Welcome to the London Energy Project

Established in 2006, and funded by Capital Ambition, the London Energy Project (LEP) enables the public sector to achieve efficiencies through smarter energy buying, improved process and carbon reduction.

We do this by providing directed leadership, practical support, shared learning and collaborative working opportunities and play a proactive intermediary role between boroughs and their service providers to improve the efficiency and quality of contracted services, derive greater value and performance from contracts, and provide coherent representation and policy influence through our pan Government links.

The challenge in 2010 and beyond

The UK public sector as a whole spends approximately £3.8 billion per year on energy. Anyone buying or managing energy is faced by key challenges:

• Reduce energy use and carbon emissions;
• Minimise energy costs, forecast energy budgets and manage risks in a volatile energy market;
• Reduce energy administration costs and improve the accessibility and quality of management information;
• Comply with and manage the risks and costs associated with the Carbon Reduction Commitment.

We believe our common sector approach is a proven route to achieving excellence and value for money and that this could lead to London achieving efficiencies and savings worth £35.7m p.a. Opens in a new window (against CSR 07 targets) across a range of procurement and transaction activities. Now London's public sector can capitalise on opportunities to plough back efficiency gains into front-line services.

In 2008 LEP successfully introduced risk managed, aggregated flexible procurement (flex contracts) across the London public sector. Now 28 out of 33 councils and all GLA functional bodies have adopted this approach. Flex contracts enable organisations to manage risk and control costs effectively and are regarded as best practice. As flex contracts require aggregation of volume, public sector organisations increase their spending power and influence and can benefit from improved and additional services from suppliers. You can find more information on our Best practice procurement Opens in a new window page.

In 2009, LEP won the Government Opportunities (GO) Best Procurement Innovation or Initiative Award for its unique approach to changing the way local authorities buy energy. In the words of the judging panel:

"This was a unanimous decision and an entry that caught the judges' attention from the very first line of the submission, and held it until the last. "It was the complete package - a hugely important and complex initiative in a high-profile area... The benefits are clear -"

LEP and GS1UK are working with utility companies and their customers to develop a standard GS1 XML message for utility billing. A single, standardised approach will enable more efficient processing and validation of utility bills for multi-site customers, which could achieve significant savings. There is more information about this on our Efficiency and improvement Opens in a new window page.

LEP has responded quickly to the challenges of the Carbon Reduction Commitment by

• opening a dialogue with the Department for Energy and Climate Change to interpret and challenge regulations,
• co-authoring with the local Government Association, the local government response to the formal consultation and
• developing "Preparing for the Carbon Reduction Commitment", a Local Authority Guide and Toolkit containing a suite of practical resources to help councils. 150 people attended the launch event of the Guide and Toolkit, which was very well received. Since then it has been welcomed by 400 users as an excellent source of practical support.

You can find further details of this area of our work on our Sustainability and carbon Opens in a new window page.

LEP is regularly called on to provide expertise and information on energy procurement and management and carbon reduction. We work with public sector professionals across management disciplines (energy, procurement, finance, carbon reduction), and with key stakeholders in government departments, the regions and governmental and professional advisory bodies such as

• Office for Government Commerce,
• Local Government Association,
• Local Government Improvement and Development,
• the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants and
• the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

We also maintain an active relationship with providers such as LASER and Buying Solutions who supply energy and associated services to the public sector.

We provide a range of free support to London public sector bodies and you can find more information about this on our Collaboration, knowledge transfer and best practice Opens in a new window page.

Our Influencing policy development Opens in a new window page explains how LEP is working with central government colleagues, suppliers and other stakeholders in order to make sure that local government interests are represented.

Looking ahead, our aim is to extend the opportunity for savings and efficiencies that boroughs can achieve by adopting LEP's best practice recommendations to £35m per annum - a goal we believe is attainable.

In 2010/12, LEP will continue its drive to enable boroughs to achieve:

• cashable financial savings by reducing energy costs, energy demand and supplier charges
• effective risk management leading to cost avoidance
• cashable and non-cashable savings through improved administration and payment processes
• effective CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme risk and cost management and carbon trading
• qualitative improvements in customer service.

Under our five priority workstreams, LEP is supporting boroughs by

• Driving forward buying performance and customer service standards offered by buying organisations and their suppliers
• Delivering cost effective CRC support to ensure boroughs are equipped to comply with regulations and manage carbon trading and other risks
• Developing a self assessment improvement plan and toolkit, which enables boroughs to benefit from lasting cost reduction and measurable efficiencies across a wide range of energy related activities
• Engaging with suppliers to reduce customer costs and identify additional value add services
• Identifying a strategic approach to reducing cost and carbon through demand reduction and energy efficiency measures.
• Enabling cost recovery through the wider adoption of in-house and/or outsourced energy bureau style services and electronic/consolidated billing standards.

You can contact us at LCE.energy@haringey.gov.uk or on 020 8489 1925.

Project id: CA14
Theme: Delivering Together
Status: Active
Project lead: Richard Le Donne
Contact: lce.energy@haringey.gov.uk, 020 8489 1925