Energy brokers play a role in the retail energy sector in procuring energy for corporate clients. They determine the needs of an organization and serve as a middleman in finding energy at affordable costs. Many people don’t know that there are alternatives to hiring an energy broker. Here, we’ll discuss the benefits and alternatives to hiring an energy broker.  

What do energy brokers do?

Energy brokers give organizations options for energy sources and prices on behalf of power and gas suppliers. The energy broker is an intermediary between an organization and the energy source. They do not own the energy they offer, but act as a go-between to assist in finding appropriate energy supplies for their customers. 

What are the benefits of hiring an energy broker?

Some brokers offer more comprehensive benefits. They have expertise in the energy market, they sift through many different options, understand energy contracts, keep up on changing markets and look for ways to save money. 

Others just try to get you the lowest price on a given day and then they wait until a month or two before your contract expires to get new pricing. There is a range of expertise and focus depending on the particular energy broker. 

What should you be aware of when hiring an energy broker?

Most often, brokers are relying on suppliers for information. They don’t have direct access to markets either. 

This introduces “supplier bias”, where a broker may have relationships with an energy source that are advantageous to the broker, but not to the client they are serving. Because broker fees are rarely transparent to customers, you may pay higher prices than if you chose an alternative to an energy broker. 

Another issue can be that brokers charge a high cost, but deliver a relatively low value of service. While they may have relationships with energy suppliers, their services can be costly and episodic, with little ongoing service.

How can you get a better return on investment than hiring an energy broker? 

To get a better return than hiring an energy broker, you want to still get the ease of procuring energy that a broker offers, but without the supplier bias, and high cost. 

These days, there are software and services that replicate the ease of an energy broker and deliver much better results on an ongoing basis.  

What you want to look for is a software and/or service that:

1. Gives you the actual electricity pricing models, directly and transparently

2. Provides you with a forward-looking forecast instead of just historical costs

3. Delivers to you information on both supply costs and delivery (utility) costs

4. Offers complete, ongoing pricing transparency

5. Ensures ongoing guidance and support for your energy decisions

The best return on investment is to get the support and ease you get from an energy broker but without the bias and overhead, so that you can realize the best degree of savings, predictability and budgetary fit. 

Do you want better intelligence than an expert, and without the middleman prices?