Finding energy supplier for new build premises

[AOP]

Hi all, first time poster - be gentle with me!
I've acquired a new build property from which I intend to run a small gallery/studio. Currently there is no electricity supply, just a capped terminal, and obviously no electric use history to quote when comparing potential suppliers, although I'm anticipating that the power consumption will be 'moderate'.
Given the above, any suggestions how best to go about identifying a suitable commercial electricity supplier?

 

[pentel]

You need to be more precise about your expected usage. Moderate usage for us would be around £1000 per month. For others it may be £100 or £10,000

 

[Mark T Jones]

@NickGrogan is your man

 

[Will.Lu]

also, you need a generator with ATS for emergency issues

 

[NickGrogan]

Hi all, first time poster - be gentle with me!
I've acquired a new build property from which I intend to run a small gallery/studio. Currently there is no electricity supply, just a capped terminal, and obviously no electric use history to quote when comparing potential suppliers, although I'm anticipating that the power consumption will be 'moderate'.
Given the above, any suggestions how best to go about identifying a suitable commercial electricity supplier?

Happy to help with this if you want to DM me.

You should have been given the mpan when you leased/bought the building, if not go back to the seller/landlord and ask for this.

Then you'll need to work out how much power you'll actually need. Essentially add up the usage for everything that will be in the building and add a bit extra. This is your maximum power.

Then you'll need to estimate your annual usage. how many hours per day are you open/working, how many days per year, and how much of your equipment is on at any time?

As @pentel moderate has no meaning, it will just cause confusion. Three clients called me today and told me they used "a lot" of power.

One was about 2000 units per year
one was 180,000 units per year
the last one was 26,000,000 units per year

 

[AOP]

Happy to help with this if you want to DM me.

You should have been given the mpan when you leased/bought the building, if not go back to the seller/landlord and ask for this.

Then you'll need to work out how much power you'll actually need. Essentially add up the usage for everything that will be in the building and add a bit extra. This is your maximum power.

Then you'll need to estimate your annual usage. how many hours per day are you open/working, how many days per year, and how much of your equipment is on at any time?

As @pentel moderate has no meaning, it will just cause confusion. Three clients called me today and told me they used "a lot" of power.

One was about 2000 units per year
one was 180,000 units per year
the last one was 26,000,000 units per year

Thanks for that, Nick. You and other respondents are one step ahead of me already; I was thinking in very simple terms about where I should go (ie comparison sites, direct to suppliers, or brokers...) but I appreciate I will need to be armed with the relevant info regardless of who I approach.

That said, you've kind of kicked off the process, so I felt obliged to estimate my likely consumption. Following a bit of head scratching and a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation, I reckon I'll be looking at between 3,000 and 4,000 units annually. It's not a very big place and it's very well insulated. The only power consumption will be LED lighting, a couple of panel/convector heaters used sparingly (although investigating other options just now) a small ventilation fan, and a kettle to boil some water.

I don't have an MPAN so will make enquiries of the builders/vendors...

 

[AOP]

Following up on this... Have now got my MPAN number. Nick, I will DM you.

Meantime, a bit of info: if you Google the relevant Distribution Network Operator (DNO) for central & southern Scotland you'll likely think your DNO will be SP Energy Networks. Turns out there's a few exceptions, and for my recently constructed bit of Edinburgh it's GTC UK. Probably already well understood by most, but might help any other new-build newbies like me out there.

 

[NickGrogan]

GTC is an independent DNO, they own lots of little bits of network all across the country, could be just a few units, could be a whole industrial estate. Builders like them as they can be cheaper than the host DNO.

But this means your mpan will probably by a GTC Mpan. This means it wont work on most comparison sites and a lot of suppliers wont quote for it in their standard price matrix. Unfortunately this probably means higher bills for you.

This applies to all areas of the country, not just Edinburgh

 

[AOP]

GTC is an independent DNO, they own lots of little bits of network all across the country, could be just a few units, could be a whole industrial estate. Builders like them as they can be cheaper than the host DNO.

But this means your mpan will probably by a GTC Mpan. This means it wont work on most comparison sites and a lot of suppliers wont quote for it in their standard price matrix. Unfortunately this probably means higher bills for you.

This applies to all areas of the country, not just Edinburgh

"this probably means higher bills for you."
That's really not good news...