The Hotel Energy Guide for 2026
A hotel is the one hospitality business that never closes. No last orders, no closing time, no quiet Tuesday: heating, hot water and a kitchen or two are running at 2am just as they are at 2pm. That constant baseline is what makes a hotel's energy bill genuinely different from the restaurant or pub down the street.
Ecosave Gas & Power negotiates business energy contracts for hotels of every size, from independent B&Bs to branded groups, built around how a 24-hour operation actually uses power.
7th Sept 2026
What Hotels Actually Use
Government data on the hospitality sector, hotels, restaurants and bars together, puts median electricity intensity at 168 kWh per square metre a year and gas at 296, among the highest of any UK sector for business energy, driven mostly by long operating hours and catering load. A hotel sits at the long-hours end of that range: a restaurant closes overnight, a hotel doesn't.
The Load That Never Clocks Off
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning is usually the single biggest share of a hotel's energy, often close to half the total, because corridors, lobbies and back-of-house areas need conditioning around the clock regardless of how many rooms are sold that night.
Hot water & laundry: Showers, baths and an in-house laundry, if there is one, push domestic hot water demand well above a typical office or shop.
Kitchens: A hotel restaurant or banqueting kitchen runs much like any commercial kitchen, just for longer hours across more of the day.
Pools, spas & leisure: Heated year-round regardless of occupancy, one of the few loads that barely moves whether the hotel is full or half empty.
Who Signs The Contract
It usually comes down to one of two positions.
Independent hotels & B&Bs
An owner-run property signs and renegotiates its own contract, usually with nobody dedicated to watching the renewal date full-time, so it's easy to roll onto an expensive out-of-contract rate without anyone noticing.
Branded & group hotels
A chain or group typically procures centrally across a portfolio, often through a dedicated facilities or procurement team, though individual sites can still end up on a legacy rate the group negotiation missed.
Suppliers We Place Hospitality Clients With
Not every supplier wants the admin of a multi-property portfolio or a site running half-hourly meters. These four consistently quote well for hotels, for different reasons.
- Comfortable managing large half-hourly metered sites
- SMETS2 smart metering as standard on new contracts
- Renewable-backed electricity tariffs, useful for properties reporting into corporate sustainability programmes
- Experience billing multi-property hotel groups under a single portfolio account
- Zero-carbon electricity tariffs backed by nuclear generation
- Can bundle gas, electricity and water into one contract, useful where laundry or a pool pushes water use well above a typical office
- Half-hourly usage data broken down by circuit
- A smaller, regionally focused supplier that often quotes competitively for independent, single-site hotels where the big six show less interest
- Fixed terms from twelve to thirty-six months, useful for budgeting against a financial year rather than a calendar year
How A Switch Actually Runs
Switching business energy supplier for a school follows the same four steps whether it's a single-form-entry primary or a twenty-site trust.
Letter of Authority
A short document that lets us request your usage history and current rates directly from suppliers. It doesn't commit you to anything; it just gives us the data to compare against.
Portfolio review
We pull together every meter on site, gas, electricity into one view, so you're negotiating as a portfolio rather than meter by meter.
Market comparison
We take that portfolio to the whole market, including broker-only rates that aren't published, and bring back a complete comparison rather than a single recommendation.
Contract start
Once you choose a supplier, the switch itself runs in the background over two to four weeks. There's no interruption to services while it happens.
Carbon Reporting Is Already Expected
Corporate travel programmes increasingly ask for a hotel's carbon data before adding it to a preferred-supplier list, often using the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI), a methodology already in use across more than thirty thousand properties worldwide, built for exactly that purpose. None of that requires switching business energy supplier, but a competitive rate frees up budget for the metering and efficiency work that actually feeds better numbers into that report.
Why Choose Ecosave
You might be tempted to go direct to British Gas or Eon. Here's why that often results in a worse deal for you:
Access to Broker-Only Tariffs
Suppliers have "wholesaler" rates not listed on public websites. Ecosave Gas and Power access exclusive rates on your behalf. We act as your outsourced procurement department.
The Ofgem 2026 Regulatory Shield
As of 2026, Ofgem regulates TPIs directly:
- Fee transparency (commission paid by supplier)
- Protection against mis-selling
- Full accountability
Market Muscle
Because we manage hundreds of meters across the UK, suppliers listen when we negotiate. They may not give you the same rate they give a broker managing a large portfolio.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does a half-empty hotel really use nearly as much energy as a full one?
Often, yes. Corridors, lobbies, kitchens and back-of-house areas are conditioned regardless of how many rooms are sold, so occupancy and energy use don't move in a straight line together.
What is a Letter of Authority (LOA)?
This is a simple document that gives Ecosave Gas and Power the legal right to talk to suppliers on your behalf. It does not sign you into a contract; it simply lets us find the data we need to save you money.
Does Ecosave work with British Gas and Eon?
Yes. We work with all the 'Big Six' (British Gas, Eon, EDF etc.) as well as specialist challenger brands like Yü Energy and Yorkshire Gas & Power to ensure we see the whole market.
We're part of a hotel group. Does that change how switching works?
It can help. Bringing several properties into one negotiation as a portfolio, rather than each site shopping separately, usually gets a sharper rate, provided nobody's already locked into a long fixed term.
Can I switch if I'm currently in a contract?
You can usually secure a new rate up to 12 months before your current contract ends. We call this 'forward-purchasing.' It protects you if the market prices are predicted to rise.
Can we switch before our current contract ends?
Usually, yes. You can often agree a new rate up to twelve months before your current contract expires, known as forward-purchasing, which protects you if prices are expected to rise before your renewal date.
Find Out What Your Hotel Is Actually Paying For
Send us a recent bill or a meter number, for one property or a whole portfolio, and we’ll tell you, in plain terms, whether you’re on a competitive rate, before you commit to anything.