In short
Farms and estates overpay mainly through meters scattered across the holding on different contracts, capacity and rates that no longer match the load after new sheds, dryers or solar, and domestic cottages mixed in with business supplies. Listing every meter and buying them together fixes most of it.
- One holding can have meters for sheds, dryers, pumps, workshops and cottages, each on its own contract.
- Poultry and pig units run fans, heat and light day and night; arable peaks at harvest. Rates should match the pattern.
- Farm cottages used as homes are domestic supplies, which should not carry the Climate Change Levy.
The problem
A farm's energy bill depends on what it produces. Poultry and pig units run fans, heating and lighting day and night. Dairies cool milk twice a day. Arable farms peak at harvest with grain drying. And a larger estate adds workshops, holiday lets and cottages on top.
Meters everywhere, contracts everywhere
Supplies get added one at a time as the business grows: a new shed here, a borehole pump there. Each one ends up on its own contract with its own end date, often with a different supplier. Some are on good rates, some have been rolling on out-of-contract rates for years, and nobody has the full list.
Rates and capacity that no longer fit
When a farm adds sheds, takes on an environmental permit for an intensive unit or installs solar, the electricity contract usually stays exactly as it was. The capacity may now be too low, causing excess charges, or too high, paying for headroom that is never used. Solar changes when and how much grid power you buy, which changes which contract suits you.
Domestic and business mixed together
Cottages and farmhouses used as homes are domestic supplies. Where they sit on a business supply, or where a business supply feeds a home, the treatment for VAT and the Climate Change Levy can be wrong.
The solution
1. Walk the holding and list every meter
Every supply, what it feeds, who holds the contract, the rates and the end date. Mark which are business and which are domestic.
2. Match each contract to its load
Continuous loads like livestock units suit different terms from seasonal loads like grain stores. Check capacity on the larger supplies against real demand.
3. Recheck after every change
New sheds, permits, dryers or solar panels are the moment to review the contract, not at the next renewal.
4. Buy the estate together
As contracts expire, move them to a common end date, then tender them as one portfolio, compared on total yearly cost.
Where we help
Where Business Savings Guru helps
Every meter on the holding
We list every supply, which are business and which are domestic, and when each contract ends.
Contracts that fit the load
We check rates and capacity against how each unit actually uses power, including after new sheds or solar.
One buying date for the estate
We move contracts onto a common end date as they expire, so the estate is bought as one portfolio.
Water too
Livestock and irrigation use a lot of water. In England and Scotland a farm business can choose its water retailer.
