Free energy comparison for UK care homes, nursing homes, supported living and extra-care schemes. We price 20+ suppliers against the way your home actually runs, not against a generic office profile. Many of the homes we look at have been quietly rolled over.
Get my free proposalFree estimate. No obligation to switch. Delivered by email and WhatsApp.
We do the hard work for you, compare live prices with following trusted UK providers
Still in a contract? Even with 3, 6 or 9 months left, you can lock in today's cheaper rates now, protecting your business from price rises when your current deal ends.
Understanding where the energy goes is the first step to paying less for it. Here is what typical care homes usage looks like across the UK.
Figures are estimates from published UK benchmarks priced at 25p/kWh electricity, 7p/kWh gas and about £365 a year in standing charges. They are not quotes. See how we estimate.
Choose your business type
Each page has the typical bill, the equipment that drives it and the questions owners ask us most. Pick the closest match; you can refine it in the quote.
Typical bill £23.3k–£90.7k a year
Biggest load: Gas boilers and radiators held at 22-24C around the clock
See residential care home energyTypical bill £43.3k–£155.4k a year
Biggest load: Space heating at high setpoints for frail, immobile residents
See nursing home energyTypical bill £39.2k–£140.5k a year
Biggest load: Space heating held stable at high setpoints with no overnight setback
See dementia care home energyTypical bill £10.7k–£63.6k a year
Biggest load: Domestic boilers heating shared houses all day, not just morning and evening
See supported living energyTypical bill £5.4k–£51.5k a year
Biggest load: Domestic or light-commercial boiler heating a large older house 24/7
See children's home energyTypical bill £22.2k–£99.9k a year
Biggest load: Communal boiler or plant room serving apartment heating and hot water
See retirement/extra care energyTypical bill £8k–£55k a year
Biggest load: Space heating for every room from before opening to after the last pick-up
See nursery or pre-school energyCare homes are one of the most energy-hungry small business types in the UK. Nothing switches off. Residents sit still for most of the day, so space heating typically holds 22 to 24 degrees around the clock, and CIBSE TM46 puts long-term residential buildings at 420 kWh of fossil-thermal heat per square metre a year, three and a half times a general office and higher than a hotel. On top of that sits stored hot water above 60 degrees for legionella control, assisted bathing, a seven-day on-site laundry where a vented tumble dryer takes 5.5 to 10 kWh every cycle, a catering kitchen, corridor lighting that never goes dark, nurse call, door access, CCTV, passenger lifts, profiling beds and pressure-relief mattress pumps. Utility Bidder puts a typical 20-bed home at around 395,000 kWh a year, roughly the same as 30 average homes. Heating alone is usually about 60 percent of that, with hot water another 12 to 18 percent. Care is also a sector where energy is a fixed cost against a fee income that is largely set by councils and the NHS, so an overpriced contract comes straight out of margin and staffing. There are roughly 16,500 care homes across the UK, about 10,300 residential and 4,200 with nursing in England alone, most of them independent single-site or small-group operators who hold their own supply and renew by letter. That is exactly the profile that ends up on a rollover, where published broker estimates put unit rates 30 to 80 percent above a negotiated fixed price. Smart Energy Switch compares 20+ suppliers free of charge, handles the paperwork and the objections, and prices your home as the 24/7 building it actually is.
Boilers and radiators holding 22 to 24 degrees around the clock, because residents sit still for most of the day and often cannot tell you when they are cold. Heating is usually about 60 percent of the whole bill.
An on-site laundry running seven days a week, where a commercial washer-extractor plus a vented tumble dryer can take 5.5 to 10 kWh on every single cycle, and there are several cycles a day per floor.
Stored hot water and secondary circulation held above 60 degrees for legionella control, feeding assisted baths and wet rooms whether anybody bathes that hour or not.
Corridor and en-suite lighting, nurse call, door access, CCTV, passenger lifts, ceiling hoists, profiling beds and alternating pressure mattress pumps, none of which have a realistic off switch at night.
The kit that dominates the bill, with the annual kWh and cost bands we see in published benchmarks. Knowing this helps us match a tariff to your usage pattern.
| Equipment | kWh a year | Cost a year (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| Gas boilers, radiators and space heating (24/7 at 22-24C) | 250,000–500,000 kWh | £17,500–£35,000 |
| Hot water: stored cylinders, assisted baths, wet rooms, secondary circulation | 90,000–180,000 kWh | £6,300–£12,600 |
| On-site laundry: washer-extractors and vented tumble dryers | 18,000–45,000 kWh | £4,500–£11,250 |
| Catering kitchen: combi ovens, dishwasher, walk-in fridge and freezer | 20,000–45,000 kWh | £5,000–£11,250 |
| 24/7 lighting, nurse call, door access, CCTV and fire systems | 15,000–38,000 kWh | £3,750–£9,500 |
| Passenger lifts, ceiling hoists, profiling beds and pressure mattress pumps | 6,000–18,000 kWh | £1,500–£4,500 |
Put your contract end date in the diary today and start pricing 6 to 12 months out. Care homes are classic rollover targets, and out-of-contract or deemed rates typically run 30 to 80 percent above a negotiated fixed price on published broker estimates.
If you have a smart or AMR meter, ask your supplier for half-hourly data. In a care home it almost always shows the laundry and kitchen peaks stacking on top of an overnight baseload that never drops far, which is the profile a broker needs to price you properly.
Check the secondary hot water circulation loop. Storing at 60 degrees is a legionella requirement you cannot skip, but poorly lagged pipework and a pump left on a 24-hour timer burns gas all night for nothing.
Move corridor, stairwell and en-suite lighting to LED with presence sensing on the low-traffic routes. Because those fittings run 24/7, payback in a care home is far quicker than in an office or a shop.
Price the group, not the building. If you run more than one home, or a cluster of supported living houses, ask for the meters to be tendered as one portfolio. Suppliers price aggregated volume better than they price a single small site.
Illustrative example
Around 30 registered beds with in-house laundry
Heating, hot water, laundry and catering cannot be switched off, so the whole bill rides on the contract rate.
Illustrative example, not a real customer. Figures are estimates based on published UK benchmarks. See how we estimate. See all worked examples.
Built for owner-run businesses in hospitality, food retail, motor trade, farming, personal care, accommodation, food production, leisure, care homes and laundry
Switching your energy supplier is just the start. Our team can help you reduce consumption too — with expert energy audits, LED lighting upgrades, refrigeration optimisation, and solar PV installations.
Upgrade your heating systems with smart controls to reduce waste.
Learn moreCut lighting costs by up to 80% with commercial LED retrofits.
Learn moreGenerate your own electricity and slash daytime energy costs.
Learn moreGet a comprehensive analysis of your energy consumption with actionable recommendations.
Learn morePart of the Smart Energy group — trusted by businesses like Bargoed YMCA and Treforest Football Club for energy efficiency solutions across Wales and the UK.
Get a tariff matched to how a care homes actually uses energy: the equipment, the hours and the fuels on your meters.
