Decision details

To note the Special Urgency decision highlighted in the appended report taken by Executive Director for Place on 20th August to award the energy procurement contracts.

1.  To take advantage of current rates on offer and reduce related cost pressures by an estimated £1.1M. This is the rationale for seeking the Special Urgency decision on August 20th 2021, under Paragraph 16 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules in Part 4 of the City Council’s Constitution.

2.  All gas and electricity supplies are covered by a contracted price to ensure the Council does not pay ‘out of contract’ rates.

3.  Ensure that the Council procures its gas and electricity needs in a compliant, best practice and cost-efficient manner

1.  In addition to the detail outlined within the appended report, LASER was selected on value for money and potential flexibility during the contract period. A risk was identified with other framework providers where we could be locked into our property portfolio usage for the duration of the contract. The other providers either didn’t offer a basket model or didn’t have an open basket for Southampton to join which would mean higher rates as market or interim rates would be offered up to April 2022.

2.  In terms of cost comparison, LASER is more competitive than the other framework providers based on bench-marking data or real time pricing supplied by the framework providers.

3.  The option to renew the contract next month and allow the decision to follow the usual democratic process without the application of paragraph 16 was considered and rejected. The current volatile trends in the energy market and the basket currently on offer presented a cost-avoidance opportunity that warranted its expedition.