How long should I fix my business energy for?

Last reviewed 2 September 2026 by Utilities Made Simple · independent, whole-of-market, supplier-paid — how we are paid

The three things that actually decide it

1. The shape of the forward curve on the day you price. Suppliers quote longer terms off later delivery periods. When those are cheaper than the front year, a two or three-year fix can come in below a one-year fix. When they are dearer, it cannot. This changes week to week.
2. How long you will be in the building. Fixing for three years on a lease with eighteen months to run creates a termination-fee problem for future you. Match the term to the tenure where you can.
3. What you would do with the certainty. If a fixed line in the budget genuinely changes how you price your own work, that is worth paying a small premium for. If it does not, do not pay for it.

Rules of thumb we use

• Spreading risk beats guessing: on a multi-site portfolio, staggering end dates so they do not all land in the same month is usually worth more than getting any single call right.
• Very short terms carry a premium. Contracts under twelve months are usually priced above the one-year rate, not below it.
• The bigger cost is almost never term length — it is lapsing into out-of-contract rates, 35–45p per kWh against a market of 22–30p per kWh. Get the end date diarised first and worry about term length second.

A reasonable process

Price one, two and three years on the same day from the same panel, look at the total cost over each period rather than the headline unit rate, and check what the standing charge does across the options — currently around 45–65p a day on typical SME supplies. If the spread between terms is small, take the one that matches your lease.

Ask an energy specialist

If your question is not answered above, send it to us. A specialist answers personally, normally within one working day. No sales call, no obligation — and if the answer is "your deal is fine", that is what you will get.