Rising energy costs, volatile markets and increasing pressure to decarbonise are creating major challenges for UK businesses. For many organisations, traditional energy procurement models are no longer delivering the cost certainty, transparency or sustainability credentials they need.
We created the Sustainable Energy Consortium (SEC) to address these challenges by connecting businesses directly with renewable energy generators through a pioneering procurement model.
Over 100 businesses already benefit from being part of SEC, including some of the UK’s best-known brands, and your business could reap the rewards, too. Here’s how SEC can help your business overcome four of today’s most common energy challenges.
1: High and volatile energy costs
For many businesses, energy is no longer a predictable overhead. High prices continue to put pressure on margins, while ongoing market volatility makes budgeting and forecasting increasingly difficult.
A February 2026 survey from the British Chambers of Commerce found that more than a quarter of UK businesses were struggling to pay their energy bills. Organisations face tough decisions when contracts come up for renewal. Should they lock into a fixed price and risk overpaying if markets fall, or choose a flexible contract and remain exposed to future price increases?
Traditional energy procurement offers limited protection from these challenges because prices remain closely linked to wholesale markets and the cost of fossil fuels.
How SEC helps
SEC was designed to give businesses greater control over their energy costs.
By connecting businesses directly with renewable generators, SEC offers an alternative to traditional supplier contracts. The model is designed to reduce costs while also limiting exposure to market volatility through a capped-price structure.
The benefit: Long-term energy security and protection from volatile energy costs.
- Rising non-commodity costs
Wholesale energy prices aren’t the only reason why business energy bills are so high. A significant proportion of your bill is made up of non-commodity charges, which are nothing to do with the cost of the actual energy. The money raised by these charges goes towards the cost of running the grid and developing new green generation capacity.
Some businesses get relief on these charges as part of the UK government’s support for energy-intensive industries. But for most, they’re an unavoidable part of your energy bills, and they are set to rise in 2026 and 2027, largely to modernise grid infrastructure and support the clean energy transition.
How SEC helps
Your supplier is legally obliged to raise this money and pass it on to the government. Unless your business qualifies for exemption, the only way to reduce the impact of these charges is to reduce the amount of energy you get from a traditional supplier.
Unlike a traditional supplier contract, SEC operates through a different procurement structure. This can reduce exposure to some of the costs typically embedded within supplier tariffs.
The benefit: By removing some non-commodity costs, SEC can deliver significant reductions on your overall energy bill.
3. Accessing renewable energy
Most businesses recognise the benefits of renewable energy, but accessing it isn’t always straightforward.
For some organisations, onsite generation simply isn’t practical. Limited roof space, unsuitable sites, planning constraints and upfront capital costs can all make solar PV or other technologies difficult to implement.
Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) offer another route to renewable energy procurement, but they can be incredibly complex, resource-intensive and expensive to negotiate. Many smaller organisations lack the scale or expertise required to make them a viable option.
As a result, businesses often find themselves relying on standard supplier tariffs, with limited visibility into where their energy comes from.
How SEC helps
SEC was designed to make renewable energy procurement more accessible, and more transparent.
By bringing together multiple businesses and connecting them directly with a portfolio of renewable generators in a group buying framework, SEC provides many of the benefits associated with direct renewable sourcing without the complexity and resource commitment often associated with CPPAs.
You gain access to traceable renewable generation through a simpler, more accessible procurement model.
The benefit: A practical route to renewable energy procurement without the complexity of traditional alternatives.
- Carbon reporting, transparency and scrutiny
Businesses are under growing pressure from investors, customers, regulators and reporting frameworks to demonstrate genuine progress towards their environmental goals. At the same time, scrutiny of renewable energy claims is increasing, particularly around Scope 2 emissions reporting.
In the past, businesses could tick the “green energy” box simply by picking a supplier tariff labelled “renewable”. These days, carbon reporting standards are higher and a regular supplier tariff backed by REGOs isn’t enough to confidently declare zero Scope 2 emissions.
How SEC helps
SEC can supply full traceability by matching energy consumption with power from green generators at a half-hourly level. This gives you a far clearer understanding of where your electricity comes from and provides robust evidence to support sustainability reporting and carbon reduction claims.
As reporting standards evolve, organisations need greater confidence that their energy procurement strategy can withstand increasing levels of scrutiny.
The benefit: Greater transparency, stronger sustainability credentials and increased confidence in carbon reporting.
A different approach to business energy
The challenges facing business energy users are unlikely to disappear any time soon. High costs, market volatility, and increasing scrutiny of sustainability claims are becoming permanent features of the business landscape.
The Sustainable Energy Consortium was created to meet these challenges. By connecting businesses directly with renewable generators, SEC offers a different way to source energy – helping organisations reduce costs, manage risk and strengthen their sustainability performance.
To find out whether SEC could help your organisation tackle its energy challenges, fill the form below to get in touch.
