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What is collective energy purchasing?

Collective energy purchasing is when a group of like-minded individuals or businesses come together to negotiate a better deal from their gas or electricity suppliers. The ‘collective’ is a loose association of like-minded buyers, usually organised by a third-party organisation. This third-party arranges consumers into groups and manages a collective tendering process to get the best deal for the group. Collective energy purchasing schemes rose to popularity in 2012, when schemes were endorsed by the government as a good way of saving money. Although there are many local and national collective energy schemes for individuals, few exist for businesses – despite the potential for small and medium-sized firms to make big savings on their energy costs.

How can it benefit your business?

Group together with other businesses to get cheap energy tariffs without having to negotiate anything.

• Get access to the best energy tariffs.
• Support from an experienced account manager.
• Connect with other like-minded businesses.

By grouping together with other businesses and pooling your buying power, you can achieve better purchasing economies. This means that you can access the very cheapest energy tariffs, that are normally reserved only for the largest companies. As well as cheaper energy, you will also get an experienced account executive who will manage all your energy affairs.

How to get involved

The first step is to register your interest and provide some basic details about your business and energy supply. We perform a quick comparison to see whether you could benefit from a collective purchasing deal and put you in a group based on your energy usage and location. At a pre-agreed date, registration for the groups will end and we’ll launch a competitive tendering process. We will put the offer to the groups and companies will decide if they want to accept or reject the deal. If you choose to go ahead, then an account executive will manage the switch on your behalf. If necessary, we can arrange a competitive short-term energy contract until the collective switch date.