CPQ for power and gas: how an energy offer is built, priced and approved

A CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) for power and gas is the software that configures the offer, calculates its price on market curves and the customer's consumption profile, and takes it through approval to signature. Unlike a generic configurator, it works with data that changes every day, such as forward curves, and connects sales with trading, which has to hedge the volumes sold.

Why energy offers need a dedicated CPQ

A corporate offer brings together price curves, procurement costs, volume risk, channel margins and approval rules. The customer expects an answer on their timescale, the price is only valid for a short time and the margin also depends on how much the customer will actually consume. Managing all this with spreadsheets and emails means slowing down negotiations and losing track of who decided what.

A generic CRM records opportunities and contacts, but cannot break a consumption profile down by hour or value it on a curve. That is why, in the energy market, the CPQ becomes the meeting point between sales, energy management and trading.

How the price of a power or gas offer is calculated

Every sales company has its own rules, but the underlying logic follows a few steps.

Volume and consumption profile. It starts from how much and when the customer consumes: historical consumption, supply points, SII metering data. For a fixed-price offer the quality of the forecast weighs directly on the margin, because every deviation from the forecast volume has to be bought or sold back at market prices.

Procurement cost. The profile is valued on the latest power or gas forward curve (PFC). The result is the transfer price, that is, the cost at which trading makes the energy available to sales.

Price structure. The price can be fixed, indexed or mixed; for electricity, flat-rate, by time band or peak and off-peak. In indexed contracts the customer can fix the price later, on portions or on the whole volume.

Mark-ups and validity. The mark-ups of the various parties, for example the sales company and trading, are added to the cost, and the offer's validity period is set. A good CPQ shows the real margin for each party before the offer is approved.

The energy component is not the whole bill: transport, system charges and taxes make up the rest of the customer's cost. To compare different offers transparently, the bill has to be reconstructed as a whole.

Corporate, retail and resellers: three ways of selling energy

Medium and large business customers ask for tailored offers, often multi-site, with dedicated negotiations and approvals. The mass market, retail and SME, buys off-the-shelf products instead: price lists with standard terms that must stay competitive and hedged while contracts are being signed. Resellers, finally, sell energy on to their own customers and need timely prices, with margin logic of their own. An energy CPQ handles all three channels with the same curves and the same workflows, so the portfolio remains readable as a whole.

Approval workflows: who decides and when

An offer goes through precise stages: draft, pending approval, approved, signed, accepted. The workflow sets who must approve according to thresholds and profiles, for example volume, duration or margin, and involves management only when needed. Approvals can also come by email or smartphone, so response time to the customer does not depend on who is in the office. Every step is tracked, and the process becomes audit-ready.

Credit check: assessing the customer before signing

An attractive offer can turn into a loss if the customer does not pay. That is why the financial reliability check enters the offer flow before approval: credit information, calculation of the requested exposure, verification of credit insurability and a score that proposes an outcome. Clear cases are closed automatically; doubtful ones go to the right people.

After signature: hedging, fixing and billing

The CPQ's work does not end at signature. Accepted volumes must pass straight to trading to be hedged on the markets. On indexed contracts, corporate customers fix the price over time, within the sales company's rules. The sales network needs to know when the market reaches the price the customer is waiting for. And some offers, such as PPAs or band fixing, require calculations that standard billing systems struggle to handle. Finally, the margin also has to be checked against actuals, separating the price effect from the volume effect.

How MAS does it: QUE MAS Suite

QUE MAS Suite, the MAS CPQ for energy, covers the entire offer cycle. QUE MAS Corporate, for tailored B2B offers, calculates the price on up-to-date PFCs, applies mark-ups for each party, manages multi-level approvals and generates the offer document. QUE MAS Listini, for retail and SME price lists, e QUE MAS Reseller, for the reseller channel, use the same curves and the same workflows.

The credit check is handled by QUE RISK, integrated with CRIF and SACE. After signature, ERMES, for fixing on indexed contracts, e PRICE ALERT, for price alerts to the sales network, follow the market; Billing Bridge, for pre-calculating invoices for PPAs and complex contracts, prepares the values for billing; QUE MAS Portfolio, for forecast and actual margins, closes the loop. To compare offers on the bill there is BILLY, the power and gas bill simulator.

QUE MAS works with ERGO Suite for transfer prices and with LAGO Suite for accepted gas offers. We also described the cycle of a corporate offer in the article managing a power and gas offer from draft to signature. To see it on your processes, request a demo.