by RichardGardiner | May 29, 2013 | Energy
A group of six clubs cut their energy bills by almost 20% – saving them a massive $175,400 – by handing their power negotiations over to Total Utilities Management Group.
Savings ranged from $18,500 to $54,400 on the contestable energy part of their Time Of Use (TOU) bills – which excludes fixed line charges.
The clubs ranged from North Island RSAs and Cosmopolitan Clubs to South Island Working Mens Clubs. Steve Andrews of Manurewa RSA, who has a 13 year track record working with TUMG, saved 17% on his club’s electricity bill and fixed his power price until 2015. Not quite the $80,000 rebate that TUMG had achieved for him a few years earlier, but still a saving worth having.
By taking the energy requirements of clubs out to market as a group, TUMG is able to negotiate great power prices. Analysts then document and recommend the best supplier to suit each club’s needs and advise them on the most beneficial contract terms.
All the club manager has to do is supply one month’s electricity account details and TUMG does the rest. Based on the average saving gained by this group of six clubs, TUMG’s fixed fee will currently be repaid in savings within two months of the new contract term – leaving the remaining 34 months’ savings to go straight into the clubs’ bank accounts.
Current market conditions are extremely good for Time of Use (TOU) pricing according to TUMG analysts. “TOU pricing is holding at an unusually low level at the moment,” says TUMG’s Chris Hargreaves. “Clubs have the opportunity to lock in pricing for the next three years by renewing their contracts– when TOU prices change, they can change quickly so our advice is to act now.”
Read more about Manurewa RSA & TUMG…
To talk to TUMG about your power contract pricing, call 09 5762107
To find out more go to www.tumg.co.nz
by RichardGardiner | May 29, 2013 | Energy
When Steve Andrew first contracted Total Utilities Management Group to manage his electricity contract renewal he wanted to access cheaper power pricing. He didn’t expect an $80,000 pay-back from two electricity companies – that was an ‘unexpected bonus’ according to the Manurewa RSA manager.
Richard Gardiner of TUMG started to talk to Steve about the club’s electricity pricing around 13 years ago and Steve has used the independent utilities broker to renew his power contract and negotiate terms for the club ever since.
“TUMG analysts lay out all the options for me,” said Steve. “They recommend the best electricity supplier every time we need to renew our contract and their advice has saved the club money every year.
“For the past few years, TUMG has handled our gas contract too. We’re not a huge gas user but I reckon they cut our gas bill by 30-35% each month – that’s $200 a month we can spend elsewhere.”
About five years into the relationship, TUMG uncovered a billing error. Manurewa RSA had gone through a major building renovation and the power company put in a new meter. Unfortunately they forgot to de-commission the existing meter on the old site.
“We didn’t realise it at the time, but we were being charged twice over,” Steve continued. “When TUMG realised what was happening, they worked out the exact amount over-charged and approached the two power companies concerned with a bill.
“TUMG handled all the negotiations on our behalf and the end result was $80,000 coming back to the club. The power companies weren’t too happy about it but TUMG’s expertise got a great outcome for us – I’m not sure if I could have got the same result.”
As chairman of the Auckland Club Managers Group, Steve has been happy to recommend TUMG’s services to his fellow managers. “There aren’t really any downsides. TUMG charge standard fees which are soon more than covered by the savings the company brings. It just makes sense.”
by chris | Apr 22, 2013 | Energy
When you’re in opposition talk is cheap. Last week’s announcement by the Labour/Green combo David Shearer and Russel Norman does beg the question why the previous Labour Government didn’t take this course of action when they were in office for nine years.
Compounding this anomaly is the fact that for whatever reason, power prices rose faster during those Labour-controlled years (1999 to 2008,) than they have done over the past four years. Cynics amongst us will also remember that the well-above-budget financial performance of the leading energy companies Genesis, Mercury and Meridian during the Dr Michael Cullen era made a significant additional financial contribution to the NZ Government’s coffers.
Labour seem to be conveniently glossing over the fact that distribution charges are unaffected by this proposed change and that these charges have been responsible for a good percentage of recent price increases.
With the newly-proposed market model it is likely that the much-needed investment in infrastructure would be halted or delayed. Without market forces at play, poor prospects of gaining return on investment would discourage companies from financing infrastructure improvements. This was witnessed during successive governments from the late 1980’s to late 2000’s, as a result Transpower and some of the generators are now playing catch up – ironically this has resulted in the increased costs that the Labour/Green alliance are now proposing to combat.
From an industry point of view, the real problems with New Zealand’s electricity are: (more…)
by RichardGardiner | Feb 18, 2013 | Energy
Signing up with TUMG well ahead of their contract renewal date paid off for a group of 57 energy clients at the end of 2012. Unusually aggressive pricing from Meridian and then Contact in December created a savings opportunity that TUMG was quick to exploit. Energy savings of more than $6million resulted for participating customers – an average of 16.8% per customer.
“Towards the end of November we started to see extremely aggressive pricing from Meridian throughout NZ for time of use (TOU) half hour metered large commercial customers,” explained Chris Hargreaves, Electricity Analyst at TUMG.
“This was unusual as Meridian has not been competitive for quite some time. The new pricing was on par with what was being quoted over four years ago so it represented a major shift. We tracked winning Fixed Price Variable Pricing (FPVV) for Upper North Island customers and saw a massive drop of around 20% from March 2012 to December 2012.”
A number of customers had signed up early – between three and six months prior to their expiry date – so TUMG was able to act on this information immediately. (more…)
by RichardGardiner | Feb 18, 2013 | Energy
A new face has joined the TUMG team this year – Jonathan Woodbridge Buys is the company’s new Energy & Environment Technology Associate. Jonathan’s role is to help clients increase their operational efficiency and reduce consumption of electricity, gas and water at source.
This service will further build upon TUMG’s long-standing success reducing utilities costs by securing the best tariffs and terms through individual and bulk tenders. In short, TUMG can now sum up its complete service offering as ‘spend less and consume less’.
Jonathan strong track record applying for and accessing EECA grants for energy saving projects on behalf of organisations like Sky City and Manukau City Council will also offer clients a significant advantage, says Managing Director Richard Gardiner.
“Jonathan has a wealth of experience and has proved his worth many times over in previous roles. We are delighted to welcome him to the team and look forward to introducing Jonathan to our clients over the coming months,” he said.
During a five year stint as Energy Manager at Sky City, Jonathan was responsible for projects which won two commendations from the 2010 EECA Energy Awards and commendations in the 2010 IES Lighting Awards. (more…)
by RichardGardiner | Sep 14, 2012 | Energy
Coping with the worst recession in living memory has forced businesses to leave no stone unturned in the quest to improve their bottom line. Electricity is one cost that impacts on everyone and businesses impacted by the deregulated NZ energy markets fall into two basic categories:
1. Non-time of Use customers
Businesses with energy usage per ICP (Installation Connection Point) below approximately 200000 kWh per year (the actual figure varies dependent on the local lines company) are likely to be supplied on a non-time of use basis. These sites will have a standard non-TOU meter and be billed per kWh used and days supplied. This billing approach is similar to the metering of residential customers, although business electricity rates are generally significantly better.
2. Time of Use customers (TOU)
Businesses with energy usage per site above the 200000 kWh threshold will most likely be TOU customers. TOU rates are typically split into either 48-rate pricing (4 energy rates per month) or 144-rate pricing (12 rates per month). TOU pricing is customer specific although it is heavily impacted by prevailing market conditions when going out to tender. (more…)
