News Archive - energy costs

Energy procurement strategy – some key things to consider

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Energy Procurement and Management

An effective energy procurement strategy optimally matches your business needs with the right business energy deal.

As energy is one of the biggest overheads for any business, securing the right price and the right terms for your gas and electricity can make a huge difference to the health of the balance sheet.

Here are a few FAQs around the subject of business energy procurement that may help in your decision-making process.

What is the best Energy Procurement Strategy for 2021?

The best strategy will be determined by your business’ unique needs.

In these uncertain financial times, energy suppliers are being selective about who they deal with and are avoiding perceived high-risk industries, such as hospitality, catering, retail and travel.

Only this week Arcadia Group, which owns renowned High Street stores like Selfridges, Topshop and Topman, announced it was going into administration.

Businesses within those sectors on a fixed energy deal in a market where prices are rising will feel they are in a relatively good position from an energy procurement perspective, as they’ll be protected against the prospect of being hit by increased risk premiums.

However, these are unchartered times, and without a crystal ball, managing risk has never been more important. As soon as prices go up, they can just as quickly go down. Hence, having the correct strategy in place and being able to respond quickly to opportunities as they arise is crucial.

What is the best Energy Procurement Strategy to manage risk?

Simply put, it’s the strategy that’s most suited to the business. But first, you need to understand the role of risk in your business.

Some businesses do not have the option of adopting higher risk for potentially higher financial returns as budget stability might be more important to them.

Your business may have long-term fixed customer sales contracts which do not allow for passing on increases in energy costs to your customers.

In order to protect profit margins, having fixed price energy contracts is preferential to having the opportunity to take advantage of falls in the energy markets. This is because the risks of energy price increases would ultimately be more damaging to the financial performance of the business.

For energy-intensive businesses, in order to compete on price, it’s important that you’re buying energy at the current market rate, so a flexible contract that tracks the market could be advantageous.

As a general comment, a fixed price contract which is renewed when the energy markets are low has historically added value, particularly as they often avoid increases in non-commodity costs.

What is the difference between a fixed and flexible energy procurement strategy?

Most people view flexible contracts as riskier than fixed ones but, in reality, they can be used as a hedging tool to smooth out the volatility of market movements.

A flex contract enables you to fix any amount of energy for any period of time. For example, you could fix energy prices for half your anticipated consumption for the duration of the contract, and let market prices dictate the cost of the other half once you have interpreted market dynamics through the use of helpful energy management analytical tools such as EM-Powered. The price you then pay is the average between the two actions.

Whether a fixed, midi-flex or full flexible strategy is adopted, it is important to have a dynamic approach. By this, we mean fixing contracts when market movements present opportunities and not when you come to the end of a fixed period contract in the blind hope that the markets will be favourable.

How can Energy Management guide you in your Energy Procurement Strategy?

We can assist you by establishing and implementing an energy procurement strategy that best serves the needs of your business.

Once the right products have been selected and delivered, the performance of energy suppliers will be audited to ensure optimum budget management moving forward.

Ongoing invoice validation and budget management are also key in managing your energy procurement strategy.

How to control energy costs in the Covid-19 crisis

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Controlling costs has always been good business, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now more important than ever.

With turnover having taken a hit in so many different sectors, the ability to manage overheads could make all the difference to a business’s survival or demise.

Government initiatives like the furlough scheme have helped employers keep wage costs down but what can be done to protect against energy costs?

Spiralling energy costs can sap the life out of a company, so it is important to put a cost-control plan in place and get the power back in your hands, so to speak, wherever possible.

Controlling energy costs can be done through better energy procurement, by introducing a range of energy efficiency measures and by leveraging government help.

Procurement

The price of gas and electricity nosedived during the first U.K lockdown as industry ground to a halt and demand plummeted. But once industry started to open up again and people realised the end of the world wasn’t nigh, prices rallied significantly.

Currently, market conditions are favourable to securing contracts early but, in a volatile energy market such as they one we are currently experiencing, a flexible approach shouldn’t be ruled out when formulating your energy procurement strategy.

Business energy deals offer a wide procurement window for tendering contracts and are more flexible than those available to domestic users in that they can be fixed for anything up to four years.

While it is not possible to forecast prices changes with a 100% degree of accuracy, the best business energy consultants are able to offer informed and impartial advice about the type of contract best aligned to your business’s needs.

