Business energy in Wales

If you run a business in Wales, your gas and electricity come from the same national market that supplies businesses in England and Scotland. There is no separate Welsh supplier list, no separate price cap, and no separate VAT rate. What does change locally is which company delivers electricity down the wires to your premises, and what free advice and funding is on offer through the Welsh Government.

This guide sets out what is genuinely different for a Welsh business, and where the rules are exactly the same as the rest of Great Britain.

Is the business energy market different in Wales?

No, not in how you buy energy. Great Britain’s wholesale gas and electricity markets, and the suppliers that sell to businesses, operate across England, Scotland and Wales as one system. The same national suppliers you would find quoting in Birmingham or Edinburgh also quote in Cardiff or Wrexham, and the same Ofgem supply licence conditions on contracts, switching, deemed rates and complaints apply throughout.

What is genuinely different is the physical network that carries electricity to your premises, and Wales-only advice and funding schemes, covered below.

Which network operator delivers your electricity in Wales?

Great Britain’s electricity distribution network is split into 14 regional licence areas, each run by one of a small number of distribution network operators (DNOs). In Wales, the country is split between two:

• National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), formerly Western Power Distribution, runs the network across south and west Wales, from Pembrokeshire to Monmouthshire.
• SP Energy Networks, trading locally as SP Manweb, runs the network across north Wales, from Anglesey to Wrexham, alongside its coverage of Merseyside and Cheshire.

Your DNO is fixed by your postcode; you cannot choose it or switch it the way you switch a supplier. It matters for two things: who to contact about power cuts or faults, and who handles new connections or capacity upgrades. Your supplier still bills you and handles your contract; the DNO’s network charges (DUoS) are a cost your supplier passes through, not something you pay separately. Our guide to what is a DNO explains how this fits together.

You can find your DNO area on your electricity bill, or by checking the first two digits of your meter point administration number (MPAN), which identify the distributor. Both NGED and SP Energy Networks publish postcode checkers if you are unsure which area you sit in, which is worth doing before a new connection, since lead times and quoted costs are handled by whichever DNO covers your site.

What support does Business Wales offer for energy costs?

Business Wales is the Welsh Government’s main business support service, and it signposts and administers a changing set of grants, loans and advice for reducing running costs, including energy. Because individual grant schemes open and close throughout the year, rather than list specific schemes here that may have since closed, the reliable approach is to check the Business Wales website directly, or call its advice line, before you plan a project around a particular pot of funding.

Two schemes worth knowing about, one closed and one currently open, illustrate how these change:

The Future Proofing Fund has closed

The Future Proofing Fund offered grants of £5,000 to £10,000 to eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in Wales to invest in renewable technology, premises improvements and equipment upgrades to cut energy use. It is no longer open. Applications closed on 6 June 2024 (extended briefly to 13 June 2024), and funded projects had to be completed and claims submitted by 28 February 2025. If you see this fund mentioned elsewhere, treat it as historical rather than something you can currently apply to.

The Green Business Loan Scheme is open

The Green Business Loan Scheme, delivered through the Development Bank of Wales with Welsh Government backing, combines funded consultancy support with discounted fixed-interest loans for energy efficiency and low-carbon heat projects, such as insulation, heat pumps and building fabric improvements. It is aimed at Welsh limited companies, sole traders and partnerships that have been trading for at least two years with filed accounts. Loan amounts, interest rate discounts and full eligibility criteria are set out in the scheme’s own key information documents, since these details can change; check with the Development Bank of Wales directly before applying.

Does the temporary VAT zero rate on electricity apply in Wales?

Yes. VAT is a UK-wide tax administered by HMRC, and Wales is part of Great Britain for VAT purposes. That means qualifying electricity supplies in Wales are zero-rated from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, on the same terms as in England and Scotland. Northern Ireland is treated differently and stays on the 5% reduced rate for qualifying use. Our guide to VAT on business energy explains who qualifies.

Does the domestic price cap or any other GB-wide protection apply differently?

No. The Ofgem price cap only ever applied to domestic customers, and it works identically wherever in Great Britain you live. There is no separate cap, and none is planned, for business energy in Wales. Business customers instead rely on the contract they agree, Ofgem’s Standards of Conduct, and, for microbusinesses, the specific protections covered in our microbusiness energy guide.

