Business Energy Audit: What It Covers and What It's Worth

Most businesses can tell you their rent to the pound and their payroll to the penny. Ask what they pay per kWh and the room goes quiet.

An energy audit fixes that. After more than two decades of reviewing commercial energy bills, I can tell you the findings fall into the same few categories almost every time — and several of them are refundable.

The two kinds of audit

A contract and billing audit looks at what you’re paying: your rates against the market, your contract terms, and whether your bills are even correct. This is where the quick wins live, and it’s what we do as standard before any procurement exercise.

A consumption audit looks at what you’re using: half-hourly data, out-of-hours usage, equipment scheduling. Valuable for larger sites, but do the billing audit first — there’s no point efficiently consuming energy you’re buying at the wrong price.

What we check in a billing audit

1. Contract status. Are you in contract at all? Businesses acquiring premises, or that missed a renewal, often sit on out of contract rates at roughly double the market price without realising.
2. Unit rates vs market. Your rate benchmarked against current prices per kWh for your consumption band and region.
3. Standing charges and hidden lines. Capacity charges on half-hourly supplies are a regular offender — many businesses pay for agreed capacity far above anything they use, and it can be renegotiated.
4. Billing accuracy. Estimated reads that never got corrected, wrong meter multipliers, VAT at 20% where 5% applies. VAT errors alone are worth checking: qualifying low-usage sites, and charities, can reclaim overpaid VAT going back four years.
5. Climate Change Levy (CCL). Some organisations are exempt or partially exempt; many pay it by default.

What audits typically find

I’m wary of headline claims like “we save clients 40%”, because the honest answer is: it depends what state your contracts are in. A business that renewed competitively last year might see nothing — and we’ll say so. A business that’s been rolling over renewal letters unquestioned for six years will usually see a material saving, because each renewal priced in a little more inertia.

The most common findings, in order of frequency: uncompetitive renewal rates, wrong VAT treatment, out-of-contract meters in multi-site portfolios, and excess capacity charges.

What it costs

Our audit is part of the consultancy engagement — fee agreed upfront, paid directly or via the supplier, your choice. If the audit finds nothing worth acting on, that’s the report you get. An audit that always finds “savings” is a sales brochure.

What to have ready

A recent bill for each meter, your contract or renewal letter if you can find it, and — for larger sites — a letter of authority so we can pull your half-hourly data and contract details directly from the supplier. That’s genuinely all it takes to start.

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Johnny Arthur runs Telnergy Ltd, an independent commercial energy consultancy established in 2002 and based in Christchurch, Dorset. Ofgem registered TPI, ADR Ref E3561, CRN 04576876.