Energy Procurement

Energy procurement involves working with clients to provide educated recommendations on the best energy solutions for your business. Smart Power has been providing Energy Management Services for the past 25 years, and is at the forefront of the increasingly complex market of purchasing energy. For the commercial and industrial markets in Australia and New Zealand, we’ve procured more than $2 billion in energy, a key element of which has been advising our clients on energy strategy and completing procurement exercises on their behalf. 

Comparing retail offers from energy companies can be difficult in the rapidly-changing market, but the team involved in developing your strategy comes armed with their expertise and years of experience in the energy industry, and were involved in the shift away from the Government owned industry towards today’s deregulated market. During this time, Smart Power Energy has even assisted in developing the rules within which the industry works.

One of Smart Power Energy’s core services is providing our clients with energy procurement strategies. By applying our expertise and making market comparisons, we can assist you in securing the right contract which provides your business with an opportunity to reduce energy costs. 

In order to secure the lowest cost contract for your low risk profile, a Request for Proposal (RFP) is your best option. RFP’s enable businesses to collect different offers from various retailers, compare energy prices and essentially create a bidding process. By following this procedure, your business is able to select a supplier that best meets your needs in terms of budget and efficiency. 

At Smart Power, we work with clients at all levels. Our client base ranges from $1,000 to multi-million dollar energy spends across a broad range of industries. For these clients, we procure: 

  • Electricity
  • Coal
  • Natural gas
  • LPG


Recently, Smart Power Energy, at the request of UOW, completed an assignment for VicWater, which is the peak industry association for the 19 water corporations in Victoria. When it comes to energy, these water corporations have a number of overlapping objectives. They want to purchase energy at a competitive rate, however they also have renewable energy objectives, internal ability to manage demand and efficiency of operations,, generation potential, and community expectations on what they should be doing. 

This project required discussions with each of the water corporations, as well as an analysis of their data, enabling us to come up with a customised procurement strategy for all companies involved. As a part of this exercise, we evaluated the pros and cons of a number of procurement strategies, including:


• Wholesale purchasing (spot purchases with hedging products to manage the risks)

• Fixed Price Variable Volume contracts (traditional retailer contracts) via RFP process and through reverse auction

• Progressive Purchasing


As with VicWater, in order to effectively compare electricity and energy options, we request copies of current UoS contacts, as well as detailed information on gas and electric consumption from all of our clients. This enables us to analyse the data and gain a better understanding of what a company’s energy profile looks like, make a more accurate energy comparison. We also work alongside our clients to gain a better understanding of their requirements and how the procurement exercise fits into the business’s overarching energy strategy - which may include renewable objectives, such as solar power, energy efficiency programs, and potential for demand management and/or generation.


Benefits


  • Smart Power is completely independent
  • Fixed fee service
  • All potential retailers are included in the competitive process
  • Receive an expert analysis of electricity derivatives
  • Registered financial advisor, fixed price, variable volume and spot modeling
  • Advice on energy strategy
  • Management for purchasing strategy
  • Assistance with contract documents, including terms and conditions


What Our Clients Say


“Across Australia and New Zealand we manage a number of warehouse and distribution centres. Dealing with multiple retailers and networks was taking too much time so we engaged Smart Power to handle our energy contracts. It saved us time, hassle and best of all we pay less for the power using Smart Power’s expertise.” - Freightways and The Information Management Group



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