Company Background
Southend’s leading homeless charity, Homeless Action Resource Project (HARP), works to end homelessness with the provision of essential services and support to local people.
With HARP, homeless people are given tailored solutions with the end goal being an independent, safe life. The charity also offers ongoing support to improve health, housing and wellbeing in the community.
Overview
The Administrator & Procurement Officer for HARP was stretched for time and could not allocate enough resource to ensure the charity was receiving the best possible energy prices.
With several properties to oversee, the administration involved in managing multiple contracts proved too time consuming.
With multiple contracts came multiple contract end dates, making it difficult to ensure the charity did not roll on to expensive out of contract rates for their energy.
As the charity expanded its’ property holding, there was a need for new contracts to be sourced and on occasion new energy meters needed to be installed.
HARP has worked with a Great Annual Savings (GAS) expert for the last six years on their energy contracts so when the time came to think about energy again, the charity did not hesitate to get in touch.
Solution
Following an in-depth analysis of HARP’s situation, it was quickly identified that long-term contracts that were aligned in terms of end dates were essential.
All contracts were renewed, and others put in place to commence when current contracts ended, ensuring the full energy portfolio was aligned and due to end at the same time in 2025.
Long term contracts protected the charity against future price fluctuations as a result of an ever-changing market. And, any new meter installations are handled by GAS.
The responsibility of managing the entire energy portfolio was removed from the equation freeing up time and resource to manage the charity.
Benefits
• Establish long-term control over energy costs
• Protect themselves from future energy price increases
• The removal of time constraints with a dedicated expert to manage their utilities
• The ability to budget long-term
Testimonial
“The charity I work for has been using Great Annual Savings’ experience and knowledge for over six years when finding energy contracts for the properties we look after.
They provide a full service from searching for the best contract through to finding replacement contracts in advance of existing deals expiring, and will go out of his way to make processes easy and problem free.
I couldn’t hope to keep tabs on all the contracts within my workload so Jonathan and Great Annual Savings save me a great deal of time in providing this service.”
Clive Franceschi
HARP Administrator & Procurement Officer