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As one of the leading utility consultancies in the UK, Business Cost Consultants is regularly quoted in news and trade press. Below you will find recent press coverage on Business Cost Consultants. Please email us if you would like to find out more about the content of these stories or if you would like to discuss how Business Cost Consultants could help your organisation in similar ways.
New Gorbals Housing Association make savings on utilities
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Scottish Housing News
Glasgow-based New Gorbals Housing Association has cut its costs by working with a leading utility management consultancy Audits Unlimited for the past two years.
Audits Unlimited was originally engaged when the association took over management of housing stock from Scottish Homes. New Gorbals owns 1,150 socially rented units that consist of high rise, maisonettes and new build properties and further manages the factoring service for 1300 owners. The consultancy helped the organisation prepare a tender for gas and electricity supplies.
Since then, Audits has been retained to monitor the association?s utility usage and bills. They also manage the telecoms and water costs for NGHA. Over the period of the last two years, Audits has identified savings of over £50,000 for gas, electricity and telecoms costs.
Using a consultancy has also saved considerable administration time and reduced administration costs. Over 800 bills a year were processed by the association for gas and electricity supplies. Audits Unlimited have now consolidated this into a single bill per month which is much easier to manage and frees up the time of the association?s staff.
Audits unlimited plan to start soon on a new project to help NGHA to reduce their energy consumption and their carbon emissions. That will further reduce their energy costs and help the environment.
Mary Reilly, Finance Manager, New Gorbals, said: "Audits Unlimited has provided an invaluable service in not only helping us put out tenders for utility supplies but also constantly keeping an eye on energy usage and costs, sorting out any queries with suppliers quickly and efficiently."
Link to this article on the Scottish Housing News website
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Supply and demand
Monday, February 19, 2007
Charity Times
Undertaking a utilities audit is one way to decrease an organisation's environmental footprint while also realising substantial cost savings. Gary Flood finds out how a bit of leg work can lead to a major financial boost.
At a time of heightened interest in the appropriate use of power - given the increasing concerns over carbon emissions and climate change - it would seem a good time for not-for-profit organisations to review their use of electricity. Is power being wasted, for example, by leaving PCs or lights on all night needlessly, thus adding to the organisation's carbon footprint?
It turns out that it might also be a sensible time to look more closely at power use for bottom line financial, as well as ethical, reasons. Charities may be missing a trick here in not rigorously shopping around for bargains on this front - odd since as householders we may seriously think about switching gas or electricity suppliers on a regular basis. Indeed some estimates claim as many as 80 per cent of organisations of all sorts pay too much for their electricity, gas, water, telecomms and other utilities.
The price of UK gas and electricity has doubled in the past two years (other estimates put the increase at 35 to 60 per cent), so it's no surprise that organisations of all sizes have seen some pretty brisk increases in their bills. Energy prices are now falling again, at least for the moment, so there are better deals to be had.
"Organisations we work with are often genuinely surprised at what can be achieved here," claims Donald Maclean, managing partner at consultancy, Audits Unlimited, that specialises in helping firms cut their utility bills. The company works with a range of charities in Scotland such as the Richmond Fellowship, and overall claims its clients can cut their costs in this area by as much as 10 to 20 per cent annually.
How are such savings achieved? According to Maclean and other experts, it's all down to detail as well as being much more hard-nosed with suppliers than it seems many charities are. "We take an organisation's utility bills, scan them into the computer, and log all the data," he explains. "We then build up an accurate profile of what is being actually used and how much spent. A big part of this is spotting supplier errors. It may sound surprising but we probably find problems with bills on a monthly basis."
Getting such often-unnoticed slips corrected is only part of the deal, though. "A lot of this depends on contract negotiations around changing suppliers," he continues. "It's very important to keep shopping around here and resist being tied in to any supplier for whatever reason." Other techniques include consolidation of suppliers' bills to save on admin and increase visibility of costs. As an example, the company claims that for one client it managed to slash the number of incoming utility bills from 1,200 to 12.
One charity that has taken the company's advice is the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Society Scotland, which has been working with Audits for over three years to try to identify cost savings in its energy consumption. The good news: it says it has saved 22 per cent in gas and electricity costs and 25 per cent on LPG (liquid petroleum gas) alone in the first year, with savings of over 15 per cent in subsequent years.
A lot of this sort of energy cost saving is plainly down to better management of the relationship between you as a customer and the market. More technologically-oriented solutions are also out there, however. For instance, a company called Qonnectis offers an approach called automated meter reading (AMR) technology.
This lets utilities and their business customers (including NFP organisations) achieve significant cost savings through more efficient operation of their networks, as well as improved energy and water conservation through leakage detection and prevention. In one such example in the public sector the devices helped the Gwent NHS Trust spot a water leak at County Hospital in Griffithstown whose blockage saved over £60,000 on its annual water bill.
