A commercial energy bill is dense with codes and charges, most of which are never explained. You cannot check a bill you cannot read, and you cannot manage a cost you do not understand. This is what each part means.
Verification
- Verified as at:
- Source:
- HMRC VAT Notice 701/19; HMRC Climate Change Levy main rates; industry billing conventions
- Last reviewed by:
- Omnium
Figures in this sheet were current at the verification date above. Regulated charges reset each April. If you are relying on a figure, check the source or ask us.
Designed A4 fact sheet, ready to print or circulate.
What names your supply
| Code | What it is |
|---|---|
| MPAN | Meter Point Administration Number, the unique thirteen-digit reference for an electricity supply. Sometimes called the supply number or S-number. You need it to switch or query a supply. |
| MPRN | Meter Point Reference Number, the gas equivalent. |
| SPID | Supply Point ID, the water equivalent. |
| Meter serial number | Identifies the physical meter, which can change while the MPAN or MPRN stays the same. |
| Profile and capacity codes | Carried on the MPAN, indicating how the supply is profiled and, for half-hourly sites, its characteristics. |
Where the money goes
| Charge | What it means |
|---|---|
| Unit rate | What you pay per unit of energy used. A single rate, or day and night rates, or half-hourly. This is what most people mean by the price, and it is only part of the cost. |
| Standing charge | A fixed daily charge regardless of usage, covering the connection and a share of network and other fixed costs. Rising as more network cost moves into standing charges. |
| Capacity or availability | On half-hourly electricity, a charge on the agreed capacity reserved with the network operator, billed every day whether it is used or not. Often overlooked and often reducible. |
| Reactive power | On some half-hourly bills, a charge linked to poor power factor: energy drawn but not turned into useful work. |
| Climate Change Levy | A per-unit tax on business energy. |
| VAT | Usually 20 per cent, charged on the whole bill including the levies. A reduced rate of 5 per cent applies to qualifying low-usage premises and to charities using the supply for non-business purposes. |
Most of what you pay is not the unit rate. Network charges, levies, capacity and taxes now make up a large share of a typical electricity bill. A bill showing a unit rate and a total hides where the money actually goes.
Reading the consumption
- Actual against estimated. A bill marked estimated is based on a forecast rather than a read. A run of estimates can hide a real change in usage and store up a correction later.
- The read date and the billing period. They are not always the same, and a period that does not match the read is the first thing to check when a bill looks wrong.
- Day and night splits. Where a supply is billed on a split, the window is a per-meter fact set in the contract. It cannot be checked against an assumed window, so if the window is not on file we say so rather than guess.
- Units and conversion. Gas is metered in cubic metres or hundreds of cubic feet and converted to kWh using a calorific value shown on the bill. The conversion is worth checking on a large supply.
What to do when something looks wrong
Raise the disputed portion in writing, with the account number, the meter, the period and the specific line in question.
Keep paying the undisputed amount by the due date. A dispute on one line does not suspend the rest of the bill, and withholding the whole amount usually weakens the position rather than strengthening it.
We validate invoices against the signed contract line by line and mark them validated for payment. The approval is yours.
Related sheets
- Non-commodity charges
Taxes, levies and regulated network charges now make up a large share of a business electricity bill, and comparing unit rates alone misses where the cost sits.
- Network charges and agreed capacity
Why regulated network charges rose sharply in April 2026, and why the capacity you reserve is a lever most businesses have never pulled.
- Meter types explained
Half-hourly, non-half-hourly, AMR, smart and unmetered supplies, what each means for billing and data, and why the meter type decides what you can see.
Take this sheet into a meeting
Reading your energy bill is available as a designed A4 fact sheet, dated and set for printing or circulation.
If this sheet raises a question about your own sites, speak to us.