How Business Wales compares with a broker or comparison service

Business Wales does not sell energy contracts, negotiate rates, or switch you to a new supplier. It signposts grants, loans and advice aimed at cutting how much energy you use and helping with the cost of efficiency projects. That is different from what a broker or comparison service does, which is help you find and agree a new supply contract. Many Welsh businesses use both: a Business Wales enquiry to check what funding is currently available, and a separate comparison when it is time to switch supplier.

Does Wales have its own net zero target?

Wales has its own statutory emissions target under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, amended in 2021 to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the same end date as the UK-wide target, delivered through a series of five-yearly statutory carbon budgets rather than a single UK-wide mechanism. This does not change how your business buys gas or electricity today, and there is no separate Welsh carbon charge added to your bill. It does explain why Welsh Government funding, such as the Green Business Loan Scheme, is specifically geared towards decarbonisation and energy efficiency, on top of any UK-wide schemes covered in our guide to reducing business energy costs.

What about gas supply in Wales?

Gas works the same way as electricity: one GB-wide wholesale market, delivered through the National Transmission System and regional gas distribution networks, with the same suppliers competing for your business across Wales, England and Scotland. Not every Welsh business premises has a mains gas connection, particularly in rural and upland areas, in which case bottled gas, oil or electric heating are the usual alternatives; our guide to cutting business heating costs covers options regardless of what you currently use.

Are there other Wales-specific schemes worth knowing about?

Funding and grant schemes for businesses change more often than the underlying market rules, and new ones open as others close. Rather than list schemes here that may have closed by the time you read this, the safest approach is to check two places directly before you plan around any figure:

• Business Wales (businesswales.gov.wales) for its business finance and grants directory, updated as schemes open and close.
• The Development Bank of Wales (developmentbank.wales) for loan-based funding, including the Green Business Loan Scheme.

Both are free to enquire with and neither will ask you to commit to switching supplier before giving advice.

What should a Welsh business check when comparing quotes?

Check	Why it matters in Wales
Your postcode’s DNO area	Confirms who to contact for connections or power cuts, whether NGED (south) or SP Manweb (north)
Whether Business Wales has a current grant or loan scheme you qualify for	Schemes open and close throughout the year, so check before assuming one you have read about is still live
Your current contract end date and notice terms	The same UK-wide switching and notice rules apply as elsewhere; see our switching guide
Your VAT rate	Confirm you are on the right rate, and check the temporary electricity zero rate applies if you qualify
Renewable options	Solar, and increasingly battery storage, can be worth comparing alongside a standard fixed contract; see our commercial solar guide

How do you get started?

1. Check your DNO area so you know who to contact about supply issues, and who handles a new connection if you need one.
2. Check Business Wales for current funding, since the schemes on offer change, and it costs nothing to ask.
3. Compare supplier quotes the same way as any GB business, using our business energy cost calculator.
4. Check your VAT rate is correct for your usage, and confirm whether the temporary electricity zero rate applies to you.
5. Ask about renewable and efficiency options if a loan-backed project, rather than just switching tariff, is on the table.

What if your business is in a bilingual or rural part of Wales?

Wales has areas with limited mains gas coverage, particularly in mid and west Wales, where electric heating, oil or LPG are more common than in urban south Wales. This does not change your rights or the suppliers available to you, since the GB electricity and gas markets described above cover the whole of Wales the same way. If you need paperwork or support in Welsh, Business Wales and the Welsh Government both offer bilingual services, which can be useful if you are applying for a grant or loan scheme and want to deal with it in Welsh rather than English.

If you are planning a new connection in a rural area, it is worth asking your chosen supplier or your DNO for an estimate early, since lead times and costs for extending the network can be longer than in a town or city. Our guide to new business energy connections explains what is involved.

Where does this leave a Welsh business shopping around?

Practically, treat Wales as part of one national market rather than a separate one: the same suppliers, contract types, switching rules and consumer protections apply as anywhere in England or Scotland, so a quote from a supplier based outside Wales is just as valid, and just as binding, as one from a Welsh office. Where it is worth spending a bit of extra time is checking what Welsh Government-backed funding is currently open, since it changes over time and is not available south or east of the border in England.

When you are ready, you can compare business energy quotes with us.

Frequently asked questions