How to switch business energy suppliers

Last updated: July 2026

Switching business energy has five steps: find your contract end date, give notice, compare quotes, sign the new deal, and let the new supplier register the switch. Registration should take up to 5 working days under Ofgem's standard, correct as of July 2026. Your supply never goes off.

That's the whole shape of it. The detail below is where the money hides, because the process is easy but the traps are real: a notice window you can miss and a contract you can't cancel once you've agreed it. Ten minutes of reading now beats a year of paying for not knowing.

Step 1: find your contract end date (ten minutes)

Everything runs off this date. It's on your contract, your last renewal letter, or a recent bill. If you're a micro business on a fixed-term deal, your renewal letter must show your current prices, the new prices and your annual consumption, so it's worth digging out. What the rest of that letter means is covered in our page on business gas renewal.

You count as a micro business if you use under 293,000 kWh of gas a year, or under 100,000 kWh of electricity, or have fewer than 10 employees and turnover of £1.716m or less. Most shops, cafés, workshops and offices qualify, and the switching protections in this guide assume you do.

Can't find any paperwork? Ring your supplier and ask for your contract end date and notice period in writing. They have to tell you.

Step 2: give notice (five minutes, up to 30 days before it takes effect)

Tell your current supplier you're leaving. An email works. For micro businesses the notice period is capped at 30 days, and your supplier must acknowledge your termination notice within 5 working days. No acknowledgement within a week? Chase it, and keep the email trail.

You can give notice without having chosen a new supplier. Doing it early keeps your options open. Doing nothing lets the supplier choose what happens next, and for micro businesses that means a rollover of up to 12 months or a drift onto out-of-contract rates, usually the most expensive way to buy gas. Our deemed rates guide covers what that drift costs.

Step 3: compare quotes (an afternoon, or two minutes of ours)

Get like-for-like quotes on your actual usage, taken from your bill rather than an estimate. A recent bill has everything a quote needs: your business address, your current supplier, your annual usage in kWh and your meter point number, which our MPAN and MPRN guide explains. Compare the unit rate, the standing charge and the contract length together, because a low unit rate with a high standing charge can lose to the reverse. Gas and electricity are separate contracts for a business, and running both switches together is covered on our business gas and electricity page. If renewable supply matters to you, say so at the quote stage. Most suppliers offer green tariffs and the switch works the same way.

You can do this yourself, supplier by supplier, or hand your bill to a broker. A broker will ask you to sign a letter of authority, which lets them deal with suppliers on your behalf. Since 1 October 2024, any broker's fee must be clearly displayed in the contract, and our energy brokers guide explains both the letter and the fee, including ours.

One honest note: if your current supplier's renewal offer beats the market, take it. Staying put is sometimes the right answer, and anyone who never says so is selling switches, not advice.

Step 4: sign the new contract (read it first)

The most expensive fact in business energy: there is no cooling-off period on business energy contracts, even ones agreed over the phone. Domestic customers get 14 days to change their mind. You get none. Once you agree, you're in.

So get the offer in writing before you say yes to anything, and check the end date, the unit rate, the standing charge and any pass-through charges against the quote. Then sign.

Step 5: the switch happens (up to 5 working days, timed to your end date)

Your new supplier registers the transfer and normally times it to your contract end date. Once the switch is initiated, it should take up to 5 working days under Ofgem's standard. No engineer visits. Nothing gets dug up. The gas arrives through the same pipes and the same meter, and the only thing that changes is who bills you.

Take a meter reading on the switch date and give it to both suppliers. That reading closes your old account cleanly and starts the new one on your own numbers rather than an estimate. Your old supplier sends a final bill, which can take a few weeks. Then you're done.

What can go wrong

Mostly nothing. But here's the honest list.

Your old supplier objects: a current supplier can block a transfer, typically for an outstanding balance or a contract that hasn't ended. Clear any debt first, or tell us about it up front. A blocked switch found early is a delay. Found late, it's a stretch on out-of-contract rates.

The new supplier runs a credit check: suppliers credit-check new business customers before accepting a contract. A weak score can mean a security deposit or a refusal, so if your credit history is thin, ask about it before your old contract runs out rather than after.

The switch is delayed: households get compensation when a switch misses the 5-working-day standard, and £30 if a switch happens without consent. Business customers are not eligible for those payments, which is worth knowing before someone promises them to you. If a supplier is slow on a switch we've arranged, we do the chasing for you.

A dispute you can't resolve: micro and small businesses can take unresolved supplier complaints to the Energy Ombudsman, free, with small businesses added from December 2024. Put the complaint to the supplier in writing first.

If you'd rather we ran the whole process, start on our switch business gas page.

Sources: Ofgem, Switch energy supplier (switching standard and compensation rules, checked July 2026); Ofgem, Set up a business energy contract (cooling-off and rollover rules); Ofgem micro-business factsheet (30-day notice cap and acknowledgement rule); Ofgem press release, April 2024 (business definitions, broker fee disclosure, Ombudsman access).