Forward purchasing of energy on the wholesale electricity market is one of the most secure ways in which a business can futureproof against bill shock and the Leading Edge Energy tender process can make that happen seamlessly.
Purchasing electricity on the wholesale energy market guarantees a locked-in price for a set period of time, security of provision and more advantageous prices and conditions suited to your business.
In order to purchase wholesale electricity, your best bet is to issue a business energy tender to the market and interested providers will make you an offer.
Sounds simple right? Well, it’s not really.
Navigating the complexities of the wholesale electricity market requires a depth of knowledge and experience.
You also need to be plugged into it at all times in order to find those truly fantastic deals that can lead to real change to your bottom line.
As experienced energy brokers, we often use the expressions such as “going to the market” or “going to tender”.
Our process is simple.
You give us authorisation to explore offers on your behalf and we will return to you to present an analysis of the most advantageous offers.
This allows you to make an informed decision of how you would like us to proceed on your behalf.
You are under no obligation to accept any offer and you will not pay Leading Edge Energy a cent.
So how does it work?
Step one – Letter of Authorisation
The first thing we will need to kick off the tender process is authority to act on your behalf.
We need this authority to put out a call for tenders for the provision of electricity from interested retailers.
All you need to do is fill out our Letter of Authorisation webform.
When you fill out the form, we also ask you to upload a recent invoice. Be assured still you are under no obligation to accept any offer.
We simply ask for this information in order to assess consumption patterns and load profiles in order to match your business up to the most suitable offers that are made.
You would be surprised at how much information that can be used to secure a better deal is hiding in plain sight, on your current invoices.
Step two – Issuing the actual tender
When we issue a call for tender on your behalf, we essentially request the market to provide an offer to supply energy for 12, 24, 36, 48 & 60months.
Once tender offers come in, we compare and contrast, and begin to look for particular clauses and conditions that may be beneficial to your business.
Being able to choose from multiple business energy tender offers will provide you with a clearer picture of rates on the market and give you the confidence to make an informed decision.
A business’ load profile is a variable that can affect the rates offered by retailers.
Different retailers can price certain load profiles very competitively compared to what they would normally quote.
By going to tender, we secured a peak and shoulder electricity rate under 5c/kWh for Plastic Forests, to make $26,000 per annum saving.
Step three – Presenting our findings
After going through the offers with a fine-toothed comb, we gather our findings into a dossier.
One of our Energy Management Consultants will invite you to a virtual or in-person meeting to discuss our findings and recommendations.
The next step in the energy tender process is to book a meeting with you. We book a date ahead of time of expiry. During the meeting, offers are presented and explained.
We also talk you through the state of the energy markers allowing you to make an educated decision on how to proceed and how long for.
If prices are very low at that point, your business could look at locking in rates for a longer period of time. The inverse is true for when prices are high.
By giving you valuable insight into the state of the market, you can make the best decision for your business.
Tender offers are often time-sensitive, requiring acceptance within generally 2-5business days.
However, retailers have the right to rescind offers whenever they like. This can happen when electricity prices unexpectedly shoot up and retailers will rescind.
Setting a meeting ahead of time creates a window where offers are procured as close as possible to the meeting, allowing maximum time for offer expiry.
Step 4 – Accepting or rejecting an offer
You are under no obligation to accept any offers. Regardless of whether you accept one or reject them.
Leading Edge Energy’s business model means that you do not pay us any fees if you decide to accept a wholesale energy tender offer.
You do not pay any fees to the chosen retailer. You will only pay for the electricity you purchase.
Leading Edge Energy will handle all the paperwork related to the transfer to a new retailer. The only thing you need to do is… nothing.
Everything will be handled for you so you can get on with the most important thing, running your business.
Once you execute the contract, Leading Edge Energy will set up your account and billing structure and the energy tender process will be complete.
Step 5 – Aftersales services
Leading Edge Energy offers account management and aftersales services including:
- Monthly invoice & usage reports
- Rolling Account management
- Annual budget forecasts
- Annual network tariff reviews
Leading Edge Energy acts as the mediator between clients and their retailer.
If there are any issues or disputes that arise with your supplier, we encourage you to pick up the phone and tell us what they are so we can take care of them for you.
No more waiting on hold listening to lobby music just to reach customer service.
We will take that burden away and handle everything for you.
We are proactive and not reactive.
We know that bill disputes and overcharging are fairly common.
This is why we have invoice verification processes in place to ensure that all our clients are billed correctly and not being overcharged.
Step 6 – Monitoring the market
Market timing is key when forward purchasing energy on the wholesale market.
We continuously track the wholesale electricity market and if it is in an attractive position, we reach out to existing clients with contracts nearing expiry and advise them when it is a good time to start requesting new pricing offers.
This service is not limited to those with only a few weeks left on their deal.
We often reach out to clients that have months and even years left on their current deals if the price is right.
Eventually, all contracts run out and new ones need to be made, so why not do it in advance when things are looking very attractive?
Simply renewing a contract can cost businesses thousands of dollars, which is why we always encourage clients to issue a new call for tenders, rather than just signing up with their existing retailer again.
Do you need help to identify the best business energy tenders?
If you would like us to go to issue a business energy tender on your behalf, simply fill out our Letter of Authorisation webform. This simply gives us authority to request quotes on your behalf.
You are not obligated to accept any of the offers we present and you are charged nothing regardless of decision.
If you want to chat about your options in further detail, call us today for a free consultation with one of our Energy Management Consultants on 1300-852-770.
You can also drop us an email at info@leadingedgeenergy.com.au and we’ll get in touch with you.