The Npower business arm supplies over 1,000 small and medium companies with gas and electricity. Find out what services Npower can offer your business, from energy-tracking tools to loans.
Npower business energy plans
Start by getting a quote online from Npower. Follow these simple steps to get there.
STEP 1: Head to Npower's quote online page.
STEP 2: Choose whether you want a quote for gas or electricity. (At Selectra we recommend that you start with electricity, as this is likely to be your business’ main source of energy).
STEP 3: Enter the postcode of your business premises and select your address from the dropdown menu.
STEP 4: Enter how much energy your business uses yearly (in kWh) or the yearly spend respectively (in GBP).
TOP TIP: To find out the size of your company and the average yearly consumption and spend for a business similar to yours, see our Gas and Electric for Business guide.
STEP 5: From the long list of Npower Business electricity quotes which starts from the cheapest to the more expensive ones, pick the tariff you want.
Switch business supplier to Npower
If you’ve been persuaded by Npower about the value it can bring to your business, you may decide to switch to them. Switching your business energy tariff has never been easier since Ofgem removed the obstacles that used to exist.
If you’ve got a quote online and you believe that Npower can save you money, then intuitively you'll know that switching is worth it! You’ll then be in a good position to compare business energy suppliers.
Products and services for business customers
Npower loves to treat its business customers with a hot range of corporate products and services. Let’s take a look at some of these below and the benefits they could offer your company.
New gas and electricity connections
As your business grows and expands, Npower can accompany you along the way. Whenever you need new gas and electricity connections installed, Npower will “fast-track” your request as a business customer. In fact, Npower claims to be able to supply a new meter on site within five working days of requesting it.
While a new connection is being set up at your business premises, you’ll have a dedicated single contact from Npower who will be on hand if ever you have a query. For all other queries, contact the corresponding department laid out in our Npower Contact guide.
Broadband and telecoms services for business
When you think of a gas and electricity supplier, you don’t usually associate them with broadband and telecoms providers. Npower boasts a comprehensive broadband and phone service which it offers on a parallel website: npower.broadbandandphones.co.uk.
This could certainly come in handy whenever you and your staff need access to fast broadband, Skype and landline connections to communicate internally as well as externally.
According to Npower, it can offer this service due to its partnership with DMSL. DMSL acts as an intermediary between your business (the customer) and the telecoms/broadband provider (be it BT, Plusnet, Gamma or O2). DMSL claims that it can negotiate the best business broadband and telephone package for your business.
Good to know:It’s worth remembering that Npower is not a party to this contract. It’s merely an “introducer” to DMSL which itself acts as a “middle-man” to negotiate your contract with your telecoms/broadband provider. So your contract will be between you (or in the name of your business) and the provider, eg BT, Plusnet, Gamma or O2.
If your business already has an internet and telecoms provider, Npower states that it can take care of the switching process for you. Before contracting any broadband or telecoms services via Npower, we recommend that you first find the cheapest broadband deals.
LED lighting
Npower has partnered up with the Barrier Group, an experienced supplier of LED lighting. Whether your business premises includes a warehouse, storage room, meeting room, sports pitch or any other open space, you can get the best LED lighting solution. Among them are: sports floodlights, street lights and recessed ceiling panel lights.
The purported benefits of Npower’s Barrier LED lights include:
- Energy-saving (up to 70%)
- Reduced maintenance costs (up to 95%)
- A reduction in CO2 emissions
The LED lights are fully ISO14001 accredited and carry a ten-year guarantee. They also qualify for ECA tax relief.
Good to know:LED lights are just one of many ways you can make your business more energy efficient. Check out what else you could do to lower your bills if you work in a retail shop, salon or restaurant.
Remember that by lowering your business energy consumption, you could potentially avoid paying the Climate Change Levy.
Business loans
If you were shocked to have read above that Npower offers broadband and telecoms services, you’ll be bowled over to know that they can even offer you financial loans! To be more precise, Npower isn’t the lender, but rather the “introducer” who can put you in contact with the lender itself. The advantage of going through Npower rather than directly to the lender is the more advantageous terms that Npower can negotiate on your behalf.
There are two types of loans that you could obtain by going through Npower. Let’s see the features of each one and how much money your business could get.
1. Capify
What’s Capify? Capify is an established provider of business finance to small and medium-sized businesses. It’s also one of the biggest alternative finance lenders you can find worldwide. Having launched its services in 2015, Capify is now an established provider of loans for small and medium-sized companies.
What's an alternative finance lender?Alternative finance lenders are financial channels that have emerged outside of the traditional finance network such as regulated banks and capital markets. Examples of associated lending activities include reward-based crowdfunding, revenue-based financing and online lenders. Alternative finance instruments include cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
How much can I get? Capify’s loans range from £3,500 to £500,000. According to Npower, Capify has helped thousands of business owners to get the cash injections they needed to kick-start their business. So if you either need some start-up capital or a cash-injection to boost your cash flow, Npower can put you in touch with Capify to get it. You can elect to repay the loan during a period of between six to ten months, whichever suits your business needs best.
2. Bibby
What’s Bibby? Bibby Financial Services (BFS) provides financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They offer flexible and adaptable loans and foreign exchange services in a way that helps businesses grow in their domestic and international markets.
How much can I get? Bibby provides over £466m to companies across the UK. In fact, it has lent over £3.1bn in the last 12 months alone. So if you plan on expanding your business abroad and you need to free up cash flow and unlock working capital, Npower can put you in touch with Bibby to get what you need.
Online services with an account
You’ve registered for an online account and you should know how to log in. What online services can you expect to enjoy as a business customer? The short answer is lots. Your online account includes features that are business-focused, with the objective of helping you become more efficient and astute in managing your company’s energy needs. Let’s look at how Npower’s two most significant online services can help propel your business forward.
