Understanding your energy charges
When you’re managing a business energy budget, it’s important to know exactly what you’re paying for.
We’ve designed our gas and electricity invoices to be as simple and transparent as possible; and to keep you fully informed, here is some extra information on the non-commodity charges included in business energy costs.
VAT rates
For most businesses, the VAT rate on gas and electricity is 20%. This amount will be reduced to 5% on any energy used for domestic, charitable or diplomatic purposes (or where consumption is lower than the de minimis threshold of 33 kWh per day for electricity and 145 kWh per day for gas).
If your business qualifies for a reduced rate of VAT on some or all of its supply, or if a change in circumstances has affected the percentage of your energy that qualifies for a reduction, please let us know using the ‘VAT declaration’ forms below. We will make sure the correct rate is applied to your invoice.
VAT Declaration form - Electricity VAT Declaration form - GasForms need to be printed and signed, and then scanned or posted back to us (details are contained within the form).
VAT codes
All VAT charges on energy are identified by one of the following codes:
| DEM - Under de minimis volume | DFR - Domestic Fuel Rate | DOM - Composite Rate |
| EXP - Exempt OUT - Outside the Scope | STD - Standard Rate | ZER - Zero Rate |
Non-commodity charges are government-originated charges and third party charges.
Read MoreNon-commodity charges make up a significant proportion of your total energy cost, so it’s important to stay ahead of any changes that may affect how much your business will need to pay.
Read MoreUnderstanding your non-commodity charges is easier when you know how the energy market works and which factors affect the prices you pay.
We’ve created a pool of resources to help you get to grips with non-commodity charges, including an expert-led webinar, a two-part report, a ‘fast-facts’ video and our jargon-busting glossary.
You can find it all on our ‘Understanding non-commodity charges’ page.
