Agenda item

Collective Energy Switching

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Blamire)

 

Report of the Head of Community Engagement

 

Minutes:


(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Blamire)

 

Cabinet received a report from the Head of Community Engagement which set out the background to the Collective Energy Switching scheme and potential options for Lancaster City Council in taking this forward.

 

The options, options analysis, including risk assessment and officer preferred option, were set out in the report as follows:

 

 

Option 1: Do nothing

Option 2: To agree to establish a collective energy switching scheme for the Lancaster District and for Lancaster City Council to work independently to achieve the best deal for residents.

Option 3: To agree to establish a collective energy switching scheme for the Lancaster district and to collaborate with other interested Local Authorities to achieve the best deal for residents

Advantages

·         No impact upon council resources

·         Enables the council to address economic and social impacts associated with energy price increases

·         The Council could receive a referral fee

·         Greater flexibility in setting timescales and running auctions

 

·         Enables the council to address economic and social impacts associated with energy price increases

·         The Council could receive a referral fee

·         A larger campaign increases effectiveness of any marketing.

·         Increased financial benefits for residents and council with a larger scheme.

·         Avoids competition for customers with other Lancashire authorities

 

Disadvantages

·          The council will have lost an opportunity to help vulnerable groups increase their resilience to periods of cold weather.

·         Duplication of resources with other local schemes

·         Possible confusion with other local schemes

·         Unnecessary competition for registrations with other Lancashire authorities

 

·         Reduced flexibility to organise registration periods and auction dates

Risks

·         Lost opportunity to help the residents of the Lancaster district reduce their energy bills

·         Lost opportunity for the council to benefit from a new income stream

·         Procurement: An unsuitable external organisation is chosen to operate the scheme

·         Mitigation: Risk could be minimised by undertaking a formal public tender exercise or taking advantage of another authorities procurement methodology (as per Appendix 1)

·         Reputational: The council receives negative publicity should the scheme be unsuccessful.

·         Mitigation: Public and press responses to schemes already declared have been positive and so the risk of reputational damage to the authority is considered low.

·         Low uptake of the scheme as residents prefer to be involved in a scheme operated by another authority

·         Procurement: An unsuitable external organisation is chosen to operate the scheme

·         Mitigation: Risk could be minimised by undertaking a formal public tender exercise or taking advantage of another authorities procurement methodology (as per Appendix 1)

·         Reputational: The council receives negative publicity should the scheme be unsuccessful.

·         Mitigation: Public and press responses to schemes already declared have been positive and so the risk of reputational damage to the authority is considered low.

 

The officer preferred option was Option 3: - to agree to establish a collective energy switching scheme for the Lancaster district and to collaborate with other interested Local Authorities to achieve the best deal for residents. This would provide the maximum potential benefits to residents and the council through the most efficient use of available resources.

 

Collective Switching offered an opportunity for Lancaster City Council to address economic and social impacts associated with increased energy prices. There would be cost implications involved for facilitating such schemes, but these could be offset by income generated through the scheme.   However, as collective energy switching was still in its infancy, it would be advantageous to undertake an initial pilot scheme, with the results used to inform the viability of undertaking future schemes.

 

Councillor Blamire proposed, seconded by Councillor Hamilton-Cox:-

 

“(1)      That the recommendations, as set out in the report, be approved.”

 

Councillors then voted:-

 

Resolved unanimously:

(1)                    That a pilot collective energy switching scheme for the Lancaster district and collaboration with other interested Local Authorities to achieve the best deal for residents, subject to there being no additional call on City Council resources, be agreed.

(2)                    That any income generated by the scheme through the referral fees be incorporated into the Council’s revenue budget.

(3)                    That a review of the pilot project be undertaken upon completion and a report submitted to Cabinet to evaluate the possibility of future collective energy switching schemes.

(4)                    That the Head of Community Engagement be given delegated authority to accept any grant funding, up to £15,000, which is awarded following the recent application to the DECC “Cheaper Energy Together” fund and that the General Fund Revenue Budgets be updated accordingly.

 

Officers responsible for effecting the decision:

 

Head of Community Engagement

Head of Resources

 

Reasons for making the decision:

 

Health and Wellbeing was one of the key priorities within the Corporate Plan 2012-15. One of the Plan’s outcomes was “health and wellbeing improved and mortality rates reduced for vulnerable people in the district” and the Corporate Plan included a success measure of the “number of vulnerable individuals benefiting from Warm Homes initiatives”.  The provision of a Collective Energy Switching scheme would allow Lancaster City Council to achieve these outcomes and benefit residents across the district to meet the rising costs of energy prices.

 

 

Supporting documents: