by Jonathan Gardiner | Dec 2, 2014 | Waste
Earlier this year Tamaki College’s executive officer, Neil McEnteer had no hesitation in handing over the school’s waste contract to Total Utilities for review. Since his first dealings with the utilities experts in 2012, Neil had seen the college benefit from significant savings across electricity, gas and telecoms bills. He remembers being quietly confident of another good result.
“In a sector where budgets are very tight, it is important keep costs to a minimum,” said Neil. “Every dollar we save is a dollar more we can spend on teaching and learning.
“Unless you are proactive, completely up to date with market information and have read all the fine print, it’s difficult to be sure that you’ve secured the best utilities contracts. Working with Total Utilities has shown us just what can be achieved when you bring in the experts.”
In 2012 Total Utilities cut the college spend on electricity by 12% and then by a further 13% through an early renegotiation in 2014. Acting on their advice, Neil moved the college’s gas supply contract to a new retailer in 2012, reducing annual costs by 13%. To complete the trifecta, Total Utilities renegotiated the school’s telecoms contract at the beginning of 2014, resulting in an overall saving of 29%.
“While we were discussing one of the other contract renewals, I asked for advice on our waste spend. Without realising it, we had allowed our contract to automatically roll over for two consecutive three-year terms. Jonathan Gardiner from Total Utilities took one look at the figures and said we could do way better on the price.”
Waste contracts almost always require 90 days’ notice prior to the renewal date if the customer wants to review pricing. If this opportunity passes, the pricing and contract terms automatically roll over for another three years. (more…)
by Jonathan Gardiner | Dec 2, 2014 | Waste
Jonathan Gardiner shares some ways to save money on waste management at your organisation:
How full are your bins?
If bins are regularly being picked up half or two thirds full consider increasing the size of your bin to reduce the number of pick-ups and cut transport and tipping charges.
Are you paying for pick-ups you don’t need?
Going into the long summer holidays, make sure your pick-up regime reflects the drop in the amount of waste generated over the next two months. If your scheduled pick-ups remain unchanged, you’ll most likely be paying for empty bins to be emptied!
What’s in the bin?
Carry out an audit of your waste disposal process on site. Walk through what actually happens on the ground rather than looking at the process you have in place to deal with waste (practice rather than theory). Ask your waste company to supply a breakdown of the bin contents from a typical week and see if it all stacks up. This will give you some insight into whether you can reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the bin.
Keep an eye on price adjustment clauses
Check your contract fine print to see whether your waste company can pass on increased charges at short notice. If they can, make a note to renegotiate the small print at next time your contract comes up for renewal.
Review contract pricing
Make a note of your contract expiry date and count back 90 days. Make sure that you give written notice of your intention to review pricing well in advance of the 90 day cut off if you want to avoid your current pricing being locked in for another three years.
If your pricing hasn’t changed for one or more contract terms, you will almost certainly be able to make savings on waste. Have a look at how Tamaki College cut their waste bill by 44% this year.
If you’d like to see how much you can save, talk to Jonathan Gardiner at Total Utilities. Find out more about the waste services that Jonathan and the team can assist your organisation with.
by Jonathan Gardiner | Oct 24, 2014 | Energy
NZ Hothouse is one of New Zealand’s largest privately-owned commercial growing and logistics operations. With over 300 staff, 20 hectares of glass houses across two sites and pack houses on a further two sites, the cost of gas and electricity to support operations represents a significant cost to the business. Consumption of natural gas well outstrips electricity usage, with gas-heated glass houses (the C0₂ from the burning process is also used to enrich the growing atmosphere), gas used to heat pack houses and LPG gas exchange cylinders fuelling the business forklift fleet.
“We wouldn’t go into an RFP without Total Utilities. Gas is one of our largest expenses and Total Utilities have handled our last four contract negotiations. They’ve managed to deliver significant savings every time,” said Managing Director, Simon Watson.
“This year, acting on their analysts’ advice, we went to market six months early as part of a large buying group. The savings we ended up with amounted to a six-figure sum.”
“We had offers from five or six suppliers. The ones that were attractive up-front often turned out not to be as good as they looked. It’s important to really understand the contract terms and conditions, be aware of the pitfalls and be able to cut through the smoke and mirrors. Total Utilities prepare a report that really compares ‘like with like’. That makes it easy for us to come to the right decision with the confidence that we are getting the best possible deal.”
Find out more about how Jonathan and the team at Total Utilities can help you to save on gas or other utilities.
by Jonathan Gardiner | Nov 13, 2013 | Energy
By now you should have received your October natural gas accounts. If you are in the Vector or Powerco networks you should have seen a reduction in your overall cost of gas. The ‘gas year’ runs from October to September and a raft of industry costs are reviewed annually ahead of October 1st. Typically an inflation adjustment is passed through with metering, network and transmission charge changes applying.
The good news this year for most natural gas customers, especially those based in Auckland, is that the annual review should result in lower costs. The Commerce Commission has enforced two sets of reductions – in transmission and distribution. The change to transmission costs affects all customers. As such, the charging methodology and overall level of the charge has changed. (more…)
by Jonathan Gardiner | Sep 23, 2013 | Waste
The way that Aucklanders pay for their waste water is set to change from June 2014. This will impact on the financial reality for many schools and businesses over the next four years.
Getting in and being proactive about these changes will allow organisations to manage their water budget better during the transitional period between now and June 2016, advised Jonathan Woodbridge Buys, Energy and Environment Technology Associate at Total Utilities.
Why are water tariffs changing?
The unification of Auckland brought together seven local councils and their water services, with many differing tariffs for water usage into one clear structure.
Auckland SuperCity water provider, WaterCare, has introduced a single clear fee structure for the whole of Auckland for regular water services. This four-tiered fee structure will consist of three parts: two are based on the measured volume of fresh water used and the assessed volume of waste water returned to treatment, and the third part is a service levy.
The charge for fresh water is a straightforward fixed fee across all four tariff plans. Usage will put into bands: low, moderate, high and industrial, based on the volume of water used. The cost per litre of waste water returned to treatment will vary according to usage volumes and an assessed portion is rebated.
How will waste water tariffs be calculated?
The waste water percentage calculation is more complex. Organisations in the North Shore and Waitakere are used to paying a high flat fee for water management and will have no historical assessment of the percentage of their water that ends up in the sewer. In these cases, WaterCare will audit water usage in order to establish the percentage waste water charge. (more…)