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The question is whether you have that time and knowledge to make this sort of decision. If so fine, but if you go to the wider market to get advice be aware that, just as with financial advice, many brokers in the field (apart from specialists like Audits Unlimited) may have preferable arrangements with existing suppliers - so check.
The time does seem ripe to make sure you are getting the very best out of your utility bills ? while it may be too late to make this a New Year resolution, it is still a worthy aim for 2007.
Link to this article on The Charity Times website
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Cutting and controlling utility costs in schools
Friday, February 16, 2007
School Financial Management
Donald Maclean outlines some of the latest techniques and new technologies being introduced to help school finance staff keep utility costs under control.
Schools face a never-ending battle to keep costs under control. In recent years one of the areas of greatest concern to schools has been the dramatic rise in utility costs, with electricity and gas prices alone having risen by over 100% in a few years. It is, therefore, crucial for schools to find ways of minimising the impact on their budgets. So what practical steps can schools take in this vital area?
School finance staff are busy people and by definition don't always have time to scrutinise bills thoroughly. People often assume that utility bills are more or less accurate but experience says otherwise. It has been estimated that over 50% of school utility bills may be inaccurate or contain errors. Although you receive monthly electricity, gas and water bills many of them are likely to be based on estimated readings. A recent survey by the Energy Services and Technology Association showed that about 82% of non-domestic gas bills and 67% of electricity bills are based on estimated readings. Every year or so an actual meter reading is taken by the supplier and there is a reconciliation. This can spring a nasty surprise if your supplier has underestimated consumption. To avoid this you should take meter readings once a month (on the same day each month). Most suppliers will accept your own meter readings and hence your bills will be more accurate.
Smart meters and smart data loggers
An alternative is to use a smart meter or smart data logger which (together with sophisticated software) can provide precise readings on a daily basis to give you and your suppliers very accurate consumption and cost data. Armed with this information you are in a better position to budget and negotiate better deals with suppliers. Reports produced by the system will also make it easy to see if boilers or electrical equipment have been left on overnight, or if thermostat settings are wrong. The net result is that you can identify opportunities to minimise consumption and cut your bills. If you cannot measure your consumption accurately you cannot control it accurately.
Crucially, using such devices consumption of water, gas, electricity and LPG can be monitored in real time. The data gathered is sent to a central server for detailed analysis. Reports produced by the system can highlight any anomalies, such as excessive consumption. That can lead to significant reductions in consumption, costs and carbon emissions. For example, unusually high water usage could indicate the presence of an undetected leak. The smart data loggers are non-invasive so do not interfere with the normal functioning of the supply and the equipment can monitor
usage in different zones of a building, even where the supply is coming from a single source. From a school's point of view having this detailed analysis can be invaluable when budgeting. Historical trends can be used to set more accurate budgets and highlight variances, compared to previous years.
Contracts
Are you confident you have negotiated the best contracts with your utility companies? For example, those schools which have charity status can take advantage of special discount schemes which are only available to charities. Utility and telecom companies do not widely advertise this fact and rely on schools finding out for themselves.
The timing of purchasing energy contracts is also crucial, otherwise you may find yourself paying too much for utilities. Knowing when to purchase your energy is the most important factor influencing what you pay for your energy.
Analysis of past years' energy prices shows that there are key times during the year when energy contracts should be negotiated and making a decision to choose these key moments can save you money. The other two main factors affecting the price you pay are knowing which of the suppliers are likely to be keen to supply your particular
energy profile and knowing how to present your energy data to potential suppliers. Many schools are taking advantage of the services of utilities consultants who can provide expert advice in these areas that can save them thousands of pounds.
Telecommunications
Another area where savings can be made is telecoms, both fixed and mobile. With
the plethora of tariffs and special offers available it can be a minefield for the unwary to analyse telecom costs. There are over 250 authorised telecom service providers in the UK. It can be useful to have an audit carried out of all telecom expenditure. This audit can highlight such issues as expensive or inappropriate tariffs, redundant lines for which line rental is still being paid and misuse of mobile phones. Again this is an area where it is difficult for schools to find out if bills are accurate or whether the right tariffs are being applied, but it is vital to ensure the school is getting the best deal possible.
Conclusion
There are many steps you can take yourself to reduce consumption and energy costs and many sources of valuable advice (such as the Carbon Trust, see www.carbontrust.co.uk). However, the key message is that unless you can accurately measure your consumption, it will be impossible to control your costs. This should be the starting point for any work to control and reduce your utility costs.
Link to a PDF of this article in School Financial Management
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