The Settling-In Period: A 90-Day Cost Audit for a New Business Energy Contract
A new energy contract rarely announces its problems immediately. The first invoice arrives, the direct debit is collected, and the figures are filed. Only later, when a budget line drifts or a colleague queries a standing charge, does anyone look closely at the terms that were actually applied. By then the supplier's position has hardened, the account has accumulated billing history, and correcting an error requires a formal dispute rather than a simple telephone call.
The first ninety days are different. Suppliers are still bedding in the account, meter readings are fresh, and the transfer process remains recent enough to be examined. Errors corrected in this window are usually resolved as administrative adjustments. The same errors raised in month eight tend to be treated as claims. For cost-conscious buyers, that difference in treatment is worth a modest amount of early attention.
Begin with the welcome pack, not the invoice
The welcome pack is the supplier's statement of what it believes it has agreed. It deserves a careful reading before any invoice is paid. Check the contract start date, the contract end date and the renewal window. Confirm the named legal entity matches the company that signed the agreement. Verify the site address and the supply point identifiers, because a transposed digit in an MPAN or MPRN can attach a contract to the wrong premises entirely.
Confirm the meter serial number against the physical meter where access allows. Where a half-hourly electricity supply is involved, check that the meter is communicating and that the supplier has the correct profile class and capacity details. For gas, verify the MPRN and the unit rate basis. These are mundane checks, but they are the foundation on which every subsequent invoice rests.
Reconcile the rates that were quoted against the rates that were loaded
A contract can be commercially agreed and yet loaded incorrectly into the supplier's billing system. The unit rate in the welcome pack should match the offer letter or broker confirmation. The standing charge should match to the same number of decimal places. Any day or night split should be applied to the correct registers. Where a flexible or pass-through product has been purchased, confirm the shape of the risk premium and the indexation basis.
It is also worth checking the invoice itself for the same values rather than assuming that a correct welcome pack implies correct billing. Systems can diverge. A rate loaded at 0.1 pence per kilowatt-hour above the agreed figure is a small error that compounds across a year of consumption, and it is far easier to unwind in the first quarter than after twelve monthly cycles.
Test the tax treatment while the paper trail is fresh
VAT and Climate Change Levy are frequent sources of quiet cost. Confirm that VAT is being applied at the correct rate for the site's use and that any reduced-rate certificate is on file and correctly referenced. For CCL, verify that the correct commodity and supply type are being charged, and that any relief the business is entitled to has been claimed rather than overlooked. CCL is not a large line for every organisation, but it is a reliable indicator of whether the supplier has understood the account.
Where a business has recently changed its activities, added a site or altered its VAT status, the first ninety days are the natural moment to ensure the supplier's records reflect the current position. Corrections later in the contract tend to require supporting evidence that is harder to assemble.
Compare actual consumption with the profile used at renewal
Every offer is priced against an assumed consumption profile. The estimate may come from historical data, from the previous supplier's annual quantity, or from a broker's model. If the actual meter reads diverge materially from that assumption, the commercial basis of the contract may no longer suit the business.
Early invoices are the first reliable test. Compare cumulative consumption against the estimated annual figure and against the same period in prior years, adjusting for weather and operational change. A site that is running well below its assumed load may be overpaying on capacity or standing charges. A site running above it may face a reconciliation or a deemed-rate exposure at renewal. Neither problem is fatal, but both are cheaper to address while the contract is young and the supplier is still willing to adjust.
Check capacity and availability charges, not just unit rates
For larger electricity supplies, capacity charges and availability charges can rival the cost of energy itself. Confirm that the agreed capacity in kilovolt-amperes is the capacity being billed. A transposed figure or an inherited capacity from the previous occupier can produce a charge that is either unnecessarily high or dangerously low. The first quarter is the right time to review half-hourly data for peak demand and to decide whether the contracted capacity reflects how the site actually operates.
Keep a simple evidence file
None of this requires a consultant. A single folder containing the offer letter, the welcome pack, the first three invoices, meter photographs, half-hourly data extracts and a short note of any queries raised is sufficient. If a correction is needed, that folder is the difference between a quick adjustment and a prolonged exchange.
Raise issues early and in writing
The final discipline is procedural. Log queries with the supplier in writing within the first quarter, reference the account number and supply point, and state the figure that is disputed. Suppliers have every incentive to correct genuine errors while the account is new. That incentive weakens as invoices are paid and billing history accumulates.
A ninety-day audit is not a bureaucratic exercise. It is a cost-control measure that takes a few hours and protects the terms the business thought it had bought. The invoice that looks unremarkable in month one is often the one that becomes expensive in month ten.
