Energy management and procurement

In October 2020 to September 2021 Southampton City Council spent £3.1m on its corporate gas and electricity.

We estimate for 2021 to 2022 (over the same period) Southampton City Council will see an average increase of 43% on total spend for gas and electric across the corporate portfolio. This equates to an estimated £1.3m increase in cost from the previous year. This rise is unprecedented.

There will also be similar percentage cost increases experienced on the Southampton City Council housing portfolio.

Gas prices are at record levels due to very high global demand and gas flows into Europe have also been much lower than average. The UK is bidding in a competitive market and currently has low levels of gas storage of its own.

This has impacted on the wider price for gas and electricity, which in turn means our energy costs will rise. This will include both householder and our operational assets including, civic buildings, schools and streetlighting.

Southampton City Council renewed the energy contracts that run from 1 October 2021 under a new Laser framework. We estimate that this arrangement has avoided additional costs of at least £1.3 million in the first year compared to our existing arrangement and could not be bettered by any other supplier or broker. That saving was based on August 2021 market costs, which have risen substantially nationally. In reality the savings achieved will be higher. However, Southampton City Council will still experience price rises from October and likely for the foreseeable future. Some of these rises will be significant but lower than if we hadn’t taken earlier action and were not benefiting from the Laser framework.

Kent Laser procures our energy as cheaply as possible. Our current suppliers under the framework are Npower for electricity and Total Energies for gas. If you are interested in more information please contact us at energy@southampton.gov.uk