An analysis of the European energy landscape in 2026, with insights from Bettergy’s experts.
Business energy management is no longer a purely technical matter; it has become a strategic decision. In 2026, two companies in the same sector, with similar processes, products and customers, can compete under very different conditions for an increasingly clear reason: how they buy, consume, measure and optimise their energy.
On paper, both may look the same. In the profit and loss account, they are not. The way a company manages its energy can make a difference of between three and six EBITDA points. That gap now separates companies that were prepared for the energy price shock from those that still treat energy as a fixed cost.
Geopolitical tensions, gas price volatility, the large-scale integration of renewables, zero or negative hourly prices, the advance of climate regulation and new instruments such as Energy Savings Certificates are changing the rules of the game. The International Energy Agency notes that, in 2025, electricity prices for energy-intensive industries in the European Union remained roughly twice as high as in the United States and more than 50% higher than in China and India, maintaining clear competitive pressure on European industry.
In this context, our experts examine what is changing, what companies can do, and why business energy management is no longer just about consuming less, but about consuming better, investing wisely and turning energy into a competitive advantage.
Why business energy management matters in 2026
Business energy management matters because it helps companies reduce their exposure to volatile prices, take advantage of lower-cost energy hours, turn savings into revenue through Energy Savings Certificates, comply with new regulatory obligations and improve industrial competitiveness.
An energy-mature company does not simply reduce its kilowatt-hours. It measures consumption by process, understands its carbon footprint, shifts loads when it makes sense, negotiates its contracts more effectively, invests in efficiency with a clear financial return, and makes energy decisions from a finance-led perspective.
Put simply: in 2026, energy is no longer just a bill. It is risk, margin, regulation, reputation and capacity for growth.
A structural shift, not a one-off crisis
The first question many companies ask when faced with energy volatility is whether this is a temporary situation. It is understandable. For years, many organisations have treated price spikes as temporary anomalies — something to be endured, waited out and then left behind.
But that interpretation is no longer enough.
My view is clear: we are facing a structural shift. The energy system has changed at its very foundations.
The large-scale integration of renewable energy has changed the logic of the electricity market. There is more clean generation, but also greater variability. Price no longer depends only on how much energy is generated, but on when it is generated, when it is consumed, and who has the ability to adapt their demand.
Antonio Ruiz, CEO of Bettergy, sums it up with a clear image: “The crisis is the fever; structural fragility is the illness. Hormuz has not created the illness. It has exposed it.”
The idea is central to any business energy management strategy: there is no previous normality to return to. Companies that wait for the market to “stabilise” before making decisions may lose decisive months. By contrast, companies that understand energy as a strategic variable can protect margins, capture opportunities and stay ahead of new requirements.
Spain’s energy advantage is real, but it will not be captured automatically
Spain has a relatively favourable position within the European energy market thanks to the growing weight of renewables, its solar resource and the evolution of its electricity market. However, that advantage does not automatically flow through to every company’s profit and loss account.
To take advantage of it, a company needs three core capabilities: measurement, flexibility and a contractual strategy.
Measurement makes it possible to understand where, when and why energy is consumed. Flexibility makes it possible to shift processes, adjust loads or use storage during periods of low prices. A contractual strategy makes it possible to combine hedging, PPAs, partial indexation and other mechanisms to reduce exposure to the market.
The IEA also highlights that negative wholesale prices have become more frequent in several European markets. In Spain, hours with negative prices reached approximately 6% in 2025, double the level recorded the previous year. For a company with operational flexibility, those hours can translate into real savings; for a company without data or the ability to adapt, they simply pass by.
This difference sums up the new landscape: the advantage does not go to whoever operates in the country with the best average conditions, but to whoever has the maturity to turn those conditions into margin.
What do the companies that are most resilient have in common?
The companies that are best weathering energy volatility are not necessarily those that consume the least. They are those that manage it most effectively.
The companies that are proving most resilient are not necessarily those that consume the least energy, but those that manage it most effectively. The key difference is that they have stopped reacting and started anticipating.
