There is a number that should alarm every retail and hospitality business owner in the UK. According to The Disruption House’s estimates, 8 in 10 businesses are overpaying in energy. That is not a rounding error. It is a systemic failure, and chances are your business is caught up in it.
Ofgem states that many UK businesses are overcharged on energy, most of them without ever knowing it. Hidden fees can inflate contract prices by up to 30%. And the businesses paying the heaviest price are the ones that can least afford it: independent retailers, restaurants, hotel operators, charities and care providers running on tight margins in a high-cost environment.
How it happens
Energy brokers are supposed to find businesses the best deal. In practice, the market is structured in a way that makes that very difficult. Brokers earn commissions based on the volume of energy in a contract, which means the incentive to find you a cheaper deal is often weaker than the incentive to keep your contract large. Those commissions are sometimes hidden in your unit rate. You can pay them every month without seeing a line item.
But broker mark-ups are only part of the problem. Volume tolerance penalties catch businesses that consume more or less than their contracted amount, often at a much higher deemed rate. Incorrect meter classifications can push you into the wrong tariff entirely. Auto-renewal clauses lock businesses into contracts they never actively agreed to continue. And most businesses simply don’t have the time or expertise to spot any of it.
The numbers from real businesses tell the story clearly.
- A care home saw energy costs increase by £43,200 due to a 24% broker mark-up and exceeding tolerance penalties.
- A manufacturing company accumulated £350,000 in overcharges over six years through hidden commissions, incorrect meter classification, and auto-renewal clauses.
- A hotel chain with just four properties was losing £75,000 every year: £60,000 in hidden commissions, £25,000 in auto-renewal penalties, and £15,000 in meter classification errors.
The problem with “just switching”
The usual advice for businesses unhappy with their energy costs is to shop around at renewal. But switching supplier does not fix a broken process. If you go back to a broker, the same hidden commission structure can apply. And if you are not actively monitoring your bills between renewals, the overcharges, penalties, and billing errors accumulate undetected.
What retail and hospitality businesses actually need is visibility and control at every stage: before renewal, during renewal, and throughout the contract.
Taking back control
This is exactly what disruptmyenergybill is built to do. Our platform brings your energy contracts, usage, and costs together in one place, removing brokers from the equation entirely. AI-powered bill validation checks every line of your bills for errors, penalties, and charges that do not match your contract. A built-in compare engine secures direct pricing without broker commissions. And real-time monitoring means tolerance breaches and cost spikes are caught before they become expensive problems.
For a restaurant group we worked with, that meant contract savings of between £41,864 and £53,411, four billing issues identified in a single bill, and 12 to 18 days a year saved in admin time.
Energy is one of the biggest controllable costs in retail and hospitality. It is time to start controlling it.
Find out how much your business could save at disruptmyenergybill.com
