Business energy for florists Sort your flower shop's next energy contract when it suits you.

DESNZ doesn't publish a figure for florists. The closest is its median for all shops in England and Wales: 7,900 kWh of electricity in 2024, from its building energy statistics (ND-NEED). That covers every kind of shop building, from kiosks to supermarkets, so it can't tell you what a flower chiller or cold room adds. Your bill shows what your shop actually uses.

There's no official figure for florists. At the median for all shops, 7,900 kWh a year, a shop would pay about £3,030 a year before VAT, or £250 a month, at the provisional Q2 2026 average paid by businesses using up to 20,000 kWh a year (38.36p per kWh, including every charge except VAT). Your contract matters too: Ofgem says deemed and out-of-contract rates are usually more expensive than a fixed-term contract.

Yes, but there's no official figure for how much a florist's chiller or cold room adds. Refrigeration is the biggest use of electricity across DESNZ's broad small shops category, but DESNZ's building survey put that down to refrigerated food cabinets in the shops that have them, so it isn't a florist figure either. Carbon Trust guidance on refrigeration says warm air getting in through open doors is the biggest way a cold room's load is affected, so keeping the door shut helps. Your bills show what your whole shop uses, chiller included.

It depends on each bill. HMRC treats electricity averaging no more than 33 kWh a day (1,000 kWh a month) as domestic use, so there's no Climate Change Levy, no certificate needed and a lower VAT rate instead of 20%: 0% in Great Britain from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, then 5% again, and 5% in Northern Ireland. HMRC works the average out over every day each bill covers, days you're closed included, so each bill is judged on its own, not on your whole year. If a bill averages 33 kWh a day or less and still shows 20%, ask your supplier to correct it. Gas has its own limit, 145 kWh a day, and stays at 5% within it.

Not necessarily. Ofgem says that if you work from home, you're probably on a domestic energy contract, and you'd switch it the way you switch your home energy. Check with your supplier to make sure. Meet George is for business energy only. If you later take on a shop, bear in mind Ofgem says there's no cooling-off period on a business energy contract, so check the terms and fees before you sign.

Tell the current supplier as soon as you can, with a meter reading if you can take one: Ofgem says both the business moving in and the one moving out should. The supplier can ask for evidence such as your lease, or property sale documents or title deeds if you bought the building, and reviews it within 10 working days. You're responsible for any energy you use before your own contract starts, and moving in without arranging one puts you on a deemed contract, at rates Ofgem says are usually higher than negotiated ones.

Not directly. If your landlord pays the supplier and recharges you through the service charge or rent, the contract is likely to be theirs, so start the conversation with them. If paying the energy bill is your responsibility under the lease, the 2022 business energy advice Ofgem wrote with Citizens Advice and Energy UK says you can still switch, even if the lease ties you to a default supplier. Check it for clauses saying you must tell your landlord before you switch, or return the supply to a particular supplier when you leave.

If you're on out-of-contract or deemed rates, now: Ofgem says you can switch to a new supplier at any time. Check first that your contract didn't renew you onto a new fixed term, and how much notice you need to give. On a fixed contract, most suppliers won't let you leave before the end unless you've agreed a termination clause or pay an exit fee, but fixed contracts have a switching window, which opens a few months before the end, for you to renew or tell your supplier you're leaving. Your current supplier can also object, for example if you owe it money. The bill check looks for your contract end date and tells you in seconds whether it's time to line up your next contract.

A flat 1p per kWh, and you only pay it if you switch through Meet George. For a shop using the all-shops median of 7,900 kWh a year, that's £79 a year. The same 1p per kWh applies to gas. Electricity switches happen online; gas isn't on the platform yet, so for now our team arranges gas contracts with you directly. You pay the fee through your energy supplier, and it's itemised on every quote, never buried.