The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has added its voice to a landmark cross-industry campaign calling for urgent reform of the business electricity market, as small retailers continue to struggle with disproportionately high energy costs.
It joined a coalition of major trade bodies, including the British Retail Consortium, UK Hospitality, and the FSB to support the TNT Charter: Trust and Transparency in Business Energy, launched in Parliament this week and led by Sarah Edwards, MP for Tamworth.
The Charter sets out a series of clear reforms designed to address the systemic opacity that has long disadvantaged smaller businesses when buying energy.
These include standardised upfront disclosure of the full cost of energy, enforceable rules on sales and pricing, simpler switching processes, stronger protections for SMEs, and secure access to energy data.
Business electricity prices in the UK remain around 30 per cent higher than those paid by competitors in France and Germany, with 47 per cent of small businesses now citing energy as their main cost pressure. The launch came on the same day that household energy bills were cut by seven per cent, with no equivalent support announced for businesses.
For independent retailers already navigating rising business rates, retail crime and cost-of-living pressures, the additional burden of complex and opaque energy pricing has become increasingly untenable.
"For too long smaller businesses have paid too much for energy without the freedom to negotiate a new deal," said Bira CEO Andrew Goodacre. "This has to come to an end if we are serious about supporting indie retailers."
Mr Goodacre called on the Government and Ofgem to act on the Charter's recommendations, which urge regulators to use existing legislative powers to mandate disclosure and standardisation across the market.
The TNT Charter follows a campaign begun in May 2024 after a Tamworth café that had traded for 37 years was threatened with closure over a disputed £10,000 back bill from E.ON Next. An independent review later found the business had in fact been overcharged and was owed money, a case that exposed wider failings including opaque billing practices, weak broker oversight and aggressive debt collection.
Bira is urging all independent retailers to familiarise themselves with the Charter and support the campaign for a fairer energy market.