AN extensive investigation into public sector purchasing reveals Warrington was amongst the authorities paying the highest prices for their energy in 2023/2024.
Warrington Council says this is because they use a consortium to stockpile energy and since the findings their gas tariff rates have reduced by 60% and the electricity by 35% for 2024-25.
Not-for-profit energy consultancy Box Power CIC created the Box Power CIC Performance Table by sending out Freedom of Information requests to each UK council along with other public services to find out both their energy usage and spending from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.
By comparing authorities in the North West with councils that had similar energy expenditure, it is possible to see big differences in the prices being paid. For example, many councils in London and the South West paid far less than comparable size spends in the Northwest region.
For example, Warrington Council bought gas at 6,244,545kwh and spent £939,901 whilst Chelmsford Council purchased 10,367,351kwh of gas at the cost of £831,360. Warrington paid 15.1p/p/kwh for their gas whereas Chelmsford paid 8.0/p/p/kwh. In short, Warrington paid 88.75% more per unit for their gas supply compared to Chelmsford.
Whereas Knowsley Council bought gas at 9,165,170kwh and spent £4,605,000 whereas the Imperial War Museum bought 9,397,096kwh and spent £2,001,012. Knowsley paid 50.2p/p/kwh for their gas with the Imperial War Museum paying 21.3p/p/kwh for their gas. Overall, Knowsley paid 136% more per unit of gas than the Imperial War Museum did.
Cumberland Council bought gas at 13,164,453kwh, spending £2,458,085 whereas, the Royal Borough of Windsor bought gas at 12,956,023kwh at the cost of £633,424. Cumberland paid 18.7p/p/kwh for their gas, and Windsor paid 4.9p/p/kwh. Cumberland paid 282% more per unit for their gas compared to Windsor.
For electricity, there are also huge differences between what local authorities paid. Warrington Council bought 10,542,637kwh of electricity for £4,641,065 whilst Plymouth City Council purchased a similar amount,10,805,312kwh for £2,999,786. Warrington paid 44.0p/p/kwh for their electricity, whilst Plymouth City paid 27.8p/p/kwh, meaning Warrington paid 59% more per unit of electricity.
The typical spend of UK councils as an average was 33.3p/p/kwh for electricity and 8.6 p/p/kwh for gas. But some councils appear to have paid much more and Box Power CIC says they should be asking why.
Bury Council, Cumberland Council and Warrington all purchased at a higher price, for gas and electric respectively, than the UK average. Bury bought electricity for 42.5p/p/kwh and 15.8p/p/kwh for gas; Cumberland Council paid 49.4p/p/kwh for electricity and 18.7p/p/kwh for gas. Warrington followed with 44.0p/p/kwh for electricity and 15.1p/p/kwh for gas.
In the North West, few public sector organisations purchased below the UK average. Some examples include: Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council buying gas at 8.5p/p/kwh, and Merseyside Police at 8.4p/p/kwh respectively.
Based on the average rankings of the prices paid, the North West is one of the most expensively bought regions and Scotland is the cheapest bought region. The average price Scottish authorities paid for gas was 6.2p/p/kwh. The average price the North West authorities paid for gas was much higher, at 9.9p/p/kwh.
Box Power CIC is striving to bring more transparency into the energy sector and has compiled the Box Power CIC Performance Table for the second year in a row, detailing how much public bodies have been spending on their gas and electricity. It comes following their successful campaign for the energy regulator, Ofgem, to provide transparency on energy broker fees.
Corin Dalby, CEO of Box Power CIC, says: “These are an interesting set of findings for councils in the North West to say the least.
“Box Power CIC are putting these results in the public domain because we want to bring more transparency and value into the sector when it comes to energy buying. When you consider that some local authorities also buy energy for the schools, leisure centres and more in their area who trust them to deliver the best value for money, the hugely different amounts paid raise some important and difficult questions.
Without the transparency enabled by our Box Power CIC Performance Table, both the public and other organisations would still have no idea about these price disparities.
“We will continue to call for greater transparency and openness within the energy market, so that taxpayers can hold their local authorities to account and so it is clear if public money is being spent effectively.”
A Warrington Borough Council spokesperson said: “We are part of a purchasing consortium called Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) who purchase gas and electricity on behalf of the consortium flexibly. This allows YPO to monitor the energy marketplace, buying in smaller “chunks” when the price is right. Over each 12 month period (April -March), the sum of the individually purchased “chunks” adds up to the total amount of energy required for the following year. For example, they stock-pile our energy and we use it the following year.
“Our tariff rate for 2023-24 was derived from energy purchased throughout the previous year in 2022-23. This year 2024-25 our gas tariff rates have reduced by 60% and the electricity by 35%.”
For information the graph below shows gas and electricity market prices rose considerably within the period 2022-23.
