BUSINESS ENERGY SERVICES

Business Energy Services

Adalta Energy offers a broad range of services and expertise to suit the demands of your business. We like to take care of ‘all things energy’ on your behalf so you can focus on what is important to you; running your own business

SMARTER ENERGY CONSULTANCY

Supporting you through every step of your energy journey

Browse through the services we offer to business energy consumers by clicking on your area of interest below:

Bespoke requirements

Our approach is always centred around your custom electricity and/or gas requirements and is insight-led.


Whether you are looking for a fixed or flexible contract, we have the skills and resources to procure energy on your behalf and to ensure your energy contract is fully optimised for you.  If you are not sure which product is right for you, we have provided a summary of standard supplier products below.


Unlike any of our competitors, you will receive a complementary review of your historic consumption patterns and Agreed Supply Capacity (ASC) to observe any trends that may save you money.


In addition to procurement, we offer a range of additional services that can enhance this process or utilised at any point to support your energy needs.

Prefer a sustainable source for your energy?

We can ensure the green energy you are supplied with is in line with your environmental responsibilities.


The suppliers we work with can offer renewable Guarantees of Origin, Carbon Offsetting or why not ensure your supplier only purchases 100% of their electricity through renewable sources (the purest form of renewable energy).


It is important to understand the differences between each mechanism that can be used to deliver renewable energy.  There are four different ways to deliver renewable energy, each with a different cost and sustainability/carbon claims.


We can explain the differences in more detail to you, but in the meantime check out our dedicated Zero Carbon page.

Appetite for Risk

Knowing which cost components to fix, when to engage with the market, how long to contract for and which product and structure to choose is a complex decision that will ultimately impact the price you pay for energy.


Our consultants have extensive experience and knowledge in managing these price drivers, which we combine with our access to pricing insight from the UKs largest energy suppliers to ensure you stay ahead of the market.


In addition, we constantly review wholesale electricity and gas price movements and the underlying market drivers to give you enough time to react in accordance with your budgetary requirements and hedge strategy.


Let us steer you through these difficult decisions and lean on the years of experience we have in doing exactly this.

Understanding your contract

Ensuring you understand your energy suppliers Conditions of Supply and product related Terms and Conditions can save you a lot of hassle and money over the lifetime of your contract.


Suppliers will typically try to pass their risks onto you, which can be costly if not challenged. We understand the clauses suppliers use to achieve this and have successfully negotiated all such clauses.


The most common clauses to ensure you understand relate to volume under/over consumption, management fee recovery due to volume variations, change of law, late payment charging and payment terms.


We would be very happy to talk to you around any such clauses in your current contract and any future renewal.

Don't get caught out

If you have been unfortunate enough to fall onto an out-of-contract rate, then you will likely be paying too much for your energy. There are two types of out-of-contract rates suppliers use.


Deemed rates are used when companies move into new premises and are governed by OFGEM. Given your supplier will not have any consumption history of your business activity at your new address and will not have credit checked your company, a lot of risk is built into these rates which is why they are so high.


Default rates are used when you are not in contract with your supplier. These are typically based on the Deemed rate but are often more expensive. They are not governed by OFGEM.


There is more information on out-of-contract rates below. If you are on these rates, let us negotiate contractual rates on your behalf and, in doing so, try to agree a rebate for you as part of the process.

Let us manage the process for you

With everything else going on at this stressful time, companies often forget about their energy requirements. If you have recently moved into a new premise and do not have an energy contract in place, then we'd advise you to get in touch.


Do not fall foul of out-of-contract rates and avoid lengthy negotiations with suppliers around meter readings and backdated billing.


If can be difficult to understand who the supplier to your new address is. Fortunately, we have access to industry databases that will let us check who your incumbent supplier is. We can then engage with that supplier to ensure you do not overpay for your energy.

Customer Journey

Ensuring a professional, bespoke and insightful customer experience is at the heart of what we aim to deliver at Adalta Energy. That’s why we set out our customer journey from the outset. Your experience is part of our 6-point plan:

Initial consultation

Hear more about the services we can offer and understand what you would like to achieve.

Letter of Authority (LoA)

If you are happy for us to act on your behalf then we will need an LoA from you. Don’t worry, we can provide the wording, but you will need to copy it onto a document that includes your company letter head, sign it and return to us. This enables us to consult suppliers, but not to contract, on your behalf.

