What an industrial broker should cover
For a manufacturing site, a broker worth hiring should look at:
- Procurement: tendering, fixed vs flexible, and aligning multi-site contract dates
- Capacity: whether your agreed kVA matches real demand
- Levy relief: BICS, EII/Supercharger and Climate Change Agreements
- Non-commodity checks: DUoS bands, TNUoS charging bands and exemptions applied correctly
- Monitoring: site-level visibility of where the money goes
Questions to ask any energy broker
- How are you paid, and will you disclose your commission? By law, brokers must be transparent about fees, so ask for it in writing.
- How many suppliers will you approach? Ask for the list.
- What half-hourly and multi-site experience do you have?
- Will you check our non-commodity charges and capacity, or just the unit rate?
- Can you help with BICS or EII applications?
Understanding industrial electricity prices
Industrial electricity cost per kWh varies widely between plants. That's because the all-in price depends on when you buy, your consumption profile, your connection voltage, your capacity and which exemptions you hold. Two factories with the same wholesale price can pay very different amounts per kWh. That's why comparing headline unit rates between suppliers can be misleading for a manufacturer.
How Energy Optimiser works
Our free 5-minute audit scores six levers on your bill, including procurement, capacity and government schemes, using your real data. A senior consultant then walks you through the findings. There's no obligation, and you'll see where the savings are before anyone talks about a contract.
Frequently asked questions
A good one is. Beyond price, an industrial-focused broker should find savings in capacity charges, levy exemptions and billing errors that a supplier won't volunteer.
Most are paid a commission built into the unit rate by the supplier, and some charge a fee instead. You're entitled to know how much, so ask for it to be disclosed in writing.
It varies widely depending on purchasing, consumption profile, voltage, capacity and exemptions. Compare total cost including non-commodity charges, not just the unit rate.