After a year of recovery, what next for the UK energy market?

Trump, Labour, and even Oasis (did you manage to get tickets?) no less – it has been the year of the comeback! Could the same be said of the energy market?

Well, there has certainly been a steady recovery since lockdown and the energy crisis, which has continued from 2023 throughout this year. This despite continued instability in parts of the world that provide significant energy sources and further legal activity involving Gazprom.   

In the meantime, we have seen contract term gradually strengthen over the past year – increasing from an average term of 19.7 in 2023, to 23 months in 2024 – along with consumption levels to some extent. Will we ever see these hit pre-lockdown levels again, I’m not so sure?   

This, of course, continues to impact contract values and market activity. We have also had to grapple with a number of supplier issues over the year – new system implementation problems, changes in focus and approach, Opus pulling out of the SME market, amongst other things.   

We have also continued to assess potential new suppliers and have onboarded the likes of Yorkshire Gas & Power (YGP) – who were kind enough to invite us to share their table at this year’s TELCAs – to our supplier network. 

A bright(er) outlook for Brokers in 2025… 

Looking ahead to 2025, I’m not sure my crystal ball is any clearer than normal. I guess we will have to wait and see what impact the energy policy of the incoming US government will have on the rest of the world and no one seems to quite know how the new UK Government’s plans for GB Energy will pan out.   

However, we have seen increased regulation in the market and that is more likely than not to continue, and we can expect a continued focus on sustainability and all things green.   

In this context, we remain committed to providing our brokers with a full suite of services to offer their customers and are working on a number of new initiatives for introduction in the year ahead.  The first of which is an exclusive workshop for our Brokers, talking through some recent updates to our “Ways of Working” documents and quality standards. (If you’re currently working with us, you can pre-register here). 

In the meantime, our team is taking a well-earned rest over Christmas, with the office closing at 5.30pm on Monday 23rd December and reopening at 9am on Thursday 2nd January. 

For now, I wish you all a very happy festive period and New Year, and all the best for 2025. 

– David Coombs, CEO