Data insight

For your half-hourly meters, we will approach your current supplier for your historic half-hourly consumption data and run that through our expert models. We will be able to observe trends in your consumption, highlight opportunities on how you could save money/energy and compare your data to that of a typical business in your sector.


In addition, we will also check your Agreed Supply Capacity (ASC) to ensure you are not over-paying your Capacity (kVA) charges levied from the Distribution Network Operator (DNO).

Second consultation

An opportunity for us to discuss what we have observed from your consumption data and how we can approach the market to provide a custom solution that meets the individual requirements of your business.  Following this, an Invitation to Tender (ITT) will be issued to the wider market and we will agree our fee to undertake this exercise.

Analysis & Insight

Our expert consultants will analyse all bids received and make a recommendation to you based on your initial requirements and any further insight that may have become available through the tendering process.

Third consultation

To discuss our recommended supplier with transparent quantitative and qualitative rationale. It is then over to you to sign the appropriate contract(s) with the energy supplier, which we will facilitate.

Depending on your preferences, our customer consultations can be undertaken face-to-face, via telephone and/or video conference.

Business Energy Products

Our consultants have spent many years working across energy suppliers Pricing, Credit, Product Development and wider Commercial teams so we are ideally placed to advise you on which product suits your requirements. Furthermore, some of the products on offer across the wider market were actually pioneered by our consultants!

Whilst the choice of products on offer can often seem overwhelming, they are typically grouped together under four product families, listed below. Additional product features are then paired to your individual requirements that are often centred around your appetite for taking risk and your sustainability agenda. Our consultants are experts in these pairings and would be very pleased to discuss further with you.

  • Fixed

    Prices are fixed for the contract duration, however, consumers may have a choice regarding which cost items they would like to fix. For example, you may decide to fix all costs for complete budget certainty purposes or take some price risk on certain cost elements, knowing that you will pay the actual outturn costs that the supplier incurs.

  • Flexible

    This allows the consumer to make their own decision on when to buy their forward electricity/gas. Unlike a fixed product (where the supplier will set the commodity price for the contract duration), the end user decides when and how much forward volume to buy (subject to market liquidity) based on their hedge strategy. If you don’t have a suitable hedge strategy in place, we can assist you based on your risk appetite and budgetary targets

  • Deemed

    Is a form of “Out-of-Contract” rate that is commonly used for business movers i.e. companies who are moving into a site. Despite the rate being regulated by OFGEM, due to the price and volume risks placed on suppliers through this process, these rates are very expensive and should only be utilised in the very short term or preferably avoided

  • Default

    Another form of “Out-of-Contract” rate that is often indexed to the Deemed rate and is the most expensive product for the consumer (these rates are sometimes also known as "Extended supply rates” or "Carry-on rates"). Default rates are used by energy suppliers when customers fall out of contract i.e. the end date of your agreed contract has past and you have not renewed or the supplier will not offer you a renewal contract (often on credit grounds). This rate should (and can) be avoided.

Fixed vs Flex

Fixed price energy contracts are named as such because they have a fixed contract length with a wholesale energy cost that is fixed for the duration. Fixed price products represent the more traditional approach to energy purchasing. The primary benefit is that they are very simplistic. As the energy price is fixed for the contract term they provide ultimate budget certainty.

 

A Flexible energy contract allows your business to buy electricity or gas when you want, not solely at the point you negotiate your contract. By removing the complexity up front, Flexible contracts enable higher consuming businesses to trade blocks of volume directly in the wholesale market.

 

For further information on the benefits of Fixed and Flexible Contracts please see our quick guides below:

Verdant Power Portfolio

A flexible purchasing solution for smaller consumers

In 2003, Adalta Energy founder Tom Butler was part of a small team that developed the first ever flexible energy purchasing product, which has since become industry standard for the highest consuming businesses.


Adalta Energy's Verdant Power Portfolio is a solution aimed at those businesses who, on their own, aren’t large enough to access the benefits that flexible energy contracts offer. By joining the Verdant Power Portfolio, we offer an alternative to taking a fixed price contract and an opportunity to negotiate a way through the current energy market crisis. It’s also 100% backed by naturally sourced renewable power so your business can deliver on its Net Zero goals too.

