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Business energy: choosing a contract and saving in 2026

By Laurens Arends · updated 05-10-2026

A business energy contract differs from a residential contract in the applicable rules, tax brackets, VAT and contract terms. First get out your annual bill, EAN codes, connection capacity and metering data. With these you can then compare business energy on the total costs instead of on one eye-catching rate.

Business rates are customised: request them from the supplier. The residential deals can be found on the deals page.

Choosing a business energy contract

You do not compare business energy by simply looking at which supplier shows the lowest kWh price. Find out what type of connection you have, how much you use and feed back per quarter of an hour or hour, when your current contract ends and which investments are coming up. Solar panels, charging points, a heat pump or expansion of production can change your needs and influence which business energy contract best suits your company.

A business energy contract is not automatically cheaper than a residential contract. Business quotes are often shown excluding VAT, while consumer prices include VAT. So always compare on the same basis. If you can deduct VAT in full, amounts excluding VAT are the best starting point. If you cannot, or only partially, also look at the costs including VAT.

Small business or large business?

The boundary is determined by the capacity of the connection, not by the annual consumption or the size of your business. A small business electricity connection goes up to and including 3 × 80 amperes and a small gas connection up to and including 40 m³(n) per hour. A self-employed person can therefore be a large consumer and a large company can have several small connections.

	Small-scale consumption	Large-scale consumption
Connection	Electricity up to and including 3 × 80 A; gas up to and including 40 m³(n)/hour	Electricity or gas above that limit
Compare	Comparing business energy online is possible	Quote based on metering profile, volume and term
Invoicing	Supply and grid operator charges are usually on one supplier invoice	Grid management, metering and supply are often invoiced separately
Business energy contract terms	Extra rights due to the small connection	More customisation and more contractual risk

Fixed, variable, dynamic or customised

With a fixed contract you lock in the supply price for a certain term. Taxes and grid operator charges do not remain fixed. A variable contract has no fixed end date and the supplier may change the price as set out in the terms and conditions. With a dynamic contract, the electricity price changes per hour or quarter of an hour and the gas price per day.

A dynamic business energy contract can be advantageous if you can shift your consumption, but the future annual price is uncertain. For businesses that use a lot of energy, that uncertainty makes the pricing of their products and services more difficult.

Large consumers are regularly offered an indexed contract, a click contract or a combination of fixed and market prices. When doing so, do not compare only the price formula. Also pay attention to volume deviations, profile and imbalance costs, guarantees of origin, credit security, metering costs, feed-in and the conditions in the event of growth, contraction or relocation.

How comparing business energy works

For every quote, use the same connection address, the same EAN codes, connection capacity, contract period and the same consumption and feed-in profile. For a small consumer, a representative, recent annual bill may be sufficient. For a large consumer, quarter-hourly values for electricity and hourly values for gas give a much more reliable picture than the annual volume alone.

Then compare the net annual costs:

Net annual costs = supply costs + fixed supplier costs + grid management and metering + energy tax − tax reduction − feed-in revenue + feed-in and profile costs − discount

Do not make the advance payment amount the focus. That is merely a prepayment. Also check whether the quote is including or excluding VAT and whether a discount is already included in the annual price shown. If you have solar panels, compare how much electricity you actually feed back to the grid, which feed-in charges you pay and which feed-in fee you receive. For small connections you can still use net metering up to and including 2026.

Energy tax for businesses in 2026

Energy tax works with brackets per connection. Only the consumption within a bracket gets the rate of that bracket. The lower rate of a higher bracket therefore does not apply retroactively to your entire consumption. According to the Belastingdienst, the following normal rates apply in 2026:

Electricity per year	Excl. VAT per kWh	Incl. 21% VAT per kWh
0 up to and including 2.900 kWh	€ 0,09161	€ 0,11085
2.901 up to and including 10.000 kWh	€ 0,09161	€ 0,11085
10.001 up to and including 50.000 kWh	€ 0,06671	€ 0,08072
50.001 up to and including 10 million kWh	€ 0,03735	€ 0,04519
More than 10 million kWh, business	€ 0,00310	€ 0,00375

Natural gas per year	Excl. VAT per m³	Incl. 21% VAT per m³
0 t/m 1.000 m³	€ 0,60066	€ 0,72680
1.001 t/m 170.000 m³	€ 0,60066	€ 0,72680
170.001 up to and including 1 million m³	€ 0,33085	€ 0,40033
More than 1 million up to and including 10 million m³	€ 0,21396	€ 0,25889
More than 10 million m³	€ 0,05313	€ 0,06429

For an electricity connection in a building with an occupancy function, such as an office, the energy tax reduction in 2026 amounts to € 519,80 excluding VAT and € 628,96 including VAT. Different rates or refund schemes exist for certain applications.

