Decision details

The Council’s electricity supply contract for Schools has reached its scheduled end date (30th Sept 21). This coincides with historically high energy prices. This contract would normally be renewed under a competitive process, but there is a significant risk of locking the Council in to high rates for an extended period if the contract is renewed in the usual way. In common with most energy supply contracts let by the Council, this contract has provision for further extensions. In order to reduce the impact of current high prices on the Council, the decision is being taken to extend the current contract by a further three months beyond its original end date, in order to allow time for the energy market to restabilise before any new contract was let. This will still incur significantly higher costs for the Council in the short term but will limit this impact to a few months. In the meantime, Council Officers are developing an alternative procurement approach that would reduce the Council’s exposure to energy market prices in future contracts.

Extension of the Council’s electricity supply contract for Schools for three months.

Option 1 - A standard contract renewal process was started, but early indications were that bids were likely to be considerably more expensive than the previous contract. The tender process has been stopped in favour of a short extension.
The Council contracts for electricity supplies through a licensed supplier, who sources electricity from the grid. At the same time, the Council generates significant amounts of zero-carbon electricity from its own wind turbines and solar farm, which is sold to the grid. Council Officers are developing proposals, under approval granted at the February 2021 Cabinet, to link these up, under a ‘sleeving’ arrangement, that will allow the Council to supply its own buildings from its own generation and from other local renewable energy generators. These arrangements are not yet in place.
Option 2 -
Option 3 -