The shape of every bill
Gas and electricity bills are laid out differently by every supplier, but underneath the formatting they are all built the same way:
(usage in kWh × unit rate)
+ (standing charge × days in the period)
+ environmental levies and policy costs
+ VAT
= what you pay
That is why a bill can move for four completely different reasons and look exactly the same from the front: you used more, the rate went up, the standing charge went up, or the levies changed. Reading a bill means working out which one it was, because the answer tells you whether anything is actually wrong.
A tour of the lines, in order
Work down a real bill with this beside you. You will not find every one of these on every document, but you will find most of them.
Account number
Your reference with this supplier. Different from your meter reference.
What to check: Check the bill really is for your premises. If a bill arrives you were not expecting, find out which account it belongs to before paying it.
MPRN (gas) / MPAN (electricity)
The unique ID of your supply: a gas MPRN is usually 6 to 8 digits, an electricity MPAN is a long number. It identifies the meter, not the company.
What to check: Write both down. Any comparison, complaint or transfer is handled through these numbers, and an unauthorised transfer is usually first visible as a change to them.
Supply address vs billing address
The address the bill is sent to is often a head office or an accountant. The supply address is where the energy actually goes.
What to check: Prices are set against the supply address and its local network. Make sure whoever is comparing prices is looking at the right one.
Meter type
Standard or smart, and for bigger premises semi-half-hourly or half-hourly (a meter that records usage every 30 minutes or every 30 seconds).
What to check: This decides who can quote you and how. Half-hourly supplies are the most expensive to get wrong, because someone is managing those readings for you whether you appointed them or not.
Reading date and reading type
The date the meter was read, and whether the reading is actual or estimated — often marked ER, Est or E.
What to check: If it is estimated, treat the total as a guess. Take your own photo of the meter and send it in; it costs nothing and stops years of small errors building up.
Usage in kWh
The units of gas or electricity you actually used in the period. Gas is converted from cubic metres or cubic feet into kWh before it is priced.
What to check: This is the number every quote is built on. Add up twelve months of it rather than one month, because a bill in January and a bill in July are not comparable.
Unit rate (p per kWh)
The price of one unit. Multiply it by your usage and you have the energy part of the bill.
What to check: This is where most of your money is, and the number a broker can usually improve. Keep it in pence per kWh so you can compare two offers honestly.
Standing charge (p per day)
A fixed daily fee for being connected, charged for every day in the billing period whether you use energy or not.
What to check: Multiply it by 365 and look at it as a yearly cost. For a small office or a shop that trades light hours, this can be a surprisingly large share of the bill.
Environmental levies and policy costs
Lines such as the Climate Change Levy and various scheme costs, charged per kWh on top of your unit rate.
What to check: These are set by government, not by your supplier, and switching does not remove them. They do change with policy, which is why a bill can rise with no fault of yours.
VAT
Tax on the whole bill. Usually 20% for businesses; a 5% reduced rate exists for businesses using 1,000 kWh or less of electricity and 5,222 kWh or less of gas a month.
What to check: Check which rate you are getting. A business that qualifies for the reduced rate and is being charged 20% is overpaying on every single bill.
Contract end date and notice period
When your pricing ends and the deadline by which you must tell your supplier you are leaving. Often in small print, sometimes nowhere on the bill at all.
What to check: If it is not shown, ask for it in writing. Missing that window is the single most expensive mistake in business energy.
Total for the period
The final figure. Useful on its own, but only when you know what is inside it.
What to check: Divide it by the number of days in the period and you get a daily cost. Track that month by month and you will spot a problem long before it becomes a large bill.
A worked example, so the numbers feel real
Made-up figures to show the method — this is not a quote and not an average. A small trade counter, 30-day period, 3,000 kWh of electricity:
Now the same business with a unit rate of 22.0p and a standing charge of 40p a day. The energy part falls to £660.00 and the whole bill to £860.40 — the same lights, the same machines, the same 3,000 kWh. That gap of roughly £220 a month is what the two numbers at the top of the bill are worth.
1p more per kWh
On 100,000 kWh a year that is £1,000. The unit rate is where the money is for anyone who uses a lot.
10p more per day
£36.50 a year. Small next to the above — until you are a shop that barely uses anything, and it is most of your bill.
Why your bill goes up when your usage doesn't
This is the question we get asked most, and there are only really six answers.
Your unit rate changed
Fixed contracts end. If nothing was renegotiated in time you move to out-of-contract rates, which are commonly much higher than the deal you were on.
Your standing charge changed
Some contracts fix the unit rate and let the standing charge move. Your usage can be identical while the daily cost is not.
An estimate was corrected
Months of low estimates build a hidden gap. When someone finally reads the meter properly, the catch-up lands as one shock bill.
Levies or VAT moved
Policy costs and the Climate Change Levy are reset by government. A rate you did not agree to, applied to a rate you did.
The rate applied is not the rate you signed
Wrong tariff, wrong meter, wrong VAT band. It is a billing error, not a price rise, and it is worth chasing in writing.
Your usage genuinely changed
Colder weather, new equipment, longer hours, a tenant moving in. Legitimate — and the reason you compare on twelve months, not one.
The five questions worth answering
If you can answer all five you understand your energy costs better than most people buying it. If you cannot, that is not a failing — it is the market working the way it is designed.
- (1)
What are my unit rate and standing charge, in pence, in writing?
- (2)
How many kWh did I actually use over the last twelve months, and how much of that was estimated?
- (3)
When does my contract end, and by what date must I give notice?
- (4)
Am I on the right VAT rate for how much energy I use?
- (5)
If 35 suppliers were asked to price me today, what would the cheapest one offer?
Questions people actually ask us
Why can't I just look up my supplier's prices online?+
Business energy is not priced like a household tariff. Suppliers negotiate per customer, so most business rates are never published on a website. That is why two identical shops on the same street pay different prices, and why the only way to see today's market is to ask for it.
What is the difference between a unit rate and a standing charge?+
The unit rate is what you pay per kilowatt-hour of gas or electricity you use — it moves with your consumption. The standing charge is a fixed daily fee you pay whether you use anything or not, and it covers keeping your meter connected to the network. You need both numbers to know what you are really paying.
My bill says 'ER' next to the reading. What does that mean?+
Estimated reading. Nobody has physically read your meter, so the supplier has guessed your usage. Estimated bills are frequently wrong in both directions, and a cheap-looking one may be followed by a large catch-up. Get a real reading and ask for the account to be corrected.
How much should a standing charge be?+
There is no single right answer, and it varies by region, meter type and network. On a small business electricity meter it is commonly somewhere between 30p and 60p a day, and gas standing charges are often lower. The point is not the number on its own — it is that you compare standing charges as well as unit rates, because a low unit rate paired with a heavy standing charge costs a small business more.
I don't know when my contract ends. Does it really matter?+
Yes, more than anything else on the page. If you do not give notice inside your supplier's window — usually 30 to 90 days before the end — you either roll into another year or drift onto out-of-contract rates, which are typically far worse. Ask for your end date and notice period in writing and put the deadline in your calendar.
Do I have to understand any of this before I can use you?+
No. That is the whole reason we do this. Send us one recent bill and we will read it with you, tell you what you are paying, and explain anything that looks odd. You only need to decide whether the answer is better than your current one.