Business Energy for Hotels & Restaurants — comparison built for hospitality
Compare business energy prices for restaurants, pubs, cafés and hotels. Fixed, variable and renewable tariffs shaped for 24/7 refrigeration, kitchen extraction and seasonal footfall.
Why hospitality energy is different
Hotels and restaurants combine two things that make energy contracts tricky: continuous overnight refrigeration loads that never switch off, and highly seasonal service loads that swing dramatically between quiet Mondays and full-house Saturdays. The tariff you're on needs to handle both.
Add in kitchen extraction, hot water at scale, air-con in summer and heating in winter, and you can see why a "standard" small-business tariff often leaves hospitality customers overpaying — or worse, capped on a punitive out-of-contract rate they didn't notice rolling over.
What matters most for hotels and restaurants
- Two-rate meters — most hospitality sites benefit from cheaper overnight unit rates that mirror your fridge/freezer base load.
- Contract length — 24-36 month fixed usually wins during volatile wholesale periods.
- Renewable tariffs — increasingly a marketing asset for hotels; price differential is now negligible.
- VAT eligibility — some low-usage sites (e.g. serviced apartments) may qualify for reduced 5% VAT.
- Multi-site portfolios — chains can consolidate every venue onto a single renewal date and one supplier.
Common savings we uncover in hospitality
Hospitality clients often come to us with a mix of avoidable costs: rolled-over deemed rates, single-rate meters that should be two-rate, and gas contracts still on winter-2022 pricing. Fixing those together typically drives the largest annual saving.
Typical usage guidance
A single independent restaurant typically uses 20,000-90,000 kWh/year of electricity; small/mid-size hotels usually run 100,000-500,000 kWh/year across power and gas.
Hotels & Restaurants energy FAQs
Our energy use is very seasonal — which tariff suits us?
Hospitality businesses with big seasonal swings often benefit from fixed-rate contracts to protect against winter price shocks, combined with careful monthly meter reads so bills track actual usage rather than estimates.
How do we control energy costs on 24-hour refrigeration and kitchen equipment?
Kitchens and cellars are your two biggest continuous loads. Newer commercial fridges, night-mode extraction and induction hobs can cut usage 15-30%. On the tariff side, night-rate contracts reward the overnight refrigeration base load.
Is a two-rate meter worth it for a hotel or restaurant?
If you have significant overnight usage — refrigeration, hot water tanks, laundry — a two-rate (day/night) tariff can be a good match. We'll compare against a single-rate deal on your actual half-hourly data to be sure.
Can we get renewable energy without pushing the price up?
Yes. Many suppliers offer green tariffs at effectively the same price as standard business energy, which is a great win for hospitality brands promoting sustainability credentials to guests.
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