The same pattern can be seen across industrial, agri-food, logistics, service-sector and large energy-consuming companies. The most prepared companies tend to share five characteristics:
They have advanced monitoring in place. They know their consumption in real time. They have diversified their energy supply sources. They assess energy investments using financial criteria. And, above all, they have brought energy into the boardroom.
Antonio Ruiz suggests a simple question to assess a company’s level of energy maturity: “Who signs off a half-million-euro investment in energy efficiency? If it is signed off by the maintenance manager, energy is still an operational matter. If it is signed off by the CFO with a portfolio view, energy has already become part of the strategy.”
That shift in mindset lies at the heart of modern business energy management. Energy is no longer managed solely by maintenance, engineering or procurement teams. It is managed across operations, finance, sustainability and senior leadership.
What it means to be efficient in 2026
For years, energy efficiency meant reducing kilowatt-hours. That definition has become too narrow.
In 2026, an efficient company is one that reduces euros per unit produced, lowers its exposure to the market, understands its carbon footprint by product, and uses real-time data to make better decisions.
In 2021, efficiency meant reducing kilowatt-hours. In 2026, it means reducing euros per unit produced, capturing regulatory instruments that turn savings into cash, understanding the CO₂ footprint of each product, and having access to real-time data. The definition has shifted from engineering to finance.
Being efficient means consuming intelligently, at the right time, at the lowest possible cost and with the least possible exposure to the market.
This evolution changes how investments are prioritised. An efficiency project should no longer be assessed solely on its annual energy savings, but on its total financial impact: direct savings, risk reduction, regulatory improvement, monetisation through Energy Savings Certificates, environmental reputation, and the ability to meet customer or investor requirements.
Energy Savings Certificates: turning energy savings into financial returns
One of the most relevant instruments for accelerating energy efficiency in Spain is the Energy Savings Certificates system, known as the ESC system.
The system is based on a simple logic: when a company carries out a verifiable energy improvement, it generates certificates that represent the savings achieved. Energy suppliers are legally required to purchase those certificates. As a result, part of the investment cost is returned to the project owner in the form of direct revenue.
For business energy management, this changes the investment calculation. A project that previously seemed unattractive can become financially viable if Energy Savings Certificates reduce the net cost or shorten the payback period.
Antonio Ruiz illustrates this with a real case: an agri-food company in Andalusia wanted to replace a natural gas boiler with an industrial heat pump for a pasteurisation process. The initial payback period was seven years, and the investment committee had rejected it twice. By processing it as a bespoke measure under the Energy Savings Certificates system, the certificate covered 22% of the investment cost. The actual payback fell to four years, with a return close to 18%.
A well-managed Energy Savings Certificate can cover between 10% and 30% of the investment cost. This can turn projects with an 8% or 10% return into projects delivering 15% to 20%.
The key is to understand that an Energy Savings Certificate is not a traditional subsidy. It is a way of converting energy savings that the company has already generated into economic value.
Energy regulation 2026–2028: more data, more measurement and more decarbonisation
Business energy management is also becoming more important as regulation advances. Europe is raising its requirements on efficiency, climate reporting and emissions reduction.
The revised European Energy Efficiency Directive establishes the “energy efficiency first” principle as a legal principle of European energy policy. It also extends energy audit obligations to companies that exceed certain consumption thresholds, regardless of their size.
In practical terms, companies with annual consumption above 10 TJ, around 2.77 GWh, will be required to carry out energy audits if they do not have an energy management system in place. Companies with consumption above 85 TJ, around 23.6 GWh, will be required to implement an energy management system, typically aligned with ISO 50001.
This is compounded by the CSRD, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which requires large companies and listed businesses to publish regular information on social and environmental risks, as well as on the impact of their activities on people and the environment.
CBAM, or the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, is also entering a key phase, with its definitive regime having begun on 1 January 2026 for certain carbon-intensive goods.
ETS2, which will cover emissions from fuels used in buildings, road transport and additional sectors, now appears in European Commission documentation as becoming fully operational in 2028.
In Spain, Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 introduces tax and regulatory incentives related to efficiency, heat pumps, Energy Savings Certificates and renewables. The text published in the Official State Gazette sets out, among other measures, instruments to support the deployment of heat pumps through the Energy Savings Certificates system.
