Water Procurement

Eskimo Ice / Ice Club has been manufacturing and distributing packaged ice across the UK and Europe for over 40 years. Having secured rates not long after the energy crisis, Ice Club were keen to ensure they were employing the most appropriate risk management strategy to maximise profitability of the business going forward. Given the nature of their business (ice production), demand is highly dependent on the weather and therefore energy consumption forecasting is challenging. As such, if the correct contract terms are not in place, there is a risk of breaching supplier Take or Pay clauses. As a forward thinking business, they were also keen to become more sustainable, and procuring renewable energy at a premium was acceptable, subject to the level of the premium.

When Mindful Energy started working with Tinklin Springall Solicitors (TSS), TSS were using both gas & electricity across a number of sites, with some meters on out of contract rates. Following the energy crisis, TSS had (sensibly) declined to contract at very high rates, and were unsure when was a good time to resign a new supply contract. Additionally, there were a number of different contracts with different supply contract end dates, increasing the contract administration burden.

As a growing business Dart and Partners (Dart) had inherited energy contracts as they acquired new offices. This resulted in supply contracts with different energy suppliers, on different contract end dates, creating an unnecessary administration burden. Additionally, it was challenging for Dart to unsure they were getting the best energy deals due to the different contracts they had in place.

This prestigious golf course came out of a long-term contract in the months leading up to the energy crisis in 2022. Their consultants at the time were recommending a 36-month supply contract, with an average unit rate of 93pence per kWh, not including the benefit of the relevant government schemes available at the time. They reached out to Mindful Energy to assess their options.

Our client is a group of large care homes where heating and lighting are key energy consumption drivers due to the nature of their business. They have invested heavily in energy efficiency initiatives but increasing energy prices was putting serious pressure on their business model. They had traditionally always purchased fixed priced supply contracts, but current rates were unpalatable. They were keen to look at alternative purchasing methodologies.

This exclusive independent hotel group had settled their previous contracts in 2021 and as such avoided the high increases seen in 2022. However, they were not expecting the size of the increase of their renewal rates from their incumbent energy supplier, which was showing a >310% increase.