Universities’ Energy Consortium signs five-year agreement with Utilyx to secure low energy costs
Added: (Wed May 15 2002)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
The Energy Consortium, formed in 1990 to combine the purchasing power of 130 universities, has used Utilyx’s Web-based energy procurement system to buy electricity in the October contract round. The Consortium made savings of more than 2.7 per cent, (compared with the previous year’s prices) in a market that rose, according to a leading energy consultant, by 2 per cent - this delivered The Energy Consortium an effective improvement over the market of nearly 5 per cent.
Consequently, The Energy Consortium has signed a five year agreement to use the Utilyx system for all its over 100 kWh site purchasing, as it is so confident that Utilyx can continue to deliver such benefits to its members. In future contract rounds, David Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of the Consortium, intends to aggregate groups of Universities’ requirements to gain economies of scale and make contracts more attractive to suppliers and consider including sub 100 kWh sites.
Before choosing the system David Thomas evaluated five other options to replace existing, outdated purchasing software. At that time, only Utilyx was making full use of the World Wide Web as a low cost, easy-to-use means of access and data communication.
“When we saw demonstrations, it was clear they had listened carefully to the requirements of the buyers when developing their system,” he said. “This now provides all the convenience associated with the Web, combined with comprehensive facilities for handling data and managing on-line tenders.”
For the electricity tender, Utilyx gathered, “cleansed” and consolidated consumption data for sites at 15 universities. The data was then made available for suppliers to download from the Utilyx site in a form that was easy for their pricing systems to handle. This made it simpler for suppliers to formulate complex bids based on multiple tariffs. They could also re-bid quickly as the system fed back information about the ranking of their current bids.
Eight suppliers participated, making up to four bids each. Between six and eight suppliers bid for each of the 15 individual contracts. To view the bids after the tender closing date, buyers at the universities were each given an access code and password. In this way, they could use a PC and standard browser to view the area of Utilyx’s site designated for details of all offers for their own contract.
“With more bidders, and immediate feedback on rankings making re-bidding quick and easy, competition was more intense,” said David Thomas. “Added to this, we had more time for analysis and negotiation, since much of the routine admin was automated.”
In future contract rounds, David Thomas plans to handle sub 100-kilowatt sites using the system. Most universities have many such sites but, when taken individually, it is difficult to negotiate significant discounts for them. With Utilyx, it becomes cost effective to aggregate and auction them in groups.
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Notes to editors:
UTILYX
Founded in February 2000, Utilyx has quickly established itself as the UK’s leading provider of energy purchasing advice and execution for commercial and industrial energy buyers. Utilyx’s deep understanding of energy markets, coupled with the very best execution software, has enabled many of the UK’s leading companies to dramatically reduce their energy costs. To date Utilyx has placed nearly 13.5 terra Watt-hours of energy with a market value of over £280 million.
The customer base is expanding rapidly and now includes several of the UK’s major energy buyers such as Marks and Spencer, Tesco, Waitrose, Boots, Air Products, Marley and Kimberly Clark.
For further information please contact:
Gaye Spencer, tel: 01635 569992, email: gspr@globalnet.co.uk
or Beth Callaghan, tel: 0207 462 4305, email: BethCallaghan@utilyx.com