Energy efficiency

COVID-19 has changed the way we conduct business, with home-working and Zoom conference calls now the norm.

Companies have reduced their carbon footprint as a result of less road and air miles being used to get to and from meetings, while energy consumption has dramatically fallen as premises remain empty or part-empty.

A greener way of living and working has been one of the few positive spin-offs of COVID-19 and there is an opportunity to build on this once the worst of the pandemic has passed. After all, the cheapest unit of energy is the one you never use.

European Regional Development Funding is still available to SMEs for energy efficiency measures, despite our withdrawal from the European Union.

We would advise businesses to check with their local Chamber of Commerce to see what level of support is being offered as these vary from region to region.

Government help

As experienced practitioners in the handling of Climate Change Agreement applications, we continue to help companies maximise the Climate Change Levy (CCL) discounts available to them.

Companies have been asked to monitor their energy performance against a 2018 baseline instead of the old 2008 baseline and the data is then used by the Environment Agency to set targets for TP5 (Target Period 5, 2021-22).

As well as providing this information in a timely fashion, contact details for the appointed authorised and admin CCA personnel need to be kept up to date, too.

Failure to do so could result in discount notification emails going unread because they’ve been directed to the wrong member of staff or to someone who has either retired or moved on.

The Metallurgical Exemption is another aspect of the CCA that can benefit certain industry sectors.

As a point of good housekeeping, multiple site operators who use different suppliers should ensure they resubmit the relevant forms if they ever change one of those suppliers. Otherwise, they could run the risk of missing out financially.

To coin a phrase, ‘if you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves.’

If you would like to speak to one of our business energy consultants about managing your nergy costs better, please get in touch by calling us on 01225-867722.

Energy procurement strategy – your questions answered

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Energy framework

A good energy procurement strategy optimally matches your business needs with the many choices that are available when it comes to buying energy.

Energy is often one of the biggest overheads for a business, so it is crucial to adopt the right approach in how you go about purchasing your gas and electricity.

Here are a few FAQs around the subject that may help in your decision-making process.

What is the best Energy Procurement Strategy for 2020?

The best strategy will be determined by the needs of your unique business.

Energy prices fell dramatically during the early stages of lockdown to reflect the lack of demand, but following the easing of restrictions and the resulting step up in business activity, they are now climbing out of what appears to be a market trough,

Even so, energy suppliers are being selective about who they deal with and are avoiding perceived high-risk industries, such as hospitality, catering and travel, that have all come under intense pressure since lockdown started back in mid-March.

Businesses within those sectors on a fixed energy deal in a market where prices are rising will feel they are in a relatively good position from an energy procurement perspective as they’ll be protected against the prospect of being hit by increased risk premiums.

However, these are unchartered times, and without a crystal ball, managing risk has never been more important. Hence, having the correct strategy in place and being able to respond quickly to opportunities as they arise is crucial.

What is the best Energy Procurement Strategy to manage risk?

Simply put, it’s the strategy that’s most suited to the business. But first, you need to understand the role of risk in your business.

Some businesses do not have the option of adopting higher risk for potentially higher financial returns as budget stability might be more important to them.

Your business may have long-term fixed customer sales contracts which do not allow for passing on increases in energy costs to your customers.

In order to protect profit margins, having fixed price energy contracts is preferential to having the opportunity to take advantage of falls in the energy markets. This is because the risks of energy price increases would ultimately be more damaging to the financial performance of the business.

For energy-intensive businesses, in order to compete on price, it’s important that you’re buying energy at the current market rate, so a flexible contract that tracks the market could be advantageous.

As a general comment, a fixed price contract which is renewed when the energy markets are low has historically added value, particularly as they often avoid increases in non-commodity costs.

What is the difference between a fixed and flexible energy procurement strategy?

Most people view flexible contracts as riskier than fixed ones but, in reality, they can be used as a hedging tool to smooth out the volatility of market movements.

A flex contract enables you to fix any amount of energy for any period of time. For example, you could fix energy prices for half your anticipated consumption for the duration of the contract, and let market prices dictate the cost of the other half once you have interpreted market dynamics through the use of helpful energy management analytical tools such as EM-Powered. The price you then pay is the average between the two actions.

