Energy Update Issue 6 Market update On Thursday 8 September the government confirmed that support will be provided to business and public sector organisations in the form of an energy price guarantee. Specific details on how this will be applied are not yet fully available, but the government has advised that the support will take effect from 1 October 2022 for an initial period of 6 months. The government website linked here provides some additional information. Once we have confirmation on how this will impact your energy bills, we will provide a further update. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the wholesale energy markets, forward buying the gas and electricity our customers need in accordance with our risk management strategy. This strategy has meant that, users of the ESPO Gas (192) and Electricity (191) frameworks have so far been largely protected from the considerable increases in energy costs. However, with prices elevated for such a long period it is inevitable (even with the expected government support) that there will need to be increases when rates next change.
prices are likely to increase by around 300%. These increases are because existing rates are a long way below the current wholesale market since the energy was forward purchased prior to the energy crisis. Despite the increases these rates are significantly below equivalent fixed rate contracts with the forecasted electricity price for October 2022 to September 2023 expected to be around half of what is currently available on the market. We understand that news of price rises may not be welcome, but these increases are unavoidable and we are keen to ensure our customers are kept informed. Where it is confirmed that government policy can limit any of these increases we will work with our supplier, TotalEnergies, to ensure that these are applied promptly to our customers’ accounts. Should you have any questions about the situation in the energy market and how this may impact future budget planning, please do get in touch and we will be happy to help.
As things stand, in October we expect unit rates for electricity to double and in April 2023 gas
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Important deadline date – 31 January 2023 After a compliant tender process, we announced that TotalEnergies were the successful supplier for our Electricity framework (191) for 2024 to 2028 and we are now ready to commence the renewal process. 2024 may seem a long way off but as we purchase energy up to 18 months before the supply period we need to know the renewal numbers in order to make the most effective purchases for our customers. The markets continue to be volatile with prices at all-time highs so our team will use their experience and tested low risk strategy to make prudent purchases. The deadline for acceptance into year one of the flexible basket is 31 January 2023.
Electricity (191) framework renewal Got a question?
Please be aware that this is the first year that we will be using Docusign to send out the contracts in order to improve your experience, ensure countersigned copies in a timely manner and improve our audit process. We ask that once you receive your documents you act urgently.
If you need to talk the options through or have any questions please contact Rowena Reid on energy@espo.org.
Automated Meter Readers What is an AMR meter? AMR stands for Automated Meter Reading. An AMR device works by creating a connection channel between a business customer and its energy supplier. For an AMR device, the communication only goes in one direction - to the supplier. The energy supplier will receive meter readings once per month so there is no need for manual meter readings. This ensures accurate billing and allows the customer to analyse their energy usage data. Benefits of AMR meters over conventional meters Accuracy - Accurate meter readings are sent to the energy supplier so there are no more estimated bills. Efficiency - Reduce the time your team spend collating meter reads. Analytics - Data is available to monitor usage and interrogate.
Providing AMRs ESPO and TotalEnergies will shortly be offering AMR installation projects to our customers. As you will have likely read in previous newsletters, the industry has provided a timeframe for suppliers to fit all meters with an AMR or smart meter devices to ensure fair settlement in the market and monitor demand accurately across the grid. From September 2022, we will be starting tranche one of our AMR installation project. The projects key aims are to source customers wanting to roll our AMR to their portfolio. Where you are a corporate customer, we should be able to provide a dedicated meter fitter to visit all of your properties within a set time frame and complete the fittings. In order to be a part of tranche one, keep an eye out for our e-shot, where you will be able to respond with site contact details for each of your meters. Once this is received, we will be able to schedule in the works between the contact provided and the AMR provider.
• Direct Award – A quick and simple process for customers to select a supplier by undertaking a desk top exercise to inspect margin prices and other information provided by ESPO. ESPO will provide all current customers with information showing the suppliers who are able to deliver liquid fuels in each region of the UK, the fuels they are able to supply and all associated margin prices and small load premiums. From this information the customer can determine which supplier(s) represents the best value for money for their organisation and can simply contract with the supplier(s) via the issue of a call-off supply contract, without the need for further competition.
