Schools pay less for power by going to the market in bulk tenders which attract contract offers from multiple power suppliers.  In the first six months of this year, Total Utilities has helped a group of seventeen schools save more than $350,000 on their renegotiated power contracts.  This represents an average saving of almost $14,500 or 18% per school.

The bulk tender process was managed by procurement specialists, Total Utilities.  All the school business managers had to do was supply details of their previous contract and weigh up the offers when they came in.

New Plymouth Girls High School was one of the participating schools and business manager Tony Pugh is delighted with the result.  “This is our third contract negotiation with Total Utilities and we’ve saved money every time,” Tony explained.  “This year we cut our power costs by 24% by getting more suppliers interested in quoting for our business and making the most of favourable contract terms.”

In the past Tony has had difficulties attracting such a wide range of offers.  “It’s important to present the information to suppliers using the right language in order to get the best result – it can be very time-consuming to manage the process.  Total Utilities was able to present us with eight offers from different suppliers, lay them out on a single page and recommend the best contract to us – based on dollars and contract terms.”

New Plymouth Girls High School first started working with Total Utilities five years ago when the Ministry of Education changed the way the power was funded, effectively capping the spend for each school.

“We initially tried to get together with other schools in the Taranaki area but it proved too difficult – each school had different contract expiry dates,” Tony continued.  “Then we found out that Total Utilities offered a service that bulked school power needs together on a national basis.  It’s a great antidote to the hefty power increases that we’ve seen in the past.”

“We have saved very good money on the past three contracts and have found the analysts at Total Utilities really easy to work with.  The bottom line is that now we are not spending more on power than the Ministry is giving us.”