What happened

The government introduced the Energy Independence Bill to Parliament on 4 November 2026. DESNZ calls it a "down payment" on longer-term reform of the energy system, building on last week's Budget. As Lucy King reported for Energy Live News, it covers consumer protection, help with bills, home upgrades and energy infrastructure, and Pippa Neill reported for The Guardian on the crackdown on rogue energy bosses and brokers. The measures that matter most to a business, checked against DESNZ's release and its factsheets:

  • Energy brokers under Ofgem. Brokers, price comparison services and other third-party intermediaries would be regulated by Ofgem for the first time, with powers to set rules, require authorisation, order compensation, impose fines and ban rogue operators. DESNZ names cold calls, pressure selling and hidden, excessive commission as the harms, and estimates the change could save businesses more than £100 million a year.
  • A tougher Ofgem. Stronger duties, remit and enforcement powers, including over unfair bonuses for energy company bosses, so it can act faster and secure redress when households and businesses are let down.
  • Energy efficiency rules for let buildings. Councils get powers to inspect privately rented homes and commercial buildings and to share compliance data, backed by a new compliance database. Domestic breaches would carry fines of up to £30,000. In the non-domestic factsheet the government also confirms it intends to require EPC B by 2031 for privately rented buildings in England and Wales over 1,000 m². It says that without better enforcement the policy would lose an estimated 26% of its carbon savings.
  • Charges on exported and surplus electricity. Powers to remove certain supplier charges on electricity that is stored and sent back to the grid, for example from batteries or vehicle-to-grid charging, or used to soak up surplus renewable power that would otherwise be wasted.
  • Grid and community energy. Faster consents and land access for network upgrades, a publicly owned Great British Grid to be added by amendment, and mandatory community benefits for new onshore wind and ground-mounted solar projects over 5 MW, with communities offered a stake of up to 20%.
  • North Sea. No new licences to explore new oil and gas fields, and no new onshore licences in England, including for fracking. New Transitional Energy Certificates would allow further production in areas already explored.

For households, the government will add amendments to scrap standing charges on gas bills, and the Bill puts the move of 75% of domestic Renewables Obligation costs onto public spending on a legal footing to March 2029.

What it means for your business

If you buy energy through a broker, you should in time get clearer information on what the broker is paid and a route to complain and claim compensation when a contract is mis-sold. DESNZ says only some business customers have access to out of court dispute resolution today. None of that applies until the Bill passes and Ofgem writes its rules, so for contracts you sign this winter the old position stands: ask how your broker is paid.

If you let a commercial building over 1,000 m², the direction is now clearer: EPC B by 2031 is the government's stated intention, and councils will have more power to check. The standard itself still needs regulations, and the earlier proposal said it would apply where cost effective. If you rent such a building, its rating and any upgrade work affect your own bills and emissions.

Your carbon footprint is calculated the same way. Gas burned on site is Scope 1 at 0.18231 kg CO2e per kWh and grid electricity is Scope 2 at 0.13096 on the 2026 government factors. Who sold you the contract makes no difference to the kWh you burn.

A worked example: a let office of 1,500 m²

Take an illustrative office of 1,500 m² that uses 150,000 kWh of electricity and 180,000 kWh of gas a year.

  • Gas: 180,000 kWh × 0.18231 = 32.82 tonnes CO2e (Scope 1).
  • Electricity: 150,000 kWh × 0.13096 = 19.64 tonnes CO2e (Scope 2, location based).
  • Total: 52.46 tonnes CO2e a year.
  • If upgrade work towards EPC B cut gas use by 40% and electricity by 15% (illustrative figures, not a forecast for any building), emissions would fall by 16.07 tonnes, about 31% of the total.
  • On the money side: a hidden broker uplift of 1p per kWh on electricity and 0.5p on gas (again illustrative) would add £2,400 a year to the same office's bills, with no change to its emissions.

What to do now

  1. Ask your broker how they are paid. Ask for the commission in pence per kWh, in writing, before you sign. You don't need to wait for the new rules to ask.
  2. Check the EPC of every building you let or rent. Note the rating, the floor area and the expiry date, and flag anything over 1,000 m² below B. Our EPC and MEES page explains the current minimum standard and the proposal.
  3. Keep a monthly kWh record. If you upgrade a building, the before and after kWh are your evidence that it worked, in pounds and in CO2e.
  4. If you have batteries, EV chargers or flexible demand, watch for the rules on removing charges for exported and surplus electricity, which could make shifting use to cheap, clean hours pay better.