Gorilla wins SaaS award for energy margin software

Gorilla has won the Best Product for Energy & Utilities category at the 2026 SaaS Awards, recognising its work with energy retailers.

The recognition comes as suppliers across the UK and Europe face tougher conditions in managing commercial performance. Volatile markets, more complex products, rising data volumes and pressure on margins have made it harder to maintain a timely, consistent view of profitability.

Its Energy Margin Intelligence model is designed to address that challenge by linking pricing, trading, risk, consumption, settlements and finance data. The goal is to give energy retailers a shared view of the factors affecting margin across the business.

That focus reflects a broader shift in the energy retail market. Companies are under pressure to make commercial decisions more quickly while managing a wider range of variables than in previous years.

Retailers now need to interpret data across several functions at once, rather than rely on separate teams working from different measures of performance. In practice, that means connecting front-office pricing and trading activity with back-office settlements and finance outcomes to understand where profits are made or lost.

Market pressure

The sector is still dealing with sustained market instability. Wholesale price swings and tighter margins have raised the cost of poor information, while more sophisticated customer offers have added to the complexity of pricing and risk management.

That has increased demand for software that can bring together fragmented commercial data. Gorilla's approach centres on margin analysis, which has become more important as retailers seek a clearer explanation of financial performance beyond top-line customer growth or volume.

Ruben Van den Bossche, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Gorilla, said: "Winning Best Product for Energy & Utilities means a great deal because we've built Gorilla specifically around the complexity of this industry. Energy retailers are being asked to make more sophisticated commercial decisions, at greater speed, in markets that rarely stand still. Our job is to give them the intelligence they need to understand what is happening to margin, why it is happening and what they can do about it.

"This recognition belongs as much to our customers and partners as it does to the Gorilla team and our technology, as they continue to push us to rethink what is possible in energy retail."

The award also highlights the growing overlap between energy operations and software development. As retailers look for better visibility into margin, they are increasingly turning to specialist platforms that combine operational and financial information in one place.

AI foundation

Another theme emerging in the sector is the use of artificial intelligence in decision-making. Companies are exploring how automation and AI tools might support pricing, trading and broader commercial management, but those efforts depend on consistent underlying data.

Gorilla argues that connected data and common commercial definitions are necessary before businesses can move towards governed automation. In this view, AI is not a standalone solution but an additional layer built on a reliable understanding of performance.

That position reflects a wider industry debate. Energy suppliers have access to more data than ever, but many still struggle with silos between commercial, operational and finance teams, limiting the value of analytics and automated recommendations.

The SaaS Awards programme, now in its tenth year, covers software-as-a-service products across multiple sectors. Entries are reviewed by an independent panel of international industry experts, with the Energy & Utilities category focused on software used in that market.

The awards are run by The Cloud Awards, which recognises software and cloud-related products across areas including cloud computing, SaaS, cloud security, artificial intelligence and financial technology. Winners were chosen by a panel of international industry experts.

James Williams, Chief Executive Officer of The Cloud Awards, said winners had demonstrated excellence in a competitive software market, with reliability, demonstrable return on investment and execution among the qualities buyers now look for.

For Gorilla, the result strengthens its position in a market where commercial discipline is becoming more important. Energy retailers are operating in an environment where the speed and quality of decision-making can directly affect already constrained margins.

As that pressure continues, software that connects pricing, trading, consumption, settlements and finance data is likely to draw continued interest from suppliers seeking a more consistent view of profitability across their organisations.

As Gorilla describes it, Energy Margin Intelligence is intended to provide that shared commercial view and support decisions based on a clearer understanding of what drives margin.