A broker is an agent or facilitator in a deregulated energy market who acts as an intermediary between energy producers and energy consumers, or alternately between any two parties engaged at any point in the distribution chain between producer and consumer. Unlike marketers, brokers never actually own the commodity traded between the parties, or the means of producing or consuming that commodity. Instead they act on behalf of one or both parties in the transaction. In the natural gas sector, a broker has the legal right to supply gas to end consumers, without having ownership of the supplies