Intelligent Analytics
What is it? Intelligent Analytics is an energy management tool. It provides detailed consumption data to help you understand and manage your business utilities. Intelligent Analytics comes in three versions depending on your business needs. Let’s look at each of them here:
Intelligent Analytics: Monitor
See your company’s energy consumption on a simple dashboard from which you can generate management reports. These are some of the features of Intelligent Analytics Monitor:
- Reliable half-hourly data uploaded daily. Note that you’ll need a half-hourly or AMR meter.
- Site-level reporting that can be adjusted to track cost, carbon emissions, and KWh.
- Multi-user and multi-utility, so more than one staff member can have access across multiple sites.
Intelligent Analytics: Manager
This more sophisticated version of Intelligent Analytics called “Manager” allows you to create virtual sites to pinpoint specific areas of concern. This is handy when you need to conduct a more thorough analysis of a particular site. What’s more, you can use tailor-made alarms and targeting to enjoy a greater degree of control over how much energy your business uses. Some of the features of Intelligent Analytics Manager are:
- Create management and forecasting reports.
- Import and Export data for up to 5 channels per business site.
- Personalise your site and meter details.
Just like the first version, Monitor, you’ll need a half-hourly or AMR meter.
Intelligent Analytics: Live
The most sophisticated model of Npower’s Intelligent Analytics tool - Live - will enable you to stream Half-Hourly data. To put that into context, it means you can update your dashboards and produce reports every half hour using the very latest consumption data. Some of the features of IA Live are:
- Data analysis, management reports and forecasting reports available for download.
- Alarms and Targeting that are triggered based on your own data or by benchmarks.
- Multi-user and multi-platform Virtual sites and meters.
- Live half-hourly data received on your device.
Risk Navigator
If you’re on a flexible tariff and want to predict and prepare for movements in the energy market, Npower’s Risk Navigator is a tool you’ll love.
What is it? With Risk Navigator, you get the latest energy market intelligence, news and analysis 24/7. Npower boasts accuracy and veracity in the data it sends via Risk Navigator, claiming that all of its data is thoroughly researched and prepared by its Optimisation Desk, located on the Swindon RWE trading floor.
What’s in it for my business? Whenever you buy energy or complete any similar transaction, you can download bespoke reports by logging in to your online account. These reports are said to contain features that suit your individual approach to energy transacting. What does this mean in practice? We’ll see a worked example in our Npower Tariffs guide (coming soon).
What do I get? Among the six key data types that you can expect to receive from Npower’s Risk Navigator, three of them include the following:
- Market News – a library of detailed reports about the UK wholesale energy market.
- Position overview – displays your open and closed positions, along with the Weighted Average Price (WAP) of these positions.
- Prices – view delayed (20 minutes) live Bid/Offer price data for the UK/EU power markets and their underlying fuels.
Contact Npower regarding Risk Manager. To find out how Risk Navigator can work for your business, email them on [email protected]
Business customer reviews
Our Business Online account is simple to use and makes it easy for us to download invoices every month. (Npower business customer, IT Wholesaler from Essex)
You’ll want to read the reviews from other Npower business customers before you decide to switch to them. While not 100% reliable, reviews from existing customers will give you a good idea as to the service you can expect to receive for your company.
Smart meters for business
A smart meter is a small digital device that shows you how much energy your business is using in kilowatt-hours (kWh). It gives you the chance to see where you could be saving money. Since your company’s meter readings are automatically sent to your supplier, you eliminate any uncertainty when budgeting for your future energy bills.
The UK government aims to improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses. With that in mind, it is obligating the UK’s energy suppliers to replace standard energy meters with Smart meters by 2020.
Npower is currently rolling out smart meters for its customers who want one. However, they don’t mention if they’re of the SMETS1 type or the SMETS2 type.
To find out if your business is eligible to receive a smart meter from Npower visit their website to find out more. To register your interest in receiving one for your business site, fill out their online smart meter form.
Moving business premises
If you’ll be moving into better business premises that are more suited to your company’s needs, congratulations! When and how you contact Npower regarding a change of business address depends on two factors: whether you’ll be moving out of Npower-supplier premises, or moving into one that either is or is intended to be supplied by Npower. Let’s take a look at each of these below:
Moving out
You’ve already been a loyal business customer of Npower at your previous or current premises, i.e. the one that you’ll be moving OUT of. You will need to call the right Business-Moving-Out department to let them know of this. Find this number in our Npower Contact guide.
Before you call them, try to have the following to hand:
- Your company name and address
- Date of occupancy change
- Meter readings (learn how to open and close your meter readings)
- Your forwarding address and phone number
- New occupier details (if known) or landlord’s name, address and phone number
Npower will complete your change of occupier processes within about three weeks.
Moving in
Here are two scenarios when you’ll need to contact Npower if you’re moving into a new business property:
- The business premises are already supplied by Npower and you want to have the previous account closed and a new one opened for your company, OR
- The business premises are not supplied by Npower but you would like it to be.
Before you call them, try to have the following to hand:
- Your company name and Site address
- Date of occupancy change
- Meter readings
If you’re moving into a site we already supply, please also give Npower the following:
- Forwarding address of the previous occupier
Npower business contact for general enquiries
If you have a general enquiry about your business account, call Npower's general enquires line at 0800 980 7107.
You can also contact Npower via its social media platforms:
Disclaimer: The services and products mentioned on this website may only represent a small selection of the options available to you. Selectra encourages you to carry out your own research and seek advice if necessary before making any decisions. We may receive commission from selected partner providers on sales of some products and/or services mentioned within this website. Our website is free to use, and the commission we receive does not affect our opinion or the information we provide.