We compare business gas and electricity from 20 plus suppliers for craft distilleries and cideries. Typical bills run £8.2k to £48.9k a year and businesses that switch with us save 40 per cent on average, typically 30 to 50 per cent. The figures on this page are estimates from published UK benchmarks, not quotes.
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What a typical distillery or cidery uses and pays across the UK, from published benchmarks.
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.
Gin, vodka, rum and whisky distilleries and craft cider or perry producers. Stills, mash tuns, pasteurisers and presses driving a large thermal load, plus bottling and labelling, cold or chilled storage, and increasingly a visitor centre, shop and tasting bar on the same meter.
A still with a long heat up and a high sustained draw, then hours of nothing
Chill filtration and cold storage that run regardless of whether you distilled that week
Bottling and labelling runs that stack on top of an already peaky production profile
A visitor centre and tasting bar sharing a meter with a production site, so neither is priced properly
Typical equipment loads across bakeries, breweries and food production, with annual kWh and cost bands from published benchmarks.
| Equipment | kWh a year | Cost a year (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| Deck, rack and tunnel ovens (gas) | 30,000–300,000 kWh | £2,100–£21,000 |
| Electric convection, combi and roasting ovens | 8,000–45,000 kWh | £2,000–£11,250 |
| Provers, retarders, dough mixers and depositors | 4,000–20,000 kWh | £1,000–£5,000 |
| Refrigeration, walk-in chillers and cold stores | 10,000–90,000 kWh | £2,500–£22,500 |
| Steam boilers, coppers, stills and jacketed kettles (gas) | 20,000–350,000 kWh | £1,400–£24,500 |
| Glycol chillers, compressed air, extraction and lighting | 8,000–60,000 kWh | £2,000–£15,000 |
Insulate the still body, the swan neck and all steam and hot liquor pipework. On a pot still the uninsulated surface area is the biggest continuous heat loss you have.
Recover condenser cooling water heat into your next charge or into hot water. Distilling rejects a very large amount of low grade heat that most craft sites simply throw away.
Batch your distilling runs. Two back to back charges share one heat up, which is where most of the gas goes.
Review whether chill filtration and cold storage set points are tighter than the product actually needs. Every degree colder is compressor run time you pay for all year.
If you have added a visitor centre or shop since your contract started, get the site re-profiled. Contracts written for a small production unit rarely price a public facing site well.
Illustrative example
Deck ovens on from 4am with a shop out front
Ovens are most of the gas, proving and refrigeration most of the electricity, and both start before dawn.
Illustrative example, not a real customer. Figures are estimates based on published UK benchmarks. See how we estimate. See all worked examples.
High street bakeries, microbreweries, distilleries and small food producers pay for heat twice: making it and taking it away. Where the kWh go and what a fair contract looks like.
Read articleFive common errors that cost café and coffee shop owners hundreds of pounds a year, and the simple fixes.
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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.
Get a comprehensive analysis of your energy consumption with actionable recommendations.
Learn moreUpgrade your heating systems with smart controls to reduce waste.
Learn moreOptimise your fridges, freezers and cooling systems for maximum efficiency.
Learn moreGenerate your own electricity and slash daytime energy costs.
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 distillery or cidery actually uses energy: the equipment, the hours and the fuels on your meters.
