Business energy benchmarks: how to compare your price

What the government benchmark measures

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) publishes average gas and electricity prices paid by non-domestic consumers every quarter. They are consumption-weighted averages of what businesses actually paid across existing contracts, grouped into bands by annual consumption. The latest figures cover 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026, were published on 29 September 2026 and are provisional. The next release is scheduled for 17 December 2026.

In that quarter, the average across all bands was 24.51p per kWh for electricity and 5.28p per kWh for gas, including Climate Change Levy and excluding VAT. See every band on our business energy prices page.

Smaller businesses pay more per unit

Band matters a great deal. The smallest electricity users (0 - 20 MWh a year) paid an average of 38.36p per kWh, against 22.25p for the largest (>150,000 MWh). For gas, the smallest band (<278 MWh) paid 9.31p per kWh.

So the all-band average is a poor comparison for a small business. Always compare with the band that matches your own annual use.

Do not add a standing charge

These are fully delivered prices: every element of the bill except VAT, expressed as one effective price per kWh. Standing charges and other fixed costs are already inside that figure. Adding a standing charge on top would count those costs twice.

The same applies in reverse. To compare your own bill fairly, turn your total charges into a single effective price per kWh before setting it against the benchmark.

How to compare your own price

Find your annual consumption on your bills or contract, in kWh, and divide by 1,000 to get MWh. Choose the matching band. Then add up a year of charges excluding VAT, including unit charges, standing charges and Climate Change Levy, divide by your kWh and multiply by 100 to get pence per kWh.

For example, a site that paid £4,200 excluding VAT for 12,000 kWh of electricity has an effective price of 35.00p per kWh. It sits in the Very Small band, where the average was 38.36p. This is an illustration, not a typical bill.

Why your price can differ

A benchmark is a reference point, not a target. Business energy has no price cap: Ofgem’s cap protects household default tariffs, and business contracts fall outside it. What you pay depends on when your contract was agreed, how long it runs, your usage pattern and your site. A business that fixed its price when wholesale costs were high may be paying above today’s average, and the reverse.

The DESNZ figures are also UK-wide, not regional, and describe a past quarter. They tell you whether your price looks broadly in line with what similar-sized businesses paid, not what a supplier would offer you today.

Comparing quotes

To compare actual offers, use the same expected usage, contract dates and tax basis for each. Look at the standing charge and any other contractual charges as well as the unit rate, and enter each tariff’s components into the energy bill calculator to compare annual costs like for like. Do not treat the DESNZ average as an offered tariff.

On VAT: from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, electricity that already qualifies for the reduced 5% rate in Great Britain is zero-rated. That includes small business use of an average of not more than 33 kWh a day, or 1,000 kWh a month, supplied to one customer at one set of premises. Other business electricity is unaffected. More on the VAT cut.

Our commercial relationship

UtilityPrices is run by Etainabl, a utility data platform. We identify links to Etainabl as commercial. The relationship does not change the basis or dates of the published government figures. Compare current business benchmarks.

Frequently asked questions