Your purchase contract for the supply for your energy is a crucial part of the energy efficiency puzzle.  It is necessary to “get this right” so that you are buying power at the best possible price in a manner that reflects your organisation’s activities.

To optimize your supply agreement so that it is appropriate to your needs, it is necessary for Supply Optimisation to consider and tune four aspects:

  1. The format and management of your meter data
  2. The timing of your market engagement
  3. The structure of your supply arrangements; and
  4. The actual supply agreement itself

Data

What is your load profile? How does it vary based on your activities and the weather and your business cycle? What do you expect to need during the next contract period?  As with any purchase decision, the more accurate your data and the more closely this data conforms to the detail and structure required by suppliers, the more competitive will be the quotes that come back to you. Supply Optimisation assesses your load profile against contractual thresholds, organizes your data into appropriate formats ready for tendering and quoting, and where appropriate, suggests improved meter infrastructure that will assist this process in the future. Once implemented, Supply Optimisation checks the data for integrity and consistency, ensuring that you maintain an ‘engagement ready’ stance in the marketplace.

Timing

What is the appropriate time to enter the market and renegotiate your supply contract? Market conditions vary significantly throughout the year, and in response to changes in supply and demand variables. With the volatility of weather, supply & demand influences, government and regulatory conditions, the time at which you seek prices and the length of your contract can have very significant impacts on your overall price, an approach to market that is outside ideal conditions by even days can have a significant impact on the prices you obtain.  Supply Optimisation is aware of market conditions in each market we operate, and follows events and influences in the marketplace that will impact price. Put simply, Supply Optimisation is ‘price aware’ regarding the trends in price negotiations and uses this information to plan and tune the timing of your market engagement, up to 12 months, or sometimes more, in advance of contract expiry.

Structure

Supply arrangements and network tariffs are available in multiple structures, and with various mixes of these structures.  Depending on the market, some components might be fixed, or variable, or linked to a spot price. It can be a flat price, or may vary by the time of day and season. It may be capped, or have conversion options to switch from variable to fixed under certain circumstances and for certain portions. The demand charges of the price may trigger on certain events, or may ratchet up or down on certain events, and there may be penalties for exceeding pre-specified quantities. There may be options to blend a power purchase agreement that leverages renewable energy sources.  Supply Optimisation takes your view of risk, best in market practices, and the structure and volatility of your demand, and determines the most appropriate contract structure for your business.

Contract

The final tuned aspect is the actual supply contract itself. Negawatt engages in an open tender process on your behalf and provides a report containing a financial analysis of all contracts offered.  Once finalized, Supply Optimisation continues to monitor the agreement for conformity and alerts you when it is appropriate to re-contract prior to contract expiry.

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