Whether a fixed, midi-flex or full flexible strategy is adopted, it is important to have a dynamic approach. By this, we mean fixing contracts when market movements present opportunities and not when you come to the end of a fixed period contract in the blind hope that the markets will be favourable.

How can Energy Management guide you in your Energy Procurement Strategy?

We can assist you by establishing and implementing an energy procurement strategy that best serves the needs of your business.

Once the right products have been selected and delivered, the performance of energy suppliers will be audited to ensure optimum budget management moving forward.

Ongoing invoice validation and budget management are also key in managing your energy procurement strategy.

Sign up to our Market Intelligence report

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Analysing the factors behind why business energy prices have risen or fallen over a month-long period, our Market Intelligence report helps to give customers a handy overview of market conditions as they plan their energy strategy.

Before you make any energy procurement decisions it is important to understand what the energy landscape could look like in the future in order to get the best deal at the right price.

So many factors influence the price a business has to pay for their electricity and gas and the Market Intelligence report breaks these down in an easy-to-read format accompanied by historical and present-day price graphs.

To sign up, simply fill in the short form at the bottom of the page.

Switching energy suppliers – what you need to know

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Energy is often a business’ biggest running cost after wages. That is why it is crucial to ensure you are not paying over the odds for powering your office, factory or warehouse, particularly if you prefer the security of a fixed-term contract over a more flexible arrangement.

Many energy contracts simply rollover once the current term expires, and this can lead to a business paying more per unit for their gas and electricity than they need to.

With the market as volatile as it is right now, switching energy providers can be in your best interests. Normally, your energy supplier – whether it is one of the so-called ‘Big 6’ or one of the smaller operators – will contact you up to six months before your contract enters its renewal window.

Armed with the facts

At this time, it is important to have all the right information to hand and to understand how, when and where you are consuming the most energy, especially if you operate over multiple sites, as this could impact on how much you eventually pay.

Switching energy suppliers can take anything between four to six weeks but without any disruption to your current supply.

Many businesses, particularly at times of great stress, either don’t have the resources to handle this energy procurement process or do not have the expertise to shine a light on unfavourable terms and conditions which may hit the business financially in the long run.

If you consider yourself to be in such a situation, we’d be more than happy to assist you in getting the right deal at the right time and for the right duration.

Swing and you’re winning. Is now the best time to renew your energy contract?

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All crises create winners and losers and the coronavirus pandemic is no different when it comes to how much businesses are paying for their energy.

Compare electricity and gas prices from the period before the pandemic took hold and adversely affected so many lives, to today’s market and there is no comparison.

With the global economic slowdown came a vast reduction in energy consumption – by as much as 38% in April – as factories and offices shut up shop, and prices plummeted as a result.

Summer 2021 electricity prices took a massive hit, falling by 32 per cent from the start of October until May 20, dropping from £55.01 to £37.50, while Summer 2022 swung by 24 per cent.

In terms of gas, there were equally big fluctuations over the near eight-month period. As of May 20th, Summer 2021 prices had gone from £53.34 to £30.23 – a 43 per cent reduction.

Our team of expert energy consultants constantly analyse the energy markets to help clients try and strike deals with suppliers at just the right time.

Whilst this is clearly not an exact science all the indications at present are that this is a good time to review your energy contract renewal options.

We are slowly starting to see the forward prices recover as the lockdown restrictions start to ease, but these costs are still low based on wholesale costs back in October/November 2019.

That lag won’t last forever though, and as more and more people go back to work, there will be an inevitable knock-on effect on prices as demand for energy increases.

If you would like to talk to us about your renewal options, please give us a call on 01225-867722.

Missed the ESOS deadline?

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For qualifying companies, the deadline for phase 2 of ESOS passed on December 5, 2019.

Some companies have missed this cut-off point after finding the complexities of the compliance process more challenging than anticipated.

Faced with being hit with fines potentially running into tens of thousands of pounds, it is important for those companies to act now.

If you don’t have the time, money or dedicated resource to do this, our highly experienced team can take care of the paperwork on your behalf and help you mitigate those costs.

Here’s a reminder of which companies need to comply:

  • Those that employ at least 250 people; OR
  • has an annual turnover in excess of €50 million and a balance sheet in excess of €43 million.

ESOS assessments are carried out every four years and there are five separate UK regulators: Environment Agency, National Resources Wales, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Secretary of State for Business.

