Commercial energy broker UK: what they actually get paid and what to watch

A commercial energy broker in the UK typically earns nothing from the buyer directly and everything from a per-kWh commission baked into the unit rate of the contract the buyer signs. Ofgem's Non-Domestic Market Review consultation on Third-Party Intermediaries, in statutory phase during 2026, would force that commission onto the quote in writing. Until the rule applies, the commission is real, invisible, and paid by the buyer over the life of the contract.

TL;DR

Most UK commercial energy brokers are paid through commission embedded in the supplier's unit rate, typically 0.3-2 p/kWh.
Ofgem's TPI consultation, progressing through statutory consultation in 2026, would require commission disclosure per kWh on every quote.
Large I&C brokers (Inenco, Inspired Energy, Energy Solutions UK) and advisory firms (Cornwall Insight Advisory) operate differently from SME cold-call lead-gen shops.
Fee-based brokers charge the buyer a flat or hourly fee and accept no supplier commission; commission-based brokers do not charge the buyer directly.
Broker membership of recognised industry bodies (Utilities Intermediaries Association) and Ofgem's redress requirements for microbusinesses are the two verification anchors that exist today.

Last reviewed: May 2026

How broker commission actually works

A commercial energy broker (also called a Third-Party Intermediary, or TPI) sits between the business buyer and the licensed energy supplier. The broker requests quotes from a panel of suppliers, presents them, and routes the chosen contract to signature. The supplier pays the broker a commission on every kWh consumed under the contract for its duration. That commission is added to the unit rate the buyer pays. A 1 p/kWh commission on a 250,000 kWh annual contract for three years is £7,500 of broker income across the contract life, paid by the buyer with every monthly bill, embedded inside the headline unit rate.

The commission is not illegal, not necessarily excessive, and not always poorly earned. The catch is that without disclosure, the buyer cannot judge whether the rate would have been lower from the same supplier on a direct quote.

The 0.3-2 p/kWh commission range

Ofgem's Non-Domestic Market Review evidence base, published through 2024 and into 2026, documents typical SME broker commission in a range of roughly 0.3 p/kWh at the low end (large, low-margin contracts placed by tightly-managed corporate brokers) to 2 p/kWh or more at the high end (cold-call SME placements with little price discipline). The mid-band is around 0.8-1.2 p/kWh on a standard 12-24 month SME contract. The figure is invisible to the buyer in almost every current quote because nothing on the contract document separates "supplier rate" from "broker uplift." A buyer signing 27 p/kWh has no idea whether the underlying supplier price is 25.5 p/kWh plus 1.5 p commission or 26.8 p/kWh plus 0.2 p commission.

Indicative commission structures by broker type, May 2026

Broker type	Commission model	Typical commission (SME, p/kWh)	Buyer-paid fee	Disclosure today
SME commission-only broker	Supplier-paid uplift inside unit rate	0.8-2.0	None	Optional; usually on request only
I&C / large corporate broker	Supplier-paid uplift, sometimes split with management fee	0.3-1.0	Sometimes a separate fee	Increasingly transparent by contract
Fee-based independent broker	Flat or hourly fee to buyer; commission rebated or declined	0 (or fully rebated)	Flat or hourly fee	Fully transparent by definition
Lead-generation / cold-call shop	Supplier-paid uplift, often higher band	1.5-3.0 (sometimes higher)	None	Usually not disclosed
Advisory consultancy (e.g., Cornwall Insight Advisory)	Hourly or project fee; no panel placement	n/a	Project fee	Fully transparent

Ranges reflect the Ofgem TPI consultation evidence base and publicly reported broker disclosures; specific arrangements vary by broker and contract.

What Ofgem's 2026 TPI rules propose

Ofgem's Non-Domestic Market Review on Third-Party Intermediaries proposes a statutory regime under which TPIs serving microbusinesses (and, in some proposed scenarios, the wider non-domestic market) must disclose commission per kWh in writing before contract signature, must adhere to a code of conduct, and must be accessible to alternative dispute resolution through a redress scheme. The Energy Ombudsman already accepts non-domestic complaints under the broader Energy Ombudsman scheme for microbusinesses. The TPI consultation, in statutory phase during 2026, would extend redress accessibility and codify disclosure. The exact in-force date depends on the consultation timeline and any subsequent licence condition modifications; that timeline has slipped before.

In practice, a buyer in May 2026 cannot rely on the rule yet. The rule is coming; it is not in force.

Fee-based brokers versus commission-based brokers

A fee-based broker charges the buyer a flat fee (often £500-£2,500 per procurement round for an SME, more for I&C) or an hourly rate, and either declines supplier commission entirely or rebates any commission received back to the buyer. The total cost is transparent because the buyer pays it directly. A commission-based broker charges the buyer nothing on the invoice and takes a per-kWh uplift inside the unit rate. The total cost is opaque because the buyer does not see the commission line. Neither model is automatically better. A fee-based broker is structurally cleaner; a commission-based broker can still be competent and competitive, but the buyer must explicitly ask for the commission figure in writing before signing. If the broker refuses to disclose, that is the disclosure: walk.

Legitimate I&C brokers and what they do differently

Larger Industrial & Commercial brokers (Inenco, Inspired Energy, Energy Solutions UK and similar) typically operate with documented commission policies, named account managers, formal tender processes and contracts that separate procurement, bureau services (bill validation, half-hourly data reporting, carbon reporting) and consultancy. Advisory firms like Cornwall Insight Advisory (the consultancy arm of Cornwall Insight) sell research and project work on an hourly or project-fee basis without panel placement, which is structurally distinct from brokerage. The difference matters: a corporate broker with disclosed commission, a panel of 10-30 suppliers, a named account manager and a bill-validation service is a different proposition from a cold-call lead-gen shop placing single contracts on inflated commissions.

