Non energy costs now account for around 60% of electricity prices and many consumers believe these to be fixed or set in advance. In reality some of these are while others are forecasted and adjusted at the end of each year with suppliers of fixed contracts needing to estimate each unconfirmed cost line.
Transmission of electricity is one of these charge elements (Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS)) whereby National Energy System Operator (NESO) sets new rates every 5 years under the approval of Ofgem. These rates were guided to increase by 20-25% for 2026-2031 which suppliers factored into pricing, however NESO applied for an 85% increase which was rejected by Ofgem but agreed at around 64%. With this cost largely being related to infrastructure and delivery mechanisms, it will affect all consumers and the variance between the guide increases and the agreed level has meant these costs could not have been foreseen nor can be covered by the terms offered.
The impact on customers is expected to be between 1.5p/kWh to 3p/kWh and will take affect from April 2026.
While these will be applied automatically and cannot be mitigated by reducing consumption or better purchasing, we find that a number of clients are able to reduce non energy costs through making sure supply set up is optimised and in line with actual requirements. At Corus, we offer a no obligation review to help understand if opportunities around non energy costs exist and explain how you could manage or mitigate these increases.
If you’d like to explore this in more detail, we’re happy to walk you through what we’re seeing in the market and what it could mean for your operations.
