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Energy Procurement Energy Legislation Carbon Reduction

Case Study

asra Housing Group

In addition to the main group contracts which were in place,

asra Housing Group has numerous sites where individual

contracts were often left un-terminated, rolling onto ‘deemed

contracts’, while others were left out of contract. Given that

asra Group manages a portfolio of offices, general

accommodation, landlord supplies, sheltered housing and

community centres; this was a very challenging and time

consuming problem.

In order to achieve value for money and ensure all sites

were on appropriate energy contracts, asra Housing Group

set out to find an energy management consultant which

would be able to maintain a high level of customer service

and billing for large multi-site portfolios whilst helping them

find the best value contracts for themselves and their

tenants.

The Group is required to post any opportunity to tender for

their energy procurement

contracts on the Official Journal of

the European Union (OJEU).

OJEU is the publication in which,

according to EU legislation, all

public sector tenders of a certain value must be advertised.

This legislation covers organisations which receive public

funds such as Local Authorities, and NHS Trusts etc.

energyTEAM began working with asra Housing Group in

2010 and handled the listing of energy contract tender

invitations through OJEU, negotiations with energy suppliers

and the notice of contract award. Since energyTEAM has

been procuring for asra Housing Group, all of their sites

have been systematically moved under single group

contracts for electricity and gas supplies.

Moreover, energyTEAM has worked on the Group’s behalf

to reclaim very substantial VAT and Climate Change Levy

payments incorrectly levied across the Group’s energy

contracts over the last four years. energyTEAM, working

with the client and their energy suppliers, has set in place

measures to ensure that these errors do not occur again in

the future.

energyTEAM has gone on to work with the Group through

their ‘rebranding’ process, managing any related energy

contractual difficulties as they arise.

energyTEAM now provide asra Housing Group with a

mixture of fixed and flexible contract solutions to help them

spread the risk of their energy purchasing. Through our

knowledge of the energy markets and great experience of

working with varying contract types, energyTEAM was able

to achieve the most competitive energy rates for the Group.

By moving out of contract sites

into a group contract

arrangement, asra Housing

Group has benefitted from an

annual saving of some £75,000

since choosing energyTEAM as their energy partner.

Investigating and rectifying VAT and Climate Change Levies

charged over the last four years has secured a refund of

over £100,000 for the Group.

> Results

> Solution

> Situation

The asra Housing Group was officially launched in 2012,

rebranding from LHA-ASRA Group and bringing together

Leicester Housing Association (LHA), ASRA Greater London

Housing Association and Family First.

asra Housing Group is one of the UK's leading housing and

regeneration providers. The Group's property portfolio

contains more than 13,000 homes in the Midlands and

London.

"energyTEAM has taken control of the process from start to

finish and has provided a very high standard of service. We

were impressed right from the outset with the meticulous

approach energyTEAM adopted during the tender process.

This forward thinking approach has continued throughout the

implementation of our energy contract and has not only

resulted in significant savings through the group contract

arrangement and refunded VAT and CCL payments, but has

also given asra Housing Group the confidence that we are

now being correctly charged.

Not only has energyTEAM helped to reduce the workload on

our accounts department, which receives lots of bills, but our

dedicated account manager has been extremely helpful with

any queries we have on various sites. I have been impressed

by energyTEAM's desire to build a long term relationship with

the group. We really look forward to continuing our working

relationship with them”.

Facilities Manager, asra Housing Group

…secured a

refund of over

£100,000

Tender

invitations

through OJEU