Business energy for pubs, restaurants and hotels

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

The load shape problem

A restaurant's demand is concentrated into a few hours a day, and a hotel's into mornings and evenings. Peaky profiles with a low load factor are the least attractive shape to price, which is why hospitality sites so often sit near the top of the band at 22–30p per kWh rather than the bottom. Nothing changes that except giving the supplier real consumption data instead of an estimate, and pricing across enough of a panel to find the supplier whose book wants your shape this month.

Where the units actually go

• Refrigeration — cellar cooling, walk-ins, display chillers. Running 24/7, frequently with failing door seals, iced-up coils or a thermostat someone turned down two summers ago. This is where the quickest wins are.
• Kitchen extract and make-up air. Extract fans running at full speed all day, often pulling out air that has just been heated.
• Hot water. Continuous in a hotel, peaky in a restaurant, and rarely controlled.
• Gas. Cooking and heating, currently 6–9p per kWh on a new fixed contract, and usually the forgotten half of the renewal.

Seasonal trade and contract length

Seasonal businesses have a specific problem: standing charges at 45–65p a day a day continue through the closed months whether you trade or not. On a genuinely seasonal site, ask for quotes priced with a lower standing charge and a higher unit rate as well as the other way round, and compare the annual totals. The answer is not always the one that looks cheaper per kWh.

Leased, tied and multi-let premises

This is the sector-specific trap. Check three things:

• Whose name is on the supply? If the landlord or pub company holds the contract, you may be paying a recharge rather than a supply, with no ability to switch.
• Is the meter yours alone? Shared or sub-metered supplies across a building need to be established before anyone prices anything.
• What happens at the end of the lease? A change of tenancy needs doing properly — see business energy when moving premises.

Worth checking this week

Whether the contract has lapsed. Hospitality has more lapsed contracts than any sector we deal with, simply because there is never a quiet moment to deal with it — and out-of-contract rates at 35–45p per kWh cost more than the time it takes to fix.

What a pub, restaurant or hotel typically uses

We publish consumption benchmarks only where we can stand behind the figure, and the honest answer for this sector is that the spread between sites is wide enough that a single national average would mislead you more than it helped. Building age, occupancy, plant and hours drive far more variation than sector does.

What is useful is your own number against comparable sites. Send us twelve months of bills for one site and we will tell you where it sits — free, and with no obligation to do anything about it.