01
Market Exposure
Understand how much of your future energy requirement remains exposed to wholesale market movements.
Risk Management
Business energy risk management — control exposure and protect your budget.
Build a purchasing framework that balances market opportunity, budget certainty and your tolerance for energy-price risk.
A structured approach
Move from reacting to the market to managing your exposure.
Energy risk management is not about trying to predict every market movement. It is about deciding how much exposure your business is prepared to carry and managing that exposure deliberately.
Depending on your objectives, this can incorporate fixed, flexible and staged purchasing structures, with buying decisions made against an agreed framework rather than simply waiting for a contract renewal date.
The framework
Four areas shape an effective energy risk strategy.
The right approach depends on your consumption, financial priorities, procurement structure and appetite for exposure to changing wholesale markets.
02
Budget Certainty
Determine how much price certainty the business needs for forecasting, budgeting and commercial planning.
03
Purchasing Strategy
Choose an appropriate mix of fixed, flexible or staged purchasing and define when buying decisions can be made.
04
Ongoing Review
Monitor market conditions and purchasing positions so the strategy can respond as circumstances change.
Managing the purchasing journey
Not every unit of energy needs to be bought at the same time.
A staged approach can reduce reliance on a single purchasing date and help spread market timing risk across multiple decisions.
Fixed purchasing
Provides a high level of price certainty by securing an agreed energy price for a defined contract period.
For businesses prioritising budget certainty, a fixed structure can provide clarity, although the timing of the purchase remains important.
Flexible purchasing
Allows energy requirements to be purchased in tranches or at different points in the market, subject to the agreed contract structure.
This can provide greater opportunity to respond to market conditions while retaining an agreed risk framework.
Staged & layered purchasing
Spreads purchasing decisions across time rather than committing the entire future requirement on a single day.
The aim is not to guarantee the lowest possible price, but to reduce dependence on one market entry point.
The principle
Control exposure.
Don't chase the market.
Don't chase the market.
Create rules for purchasing before market pressure forces the decision.
The objective is not necessarily to buy everything at once or to identify the absolute bottom of the market. It is to create a framework that allows purchasing decisions to be made deliberately as market conditions change.
That framework can include target levels, purchasing windows, budget parameters, delegated authority and regular position reviews — helping turn energy purchasing from a reactive event into an ongoing managed process.
Your risk position
How exposed is your future energy requirement?
We can review your existing contracts, future purchasing position and appetite for market risk, then help establish a strategy aligned with your commercial objectives.
Arrange an Energy Review →