20 Years in UK Commercial Energy: What’s Actually Changed (And What Hasn’t)

In 2002, UK Wholesale Gas Was 20p/Therm. In 2022, It Hit 600p/Therm. The Market Has Changed Beyond Recognition. The Mistakes Businesses Make Have Not.

Telnergy was founded in 2002. The energy market we walked into looked nothing like the one that exists today. North Sea gas production was near its peak, the UK was a net gas exporter, the domestic electricity market was dominated by the legacy generators from privatisation, and energy was a background cost that few SME owners thought about strategically. The main job of a commercial energy consultant was straightforward: find the best rate from a handful of suppliers and make sure the client didn’t auto-renew.

Twenty-four years later, the UK energy market is unrecognisable in structure, geopolitical exposure, price volatility, and regulatory complexity. The job of a commercial energy consultant has changed fundamentally. And yet — in more than two decades of sitting across from UK business owners and reviewing their energy contracts — the behaviours that cost businesses money have remained remarkably consistent.

Here is the honest account of what has genuinely changed, and what never does.

What Has Changed: The Market

The UK became a net gas importer. North Sea gas production peaked in 2000 and has declined by more than 60% since. The UK now imports approximately 50% of its gas, with the balance between Norwegian pipeline gas and global LNG depending on market conditions. When Telnergy started, LNG imports were essentially zero. Today, the UK’s three LNG import terminals are structural supply infrastructure. This single shift — from domestic producer to global market participant — is the root cause of most of the volatility and geopolitical exposure that UK business energy costs now carry.

The supplier landscape collapsed and rebuilt. In the early 2000s, the non-domestic energy market was dominated by the Big Six — British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower, Scottish Power, and SSE. Over the following decade, the market opened up to challenger suppliers, creating a diverse landscape of 50–70 active non-domestic suppliers by the mid-2010s. Then 2021 happened. Twenty-nine suppliers failed in five months. The market consolidated back toward a smaller, more financially robust set of operators. What we have now is a more professionally managed supplier landscape than the peak of the challenger era — but a less competitive one in some respects, because there are fewer independent voices in the market.

The price range expanded dramatically. In 2002, business electricity unit rates for most SMEs ran between 5p and 8p/kWh. At the 2022 crisis peak, equivalent rates were quoted above 70p/kWh. Even in the “normalised” post-crisis market of 2025–26, rates sit at 20–28p/kWh — three to four times the pre-crisis norm. The absolute cost of energy as a proportion of business operating expenses has structurally increased and is unlikely to return to pre-2021 levels.

Non-commodity charges became the majority of the bill. In 2002, the wholesale energy cost represented 70–80% of a business electricity bill. Today it represents 35–45%. The remainder — network charges, environmental levies, Capacity Market payments, CCL — has grown to represent more than half the total cost. This makes the energy procurement conversation fundamentally different. Optimising the wholesale rate while ignoring non-commodity charges is only addressing a minority of the bill.

Regulation increased substantially. Ofgem’s oversight of Third Party Intermediaries has grown from minimal to a formal Code of Practice. The TPI Working Group has shaped regulatory requirements that simply didn’t exist in the early years of our operation. The Environmental obligations on businesses — Climate Change Levy, Renewables Obligation, ESOS, SECR — have layered complexity onto what was once a simple procurement transaction.

What Has Changed: The Advice Requirements

When we started, the primary value of an energy broker was market access. Most SMEs couldn’t easily contact 15–20 suppliers independently — we had the relationships, the price files, and the ability to tender a contract efficiently. That access advantage still exists but has narrowed. Online comparison platforms have given businesses more direct access to simplified contract comparisons.

What has grown is the need for genuine analysis. Understanding geopolitical supply risk, interpreting forward market curves, assessing non-commodity charge structures, advising on EV charging implications, evaluating solar and battery storage financial cases, navigating CBAM for manufacturers — none of this existed as a mainstream business energy advisory requirement in 2002. A broker who is still operating as if energy procurement is just about finding the cheapest unit rate is providing a service that was adequate in 2005 and is inadequate now.

What Has Not Changed: The Mistakes

In more than two decades and hundreds of client engagements, the behaviours that cost UK businesses money on energy have remained constant. They are not sophisticated errors. They are elementary ones, repeated with remarkable consistency across sectors, sizes, and management sophistication.

Auto-renewal. The single most common and most avoidable source of energy overpayment. In 2002, businesses missed renewal deadlines and rolled onto expensive rates. In 2026, the same thing happens. The mechanism is identical. The only difference is that the absolute cost of each missed renewal has grown proportionally with the increase in energy prices.

Single-supplier loyalty without competitive review. We have onboarded clients who have been with the same energy supplier for 12 years without a competitive market test. In every case, the rates have been materially above what competition would have delivered. Supplier loyalty is a virtue in many commercial relationships. In energy procurement, it is expensive without periodic market testing.

Treating energy as a background overhead. In 2002, most SMEs spent 1–3% of turnover on energy. Today, many spend 4–8%. A cost at that level deserves active management. Yet the decision-making framework — passive, reactive, last-minute — hasn’t kept pace with the cost’s significance.

Failing to claim available tax reliefs. CCL at the incorrect rate. VAT applied at 20% when 5% or 0% applies. Climate Change Agreement discounts unclaimed. We found and recovered these errors in 2005. We find and recover them in 2026. The reliefs have been there throughout. The claiming rate among eligible businesses has not improved materially.

Choosing the cheapest broker quote without evaluating supplier financial health. Pre-2021, this was a minor risk. Post-2021, having watched 29 suppliers fail and seen the consequences for business customers, it is a risk that deserves explicit consideration. The cheapest rate from the least financially robust supplier is not the same proposition as the second-cheapest rate from an established operator. This was true in 2021. It is still true in 2026.

What Twenty-Four Years Has Taught Us

The energy market is more complex, more globally connected, and more financially significant to UK businesses than it was when we started. The advice required to navigate it properly has grown proportionally in depth and breadth.

What hasn’t changed is the fundamental principle: the businesses that fare best on energy costs are the ones that treat procurement as a managed process — with a defined timeline, a competitive market approach, and an adviser who is actually working for them rather than for the commission. That principle was true in 2002. It will be true in 2030.

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Telnergy Limited • Independent Energy Consultants since 2002 • Ofgem TPI Registered • Christchurch, Dorset