Supply of Gas

Currently services are provided under the Kent County Council Framework with Laser Energy. Following research, by Procurement it is felt that best value for the Authority would be achieved by remaining with Kent County Councils Framework with Laser Energy. Laser has the option to select from a plethora of suppliers. Originally, they ran a mini competition for RBFRS services and selected Npower the supplier whose rates where the most preferential to the Authority. The current contract is a flexible pricing contract, which means we can re-negotiate our rates Laser has the benefit of bidding for large energy purchase blocks as they aggregate all their clients' requirements. Therefore, they can purchase large blocks of energy at discounted rates as opposed to buying energy in smaller blocks under Purchase in Advance PIA Basket where all site volume purchased prior to delivery for a 12-month supply period. Pass Through charges will be added to arrive at the delivered price in pence per Kilowatt hour. The delivered price is fixed for the 12 months period. Once we give the go ahead from to Laser, they will start to purchase flexibly for RBFRS which would be at the current market rate which is lower than the rate we are currently paying. The current strategy would be to fix out the whole of year one at the current market rates and also purchase a large proportion of year two and some of the volume for year three at current market rates. This will protect RBFRS from future increases but by leaving volume open in years two and three we can also benefit if the price continues to fall over the next few months. The current flexible contract expires on the 30th September 2024 and rates are negotiated up to this point.