For more information please contact us on: 01225 867722 /sales@energymanagement.com

An energy framework that delivers for the public sector

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Energy framework

Looking after the health, fitness, safety and education of the nation does not come cheap. In 2019, the figure for powering the public sector was estimated to be an eye-watering £3.4 billion.

Keeping offices, hospital wards, classrooms and leisure centres heated, lit, ventilated and air conditioned contributes towards a large percentage of a local authority’s total expenditure.

Controlling costs is a key focus for councils under financial pressure. Fundamental to this goal is smart energy procurement, even more so in times when the markets are volatile due to a host of geopolitical factors and health-related issues such as the coronavirus outbreak.

Buying energy is not always straightforward but the Choice Energy Framework (CEF), which involves a panel of six pre-selected suppliers, makes it as simple and as competitive as it can be.

With a range of supply parameters to consider (e.g. scope of services, technical capability, procurement mechanism), public sector clients need to have access to easy and ready to use Value for Money resources.

The aim of CEF is to make procuring these services more user-friendly. It minimises the cost of energy procurement while retaining accessibility and transparency.

Approved by The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the CEF enables signed-up organisations to avoid time-consuming form filling and could save them as much as £20,000 in admin fees.

The CEF has been developed by Shepton Mallet Town Council and is being managed by Energy Management LLP.

The result of this is a Framework Agreement designed and procured by the public sector, for the public sector, applicable throughout the United Kingdom.

For more details on CEF, click here.

Coronavirus and the energy price market

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energy price

Subscribers to our Market Intelligence monthly bulletin will be only too aware that there are a multitude of factors driving the energy price market.

If you compare business electricity prices from one day to another, they can look very different depending on how bearish or bullish the market is.

On top of all the geopolitical and meteorological factors at play, the coronavirus is an extremely unwelcome addition to an already complex situation.

With the viral outbreak spreading to more countries, the price of oil has dropped markedly as global demand weakens even further due to production cuts in places like China, the source of the COVID-19 disease.

Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 14% for the week to its lowest levels since July 2017, closing Friday at a fraction over $50 a barrel. Cuts in oil production are now being called for by countries such as Saudi Arabia to stabilise demand.

For any energy consultant, such scenarios present challenges, especially around energy procurement, which is why experience is so important in good energy management.

Through years spent in the industry, Energy Management’s energy consultants know the markets inside and out and are across all the news that could impact on our clients’ energy deals.

And this knowledge is complemented by energy management portals such as EM-Powered and its wide-ranging benefits, including the ability to compare business energy consumption over specified periods of time.

That historical data can then be used to help our energy consultants make better-informed decisions on the type of energy procurement right for your business.

Why energy procurement is best left in the hands of the experts

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For the first time in history, more UK power came from renewable sources than from fossil fuels in the calendar year ending December 2019.  National Grid described it as “a historic moment”.

Wind power provides the largest percentage of the UK’s overall renewable energy output, making up 20% of the UK’s electricity following a series of major windfarm openings in recent years.

And with energy derived from solar power around the 6% mark, roughly a quarter of the UK’s renewable energy output is dependent on the right weather conditions.

While the wind is blowing a gale at the moment, thanks to Storm Dennis, that’s not always the case and, as we all know in this country, the sun can never be trusted to shine as long as we’d like it to.

Market vulnerability

But the vagaries of the weather are not the only strong drivers when it comes to the price people pay for their electricity.

From faulty nuclear reactors to the US-China trade talks and even the assassination of Iranian warlord, Major General Qasem Soleimani, the last few months alone has illustrated how the market is vulnerable to a host of geopolitical issues.

Understanding the market and the mechanisms that may trigger wild fluctuations in price is an important facet of energy procurement.

Right price, right time

A good level of market intelligence – through a combination of experience and accessibility to software such as EM-Powered, the energy management portal – is vital in procuring energy at the right price and at the right time.

Minimising those energy costs through smart energy procurement – and taking the hassle away from clients – is at the heart of what we do.

With over two decades’ worth of experience, Energy Management explores the range of options available to their clients, from a fixed-price, longer-term arrangement that allows for greater security, planning and budgeting, to a more flexible approach, where advantages can be derived from fluctuations in energy pricing.

Speaking literally, our consultants are experts at knowing which way ‘the wind is blowing’, so why not give them a call, on 01225-867722 or email: sales@energymanagementltd.com