The regulatory pattern is clear: more data, more measurement, more traceability and more investment directed towards decarbonisation.
How to build a more robust energy position
To turn this context into an advantage, Bettergy proposes a five-layer energy management architecture.
The first layer is visibility. Without hourly data by process, building or production line, any decision is only approximate. Measurement makes it possible to understand which processes consume the most, when costs spike and where savings potential exists.
The second layer is operational efficiency. This includes process adjustments, equipment replacement, thermal optimisation, heat recovery, improvements to air conditioning, lighting, motors, variable speed drives, control systems and energy-focused maintenance.
The third layer is the monetisation of savings through Energy Savings Certificates. Efficiency not only reduces costs; it can also generate revenue if it is processed and verified correctly.
The fourth layer combines self-consumption, storage and flexibility. It is not just about producing your own energy, but about coordinating generation, consumption and hourly prices to maximise savings.
The fifth layer is procurement strategy: hedging, PPAs, indexed or hybrid contracts, and diversification mechanisms. The goal is not to predict the market, but to reduce exposure.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The key lies in combining efficiency, on-site generation, operational flexibility and effective data management. The aim is not to eliminate risk, but to reduce exposure and increase the ability to adapt.
The role of the specialist partner
In an environment where energy brings together engineering, regulation, financing, taxation, sustainability and market dynamics, the role of the specialist partner has changed.
It is no longer enough to deliver projects. Today, companies need to interpret the context, prioritise investments, model returns, process Energy Savings Certificates, integrate data and support decision-making.
At Bettergy, this vision takes shape through the industrialisation of Energy Savings Certificate processing via a CAE Factory: automated management, digital verification of savings and the use of measured data to scale bespoke projects and distributed measures.
For many companies, this capability can be decisive — not because opportunities are lacking, but because they lack the internal structure to identify, prioritise and execute them in time.
The key recommendation: start by measuring
If the entire business energy management strategy had to be reduced to a single action, Antonio Ruiz and Pablo Blanco agree on the starting point: measurement.
Start by measuring. Over the next ninety days, make sure your company knows — by process, by building and by hour — how much energy it consumes, how much it costs and how much CO₂ it emits. Without that data, any strategy is an opinion. With it, decisions become clear.
My recommendation is clear: stop treating energy as a cost and start managing it as a strategic risk. Companies that understand this will not only protect their business, but will also be better positioned to grow.
Conclusion
Business energy management has become one of the most important levers of competitiveness for 2026. Volatility is not going to disappear. Regulation will become more demanding. Pressure on margins will continue. And customers, investors and public authorities will increasingly ask for more data.
But this scenario also opens up an opportunity. Companies that measure, anticipate, invest and manage energy as a strategic variable will be able to reduce costs, protect margins and turn the energy transition into a real advantage.
In 2026, being efficient no longer simply means consuming less. It means consuming better, deciding sooner and turning every kilowatt-hour saved into competitiveness.
Frequently asked questions about business energy management
Business energy management is the set of decisions, tools and processes that enable a company to measure, control, optimise and reduce the cost of its energy consumption. It includes efficiency, procurement, self-consumption, flexibility, Energy Savings Certificates, carbon footprint and regulatory compliance.
It is important because energy has a direct impact on margins, competitiveness, financial risk and regulatory compliance. In a volatile market, companies that manage their energy effectively can take advantage of low prices, reduce exposure and improve profitability.
Energy Savings Certificates, or CAEs, are electronic documents that certify final energy savings following an efficiency measure. Each CAE is equivalent to 1 kWh of new and verifiable energy savings.
The European Energy Efficiency Directive extends energy audit obligations to companies that exceed certain consumption thresholds. As a reference, companies with annual consumption of more than 10 TJ, around 2.77 GWh, must carry out audits if they do not have an energy management system in place.
ISO 50001 helps companies implement a structured, certified energy management system focused on continuous improvement. For large energy consumers, it can be a key way to meet regulatory obligations and professionalise energy management.
It should measure energy consumption by process, building and hour; associated cost; CO₂ emissions; demand patterns; contracted capacity; thermal and electrical consumption; and opportunities for flexibility. Without this data, any energy strategy will be incomplete.