Liquid Fuels (301) framework agreement ESPO has now completed the tender process to put in place a new framework agreement for Liquid Fuels (301), replacing the previous version after it expired on 17 August 2022, with all call-off contracts expiring on 30 September 2022. Liquid Fuels (301) is now live and details can be found on the ESPO website. After a rigorous tender exercise to evaluate criteria such as quality of provision, social value and price, ESPO has appointed eight suppliers to the new framework agreement: BWOC Ltd Certas Energy Ltd Crown Oil Ltd New Era Fuels Ltd
Oil NRG Ltd Rix Petroleum (Hull) Ltd Standard Fuel Oils Ltd Watson Fuels Ltd
The new framework provides for the delivery of all standard liquid fuel products (diesel, petrol, heating oil, Adblue etc.) and green fuels, such as HVO and GTL. New to this framework is the provision of a fuel ‘bunkering’ service, where customers can bulk order diesel from their chosen supplier and have it placed into the UK bunkering network. Customers can then fill up their vehicles from a range of forecourts (effectively ‘calling off’ the fuel they placed into the bunker network) through a fuel card issued by a provider of their choice (such as Key Fuels Ltd, or UK Fuels Ltd). Importantly, the new framework operates in a very different way to before as customers now have to make their own supplier selection when using the framework. Customers can select and award to a supplier, or a number of suppliers, in two ways:
• Further Competition – Some organisations may mandate that a further competition is required to select a supplier, in order to prove value for money. In this case the customer should invite all suppliers on the framework agreement for the relevant Lot to take part in the further competition and the customer can then select the best value supplier(s) based on the evaluation results of the further competition. As with the Direct Award option, customers then contract with the chosen supplier(s) via issue of a call-off supply contract. Once the customer has selected their supplier(s) we highly recommend the issue of a ‘call-off’ supply contract to the chosen supplier(s). This is an official contract signed by both parties setting out the specific, individual customer requirements (such as site addresses, any special delivery instructions, access restrictions, delivery time restrictions, etc.). ESPO will provide the template and customers merely need to amend it to reflect their individual requirements. The new framework operating model benefits customers in a number of ways: • Greater flexibility – Customers choose the supplier(s) they wish to contract with for the provision of their liquid fuel requirements. • Choice - Customers can contract with any number of suppliers if they feel this provides ‘best value’ for their authority. For example, they may wish to contract with one supplier for the provision of diesel and a different supplier for the provision of petrol, depending on their own specific requirements. Equally, some customers may decide that contracting with one single supplier may be the best option for them. • Suppliers - Increased number of suppliers appointed to the framework generates competition and has the potential to lead to lower prices for customers. • Information - Customers will be able to use the information provided by ESPO to quickly and easily select a supplier and prove ‘best value’ within their respective authorities.
Got a question?
If you have any questions please contact energy@espo.org.
Changes to siteworks! Total are currently changing the siteworks team structure and processes to ensure customer demand is met and resource is available for our account. All ESPO siteworks requests will now be treated by the new strategic assets team based in Newcastle. The team is made up of current TEGP siteworks employees and employees from the data operations part of TEGP so are well placed to run the siteworks processes and deal with the sending and receiving of flows. Our dedicated siteworks contact is now: Elise Harris | 01737 854605 gp.redhill.strategic-client@totalenergies.com
Please ensure you include the MPAN (when known) in the email subject, state that you are part of the ESPO framework and that this sitework should be processed by the strategic assets sitework team. Failure to do this will slow down your application as it will be treated as business as usual and not by our dedicated team. Please keep in mind the turnaround time for a siteworks is 8 weeks, from the point at which a fully completed siteworks form is received. There are some minor delays at present due to a new flow service being implemented by the industry. It is important to us that you are pleased with the service you have received. If there is something you are not happy with, please email or call TotalEnergies on: Amanda Dainty (TotalEnergies siteworks team lead) 01737 275714 | amanda.dainty@totalgp.com
If they do not have enough information to investigate your complaint, you will be contacted for further details. If you feel your issue hasn’t been resolved, please contact our Customer Relationship Manager on energy@espo.org or 0774 786 8021.
Meet the team – the Contract Support Hub! Kate Maher Kate Maher heads up the Contract Support Hub and manages the team covering a variety of tasks including bill validation services, customer services and portfolio management. Kate is also responsible for looking for new and innovative ways to improve our services and expand into new areas as well as monitoring our awarded suppliers and energy management systems.
Staff changes Kate Maher will be going on maternity leave from 19 October 2022, returning summer 2023. Jamie Taylor will cover Kate in the meantime.
Jamie Taylor and Kim Davie Jamie and Kim cover our customer services and portfolio management. They ensure we have an up-to-date record of all the meters covered by the ESPO Energy frameworks, as well as supply the various forms and information to our customers needed to add and remove meters to their properties and portfolio’s. Jamie will be covering Kate Maher’s maternity leave, so we will be recruiting for a replacement soon. Katie Ford will be leaving on 6 October 2022 to pursue another opportunity within ESPO. Katie’s replacement, Fraser, will join the team from 10 October 2022.
Do you have any concerns about the accuracy of your bills and want to know more about our Bill Validation Service? Get in touch on energy@espo.org and one of our dedicated team will arrange a meeting with you.
Katie Ford, Sam Collishaw and Gemma Amos Katie, Sam and Gemma make up our Bill Validation team. Between them, they are responsible for keeping our energy management software up to date with the current contracting criteria as well as receiving and running monthly invoices through the system to check them for accuracy. They raise any failed billing as a query to the servicing team at Total as well as monitor query stat numbers and attend a monthly query busting meeting with our supplier to ensure queries are getting resolved within a timely manner.
Barnsdale Way, Grove Park Enderby, Leicester, LE19 1ES T. 0116 265 7878 E. energy@espo.org espo.org