Here is where it breaks for a small business: the marketing language used by both ends of the market sounds identical. Both call themselves "brokers." Both promise to save the buyer money. Verification requires looking at commission disclosure, panel breadth, named contacts and industry-body membership, not at the website copy.

How to verify a UK commercial energy broker

Three checks reduce risk meaningfully. First, ask the broker in writing for the commission per kWh that will be embedded in any quote they present; a competent broker will give a figure or a range. Second, check membership of the Utilities Intermediaries Association (UIA), which maintains a non-domestic broker code of practice and a public membership list; UIA membership is not regulatory, but it filters out the lowest tier of cold-call operators. Third, confirm whether the broker is accessible through the Energy Ombudsman scheme for microbusiness complaints; if the broker refuses to engage with an ADR scheme, the buyer's redress options narrow sharply. Ofgem's energy advice for businesses page links to these checks. A broker who clears all three checks is not guaranteed to be the cheapest, but the buyer is not exposed to the worst failure modes documented in Ofgem's TPI evidence base.

A named example: a Bristol multi-site retailer in November 2025

A small Bristol retailer with three sites and combined annual electricity consumption of 95,000 kWh ran a procurement in November 2025. Two SME brokers and one fee-based broker were invited to quote. The first SME broker returned a 28.1 p/kWh fixed for 24 months, refused to disclose commission in writing, and applied pressure to sign within 48 hours. The second SME broker returned 27.4 p/kWh and disclosed a 1.1 p/kWh commission on request. The fee-based broker charged £950 for the procurement round, returned 26.0 p/kWh direct from the supplier, and rebated any commission. Across three years and 285,000 kWh, the cheapest outcome was the fee-based broker by approximately £6,500 versus the first SME broker and approximately £1,500 versus the second. The fee paid £950 once and saved multiples of that.

The cheaper option was visible only because the buyer asked for disclosure.

When a broker is the right call

A broker is the right call when the buyer does not have time to run three direct supplier quotes on the same day, when the portfolio spans multiple meters and regions, when the buyer wants bureau services (bill validation, consumption analytics, half-hourly data) bundled with procurement, or when the buyer wants market intelligence from a TPI's view across many transactions. A broker is not the right call when the buyer has time and a single MPAN and would rather negotiate directly with two or three suppliers. The choice depends on time-cost and portfolio complexity, not on whether brokers are inherently good or bad.

The lead-gen shop pattern to refuse

A recurring complaint pattern documented by Citizens Advice and reflected in Ofgem's TPI evidence base involves cold-call lead-gen shops claiming to represent "Ofgem" or "the government switching service." Ofgem does not run a switching service for businesses. There is no government switching service for commercial energy. Any caller claiming either of those affiliations is misrepresenting; the call should end. The same pattern includes pressure to sign verbally on the call, claims that a deal "expires today," and refusal to send the contract by email for review. None of those tactics survive a competent procurement process.

Regional context: Scotland and Northern Ireland

The TPI regulatory framework applies across Great Britain through Ofgem licence conditions. Northern Ireland sits under the Utility Regulator, which operates its own non-domestic supply oversight; brokers active in Northern Ireland are not subject to Ofgem's TPI consultation outcomes directly. A business with sites in both Belfast and Glasgow needs to verify each broker's authority and redress route against the relevant regulator, not assume a single rulebook. Scotland is GB-regulated by Ofgem; only Northern Ireland is the regulatory exception.

Contract length and broker incentives

Broker commission accrues per kWh over the life of the contract, so a longer contract generates more commission for the same uplift. A broker recommending a 36-month contract on a stable wholesale curve is sometimes recommending the right contract for the buyer and sometimes recommending the contract that pays the broker most. The two recommendations can coincide; they can also diverge. A buyer can probe by asking the broker to quote the same supplier for 12, 24 and 36 months on the same day and to disclose commission on each. If the broker steers strongly toward the longest term without addressing the buyer's specific wholesale view, that is a signal to ask harder questions.

The cheapest contract for the buyer is rarely the longest contract by default.

Editorial disclaimer. KaelTripton is an independent UK publisher. This article is editorial, not personal financial or energy procurement advice. Rates, caps, grant levels and supplier offers move; verify any figure with the named primary source before acting on it. KaelTripton does not earn commission from suppliers or brokers mentioned.

Frequently asked questions

How is a UK commercial energy broker paid?

Most are paid through a per-kWh commission embedded in the supplier's unit rate, typically 0.3-2 p/kWh. Fee-based brokers charge the buyer directly and accept no supplier commission.

Is broker commission disclosed today?

Not by default. Ofgem's Non-Domestic Market Review TPI consultation, in statutory phase during 2026, would require commission disclosure per kWh in writing before contract signature. Until in force, the buyer must ask.

Are commercial energy brokers regulated by Ofgem?

Brokers are not directly licensed by Ofgem, but suppliers' licence conditions place obligations on TPI conduct, and the proposed 2026 TPI regime would expand those obligations and redress access for microbusinesses.

What is the Utilities Intermediaries Association?

The UIA is a non-domestic broker membership body that maintains a code of practice and a public membership list. Membership is voluntary, not regulatory, but it filters out the lowest tier of cold-call operators.

Can a microbusiness complain about a broker to the Energy Ombudsman?

Yes, in many cases. The Energy Ombudsman scheme accepts microbusiness complaints about energy supply and broker conduct under defined criteria. The proposed TPI regime expands access further.

Is it cheaper to go direct than through a broker?

Sometimes. A direct quote from a published-rate supplier can beat a commission-laden broker quote; a competitive corporate broker with a wide panel can beat a slow direct procurement. Like-for-like, same-day quotes are the only honest test.