An office that uses 40.000 kWh and saves 4.000 kWh avoids € 266,84 in energy tax excluding VAT, or € 322,88 including VAT, on those last kilowatt hours. On top of that comes the saving on the supply price. If a business reduces its gas consumption from 200.000 to 180.000 m³, it saves € 6.617 in energy tax excluding VAT, or € 8.006,57 including VAT, on those 20.000 m³, plus the avoided supply costs.

Contract terms and hidden catches

A business energy contract does not automatically have the same protection as an energy contract for consumers. This means, for example, that there is not necessarily a statutory cooling-off period of fourteen days. A supplier can offer one contractually, but this is not mandatory. If, as an entrepreneur, you use the energy mainly privately, for example at home, then according to the ACM you may legally still be a consumer and have more protection.

Micro-enterprises, with fewer than ten employees and less than € 2 million in turnover or balance sheet total, do have a number of extra rights. For example, if a fixed contract is terminated early, the supplier may only charge a cancellation fee based on its expected loss. Request a calculation before switching. According to the ACM, it remains valid for two months. Other contractual compensation may apply to larger business customers.

In the business energy contract, be sure to check the following: the end date, tacit renewal, price index, payment security, volume margin and relocation clause. A cheap rate can become expensive when your production falls and you still have to purchase a minimum volume.

Saving energy in businesses: rules and practical approach

Saving energy in businesses is sometimes mandatory, but is advisable in any case. The RVO states that the energy saving obligation can apply per location from 50.000 kWh of electricity or 25.000 m³ of natural gas equivalent per year.

You must then carry out all mandatory measures with a payback period of five years or less and in principle report on them once every four years. The building owner is responsible for the building measures and the user for the measures within the business activity. Check your personal situation with the Wetchecker from RVO and find out whether saving energy is mandatory for your business.

Saving energy in businesses starts with measuring. Create a baseline of at least twelve representative months and look at quarter-hourly data for consumption outside opening hours, simultaneous peaks and seasonal effects. Then break down the consumption into, for example, heating, ventilation, cooling, lighting, compressed air, production and charging. This prevents you from investing a lot in a small consumer while a poorly adjusted installation is still running day and night.

First tackle settings and maintenance: switching times, temperature limits, ventilation, cooling installations and compressed air leaks. Then calculate per measure the investment, annual kWh or m³ saving, maintenance effects and payback period. Measure again after implementation.

For larger investments, support may be available. With the Energie-investeringsaftrek, according to RVO, in 2026 you may additionally deduct 40% of the investment costs that meet the conditions from your taxable profit. The business ISDE supports, under certain conditions, heat pumps, solar water heaters and small wind turbines, among other things. Apply for that subsidy before you place the order. For large production and CO₂ reduction projects, the SDE++ may be relevant.

Large companies may also fall under the EED audit obligation. In 2026, according to RVO, this applies at a minimum of 250 FTE, or at more than € 50 million in annual turnover and more than € 43 million in balance sheet total. The energy audit must be repeated every four years.

Frequently asked questions about comparing business energy

Is a business energy contract always cheaper?

No. Supply rates, fixed costs, discounts and conditions together determine the result. Only compare business and residential deals on the same VAT basis and the same expected consumption and feed-in.

Can I, as a self-employed person, take out a business energy contract at home?

That is sometimes possible, but it is not automatically advantageous. If the energy use is mainly private, you may legally still be regarded as a consumer. The tax deduction depends on the business use and your VAT position. So always discuss the tax consequences of mixed use with your accountant.

Do I have a fourteen-day cooling-off period with business energy?

Not as standard. Only if the supplier promises this or you are legally regarded as a consumer can a cooling-off period apply.

Can I deduct VAT on business energy?

Only to the extent that you are entitled to deduct VAT and the energy is used for taxable business activities. With mixed use or exempt activities, only part may be deductible. Discuss this with your accountant.

When should I compare a business energy contract?

Start before the end of your current fixed term and first request the current cancellation fee. Compare again as soon as your consumption profile changes substantially, for example due to the installation of solar panels, with electric transport or with an expansion of production.