Case Studies : Europe

Client: A major producer of oil products in the food industry

Result: Savings in gas of over € 150 000/anno, and in electricity of over  € 24 000/ano.

Details: After intensive study of the current delivery contracts for gas and electricity, and via use of its considerable market data, NUS came to the conclusion, that the pricing of both commodites was not competitive. Additionally, market infomation suggested a hedging strategy in gas could be a sensible move for the customer, to protect himself against the danger of rising prices.

Ensuing discussions with the incumbent energy suppliers resulted in new contracts for both electricity and gas supplies. In electricity a price reduction could be received, while at the same time splitting off the costs for transportation and distribution, raising transparency, and making a potential move to another supplier easier for the customer to review. In gas, the implementation of various price indexes was discussed, based on market information, a long-term solution could be reached, whereby gas price increases were capped by the contactual agreement. As market prices increased, the new contract has lead to savings of an average of € 150 000/anno against the previous agreement.

Client: A large chemical manufacturer in France engaged NUS to review its energy and telecom costs.

Result: A €5,000 electricity refund, on-going electricity savings in excess of €14,000 per year and a 20 percent annual reduction in telecoms costs.

Details: After reviewing the client’s historical invoices NUS identified a potential overcharge on its electricity service. In addition, NUS’ analysis revealed that the utility had misapplied its own rate schedules leading NUS to recommend various tariff changes. Working in close contact with the client and the utility, NUS was able to secure a refund of €5,000 and on-going savings of over €14,000 per year.

Additionally, the client had recently undertaken its own telecom review and changed suppliers; however, it was disappointed when this change failed to achieve any significant cost reductions. NUS reviewed the matter and discovered that although the client’s new price was an improvement, it was not competitive given the client’s particular circumstances. NUS issued several requests for new pricing to selected suppliers, reviewed each response, renegotiated certain provisions with the suppliers and submitted a completed contract for the client’s final approval. The client executed NUS’ recommended contract and achieved a reduction in its telecoms cost of more than 20 percent per annum.

Client: A large German foundry retained NUS to negotiate its electricity supply contracts.

Result: An annual cost savings in excess of €1,000,000.

Details: The client is a major supplier of steel to automotive giants Daimler-Chrysler, Peugeot and Ford and its supply of electricity needs to be guaranteed as well as competitive in price. So critical were these two requirements, any interruption or miscalculation in contract pricing could spell financial disaster in this highly aggressive industry.

Upon receiving the client’s historical electricity invoices NUS undertook an analysis of the client’s usage patterns and pricing against various market conditions. Having completed this phase of its analysis, NUS developed customized load profiles and submitted them to selected electricity suppliers, requesting both pricing and contract terms. After each response was reviewed, NUS entered into a series of contract negotiations with the suppliers. Intense discussions yielded not only a contract guaranteeing electricity for their production needs, but also pricing resulting in cost reductions well in excess of €1,000,000. Despite general electricity price increases occurring throughout the country, NUS continues to negotiate electricity supply contracts, producing significant savings for this client.

Client: A major German brewery relocating its facilities engaged NUS to review energy proposals for its new facility.

Result: A reduction in district heating costs of approximately 10 percent per annum.

Details: As a result of the client relocating its administrative offices and manufacturing operations from the city center to the outskirts of Munich, the client was required to negotiate new energy supply contracts. NUS undertook a detailed analysis of the client’s historical requirements and proposed energy contracts as well as a site survey of the client’s new facility.

Upon analyzing the proposed district heating supply arrangements, NUS discovered that the subscribed demand notification was assessed at an unreasonable level by the supplier. Subsequent negotiations with the supplier resulted in a new demand level netting an annual cost reduction of nearly 10 percent.

Client: An Italian food distributor engaged NUS to review electricity and natural gas costs for its operations located in the northern and southern parts of the country.

Result: A €12,000 per year gas savings and a 7 percent reduction in its annual electricity expenditures.

Details: The combined consumption for the client’s sites totaled over 15 Gwh of electricity and 4.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per annum. NUS’ initial review encompassed a thorough breakdown of consumption patterns and the differences in service requirements between the sites. As both electricity and natural gas prices in Italy are comprised of several different, yet important parameters, it was necessary to gain an awareness of how the market was affecting their overall costs. NUS’ detailed analysis resulted in a determination of final pricing resulting in the client being able to reduce its natural gas costs by over €12,000 per year.

The analysis of electricity purchases highlighted the fact that the client consumed 70 percent of its annual requirements during the summer months. As the client was tied to market pricing, NUS was able to exercise its knowledge of various suppliers who would be interested in such a load curve. Through its assistance and recommendations, NUS was able to reduce the client’s annual electricity expenditures by 7 percent. NUS was also instrumental in carrying out all necessary registration procedures with the Energy Authority including certification of consumption with the local distributor.

Client: One of the largest real estate companies in Sweden, with approximately 180 locations throughout the country, engaged NUS to conduct a full-scale review of its electricity purchasing processes.

Result: A cost savings of over 700,000 SEK per annum.

Details: Given the scope of the project, NUS needed to correctly ascertain the client’s usage profiles both on an individual and aggregated basis. Once completed and the results analyzed, NUS identified savings in the area of electricity distribution.

The client further requested that NUS enter into contract negotiations with various suppliers for their on-going electricity needs. Given the complexity of the client’s usage profiles as well as Nordpool pricing, NUS designed an intricate contract model wherein prices were fixed during the first year of its term and left open on the Nordic index during the second year. The contract negotiated by NUS mandated that the client’s electricity requirements during the second year could be purchased at a maximum of six different time periods in order to minimize the risk connected with a sometimes volatile market.

Client: One of the UK’s largest petroleum companies engaged NUS to conduct a full forensic audit of the electricity and water invoices received by their retail service stations.

Result: Refunds totaling over £250,000.

Details: Covering over 700 direct operation sites, NUS’ initial task was to contact their various suppliers instructing them to redirect all electricity and water billings to its head office for processing. Since historical information was not readily available from the client, NUS populated its database with electricity and water supply information from invoices awaiting client payment.

Given the time sensitive nature of this billing data, NUS expeditiously analyzed each invoice against expected parameters, including site status details for the periods covered, charged meter registers, consumption as well as all contract prices and terms. Correct invoices were forwarded to the client for payment while those containing potential billing errors were held pending further NUS investigation with the respective supplier.

As a result of NUS’ efforts, the client has received significant refunds.

Client: A major UK frozen food retailer with over 100 outlets required NUS expertise with the auditing, tendering and negotiations of their electricity supply contracts.

Result: An annual savings of £150,000 as well as a refund of almost £120,000.

Details: At the inception of the engagement, NUS gathered the prerequisite historical supplier data and entered the information into its centralized database. Once all the information was obtained and audited for its accuracy, NUS formatted the client’s supply requirements and issued Requests for Bids to qualified electricity suppliers.

After reviewing remitted supplier quotations and summary information, NUS forwarded the responses to the client assisting them in their decision-making process based upon prevailing market trends. Upon contract nomination for future term, the registration process was closely monitored by NUS to ensure all electricity supplies came on line within the required timetables. The NUS analysis also uncovered the misapplication of local distribution tariffs and previous supplier contract pricing.