There are many UK gas suppliers since deregulation of the gas market in the last twenty years or so. This provides welcome competition for customers who seek better service or prices.
In this article, the 1Gas team have written a short guide on the different UK commercial and business gas suppliers, and a brief overview of each company.
In 1973, the British Gas Corporation was formed and in 1986, the government privatised the company. Its shares were subsequently floated on the UK stock exchange in London. In 1997 British Gas Plc formed part of the BG Group and became a subsidiary of the Centrica group of companies.
Centrica has also owned many other famous brands including the AA, Goldfish and Halfords. British Gas is widely recognised as the UK’s largest supplier of gas and electricity.
They supply around twelve million homes and 1 million businesses in Britain. British Gas Business was launched in 2005 under the the different brand name targeting specifically business customers.
On their website, they promote their vision of aiming to having good relationships with customers through value, service and innovative products. 1Gas have a good relationship with British Gas and we often recommend their business and domestic gas supply contract services.
CNG is a commercial gas supplier based in Harrogate, West Yorkshire.
The company was formed in 1994 and is currently let by MD Jacqui Hall.
Contract Natural Gas is one of the fastest growing companies in Yorkshire and has achieved ‘Customer First’ status and was one of the first gas suppliers to do so.
Their services include AMR (Automated Meter Reading) and siteworks (gas connections).
Corona is owned by Macquarie Bank (acquired in 2006) and supplies business gas throughout the UK.
Its retail business headquarters are located in Watford, Hertfordshire, near London.
Their services include AMR, carbon and gas meters.
Based in Bury, Lancashire, Crown Gas & Power is a subsidiary of Crown Oil Ltd situated just outside Manchester.
They have been in the gas supply business since deregulation of the gas market in the 1990s and have over 60 years of experience in the energy industry.
Sister companies in the same group include Crown Telecom Solutions Ltd, Crown Oil (fuel and lubricants), and Crown Utilities (offering water, gas and power connections).
1Gas have worked with Crown Gas on many projects helping our customers obtain gas supply agreements.
Previously known as Shell Gas Direct, the company formed in 1989 and supplies gas to thousands of sites across Britain.
Dong Energy is a large energy supplier throughout Northern Europe with it’s head office located in Denmark.
According to Dong’s website, they are the 3rd largest gas supplier in the UK industrial and commercial market and supply 12 percent of the industrial and commercial gas supply market.
Formed in 2003, and owned by the EDF Group, EDF Energy is a large UK gas company and employs around 15,000 staff in the UK, over 150,000 employees worldwide.
EDF Group offers services in 35 countries and is one of the three largest energy organisations in Europe.
EDF are involved in electricity generation and green energy such as wind farm operation, but also supply gas electricity to homes and businesses.
GDF Suez Energy UK (Gaz De France) has been operating in the gas market since 1999 and around the word has more than 200,000 staff with revenue in 2011 of more than 90 billion Euros.
GDF Suez is the in the top 25 largest utility companies in the world.
Its head office in England is in Leeds and offers many services including Automated Meter Reading and Site Works.
They are the number one importer of LNG in Europe according to their website.
E.ON supply gas to more than five million business and domestic properties and is the third largest natural gas supplier on our shores.
They are also an energy generator. Based in Coventry, and previously known as Powergen, the brand first launched in 1989.
In 2002 the name changed to E.ON following the purchase by a German energy provider.
Previously Natural Gas Shipping Services (NGSS) and Pennine Natural Gas, Gazprom Retail was formed in 2007 following the acquisition by Gazprom Marketing & Trading, previously based in Kingston Upon Thames, 
and now central London.
Gazprom Energy supply gas and electricity to businesses and offer additional services such as carbon, AMR and flexible gas supply contracts.
The retail operation is based in the Spinningfields business district of Manchester City Centre. Gazprom is one of the largest and richest companies in the world.
With it’s head office located in Essen, Germany, npower’s trading name is RWE npower, part of the RWE Group.
They supply 6.5 million or so domestic and non domestic customers and operate coal and gas power stations nationwide.
Since 1996 Regent Gas Ltd have been supplying gas to industrial and commercial customers from their London office near Wembley and Shepherd’s Bush.
Started in 1990, and employing around 9,000 people in the UK.
ScottishPower was bought in 2006 by the Spanish energy company Iberdrola based out of Bilbao in Spain.The UK head office is based in Glasgow and is a FTSE 100 company.
ScottishPower is one of the largest in Europe and employs more than 30,000 people worldwide. The company supplies around 5 million customers in the British Isles.
With headquarters in Perth, Scotland, SSE (previously known as Scottish and Southern Energy) was founded in 1998.
They are involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.
They have around 130,000 kilometres of power cables delivering electricity to nearly four million homes and businesses.
They also have a 50% share of SGN which operates approximately 80,000 kilometres of gas pipelines.They have nearly 10 mllion customers in total and own the UK’s largest gas storage facility.
In addition to this, they also are involved in Hydro Electric power generation in Scotland.
Total Gas & Power is a business only gas supplier owned by the French company Total Group.
The French head office is based from Courbevoie and UK operations can be found in Leeds and Redhill, Surrey.
Total Gas & Power services include natural gas, LNG (liquefied natural gas), power, transportation, and storage.