Business Energy Product FAQs

  • What is energy market liquidity?

    The term “market liquidity” is often used by energy suppliers to determine how far forward a customer can purchase (hedge) their energy. 


    It is typically constrained to 4 or 5 seasons ahead but is dependent on how active the wholesale market is. If there are many willing buyers and sellers then the market is called "liquid". In the absence of such activity, the market is "illiquid".


    It is possible to purchase energy beyond the liquid period, however, you will pay a "holding" premium as the supplier takes price risk until they can trade your position in the wholesale market or net it internally.

  • What is Agreed Supply Capacity (ASC)?

    ASC is the agreed amount of power allocated to your site, which is important for every half-hourly metered customer.


    The cost associated to your allocated ASC is recovered through the 'kVA' or 'Capacity charges' on your bill. If your ASC is set too high, then you will be overpaying each month as you pay for unutilised capacity. If you exceed your ASC then you pay additional penalty capacity charges; otherwise known as “excess capacity charges”, which are set by your Distribution Network Operator.

  • What are commodity costs?

    There are 19 individual cost components to an electricity price, compared to 12 in gas.  Some of these costs are referred to as "Commodity Costs".  These are the set of costs that refer solely to the commodity elements of your price and may include:


    • Wholesale commodity cost
    • Liquidity
    • Collateral
    • Booking/holding risk
    • Imbalance risk
    • Swing/weather risk
    • Shape risk

    If you would like to further your understanding of these cost components, please speak with one of our expert consultants.

  • What are non-commodity costs?

    There are 19 individual cost components to an electricity price, compared to 12 in gas.  Some of these costs are referred to as "Non-Commodity Costs".  These are the set of costs that refer solely to the non-commodity elements of your price and may include:


    • BSUoS
    • AAHEDC
    • RCRC
    • DUoS
    • TNUoS
    • Elexon
    • Renewables Obligation (RO)
    • Feed in Tariff (FiT)
    • Contracts for Difference (CfD)
    • Capacity Mechanism (CM)
    • Transmission Losses
    • Distribution Losses

    The number of cost components in the gas cost stack is much reduced compared to electricity.


    If you would like to further your understanding of these cost components, please speak with one of our expert consultants.

  • What are energy transportation charges?

    Transportation costs form part of the Non-Commodity Cost stack. For electricity, transportation costs are split across the transmission and distribution systems and are more commonly known as:


    • Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS): This is the cost associated with transporting your electricity from the power station to the Grid Supply Point (GSP); where the voltage is stepped down and enters the local distribution network
    • Transmission Losses (TLoss): The cost associated with electricity that is lost on the transmission network (noise and heat)
    • Distribution Use of System (DUoS): This is the cost associated with transporting your electricity from the Grid Supply Point (GSP) to your meter
    • Distribution Losses (DLoss): The cost associated with electricity that is lost on the distribution network (noise and heat). Losses increase as the voltage is stepped down, which is why losses are higher on the distribution network than on the transmission network

    Transportation costs for gas are simpler than electricity as there are no losses on the gas network.  Gas transportation costs relate to:


    • NTS: Levied by the transmission owner and system operator
    • LDZ: levied by the gas distribution network operators

  • What are the environmental charges in electricity costs

    Environmental charges are part of the "Non-Commodity" cost stack and are more commonly known as EMR charges (Energy Market Reform). These set of costs are designed to provide price signals for suppliers and consumers to support renewable generation, reduce consumption and fund new lower carbon electricity generation. There are four EMR charges that all suppliers are mandated to pass onto consumers:


    • Renewables Obligation (RO): Encourages suppliers to support renewable generators through the purchase of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs)
    • Feed in Tariff (FiT): Scheme to support small scale generators.  The money collected from consumers is used to pay generators
    • Contracts for Difference (CfD): Scheme to support investment in new low carbon generation by guaranteeing the commodity price a generator will receive 
    • Capacity Mechanism( CM): Supports the cost of the CM scheme to provide fixed revenues to generators and Demand Side Response (DSR) successful in annual auctions for availability during periods of peak system demand

    If you would like to further your understanding of these cost components, please speak with one of our expert consultants.

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