is settled half-hourly, none of the above prices you. Half-hourly settlement is compulsory above 100kW of demand in any half hour (Elexon, Measurement Class C). Those supplies carry capacity charges in pence per kVA per day on your agreed capacity, plus time-banded distribution rates. A postcode cannot price that. Ask for a callback and we price it from your consumption data. The mechanics are in our half-hourly meters guide.

Small business electricity prices

Small premises pay the most per unit. In Q1 2026 the smallest DESNZ band, under 20 MWh a year, sat at 35.0p per kWh. The all-business average was 24.1p (EnergyPlus, reproducing DESNZ tables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2, Q1 2026 provisional, published 30 June 2026). That is roughly 45% more for being small.

Most small premises sit in the first two rows above, up to 15,000 kWh a year. Unit rates are highest there and daily charges lowest, so your bill mostly follows what you use. At 2,500 kWh a year the standing charge alone still comes to about £172, around a sixth of the bill (our arithmetic, using the first row of the table).

A renewable business electricity contract is normally backed by REGO certificates. One is issued per megawatt hour of eligible renewable output, and suppliers use them for their mandatory fuel mix disclosure (Ofgem, checked August 2026). No published figure covers what that costs, so ask for renewable and standard prices side by side.

Out of contract vs contracted

Do nothing when a contract ends, and your supplier moves you onto an out-of-contract or deemed rate. Ofgem puts deemed prices at an average of 80% more than the rates charged in a negotiated contract (Ofgem, checked August 2026). It reports 10 to 12% of businesses currently sitting on them (Ofgem, 31 March 2026).

Four suppliers publish theirs. Crown Gas & Power lists 30.17p to 33.37p per kWh depending on region, from 1 May 2026. Drax lists 36.03p from 1 August 2026, up from 32.42p the month before. TotalEnergies lists 40.28p on a single-rate meter, from 1 June 2026. Valda Energy lists 45p, effective 7 August 2026. Set against contracted panel averages of roughly 27p to 30p this month, the top of that range is around 1.5 times the price.

That gap is not a penalty you have to serve out. On a deemed contract, Ofgem is plain. Your supplier cannot prevent you from switching, for any reason or at any time, cannot require notice, and cannot charge a termination fee. The rate moves under you meanwhile. Drax's went up 11% between two consecutive months this summer. What each contract type commits you to is in our deemed rates guide. The steps are in how to switch business energy.

If you are inside a fixed contract at a rate near the table above, the honest answer is to stay put until your end date. We will tell you when that is the case.

Who bills you changes the number too. Who charges what is in our business electricity suppliers directory. If you buy gas as well, pricing both fuels together lines up the end dates.