Are you asking your energy consultant the right questions to get the most value? 

Regardless of size and sector, every organisation can benefit from external energy expertise.  

For you this could mean creating a tailored energy procurement strategy to suit your requirements, a bill validation service to free up your internal resource or utilising monitoring and targeting solutions to get full visibility of your consumption across your estate. 

This is how a dynamic consultancy landscape should operate: Every organisation should be empowered to make informed choices about sourcing suitable support to meet their energy needs – should they choose to do so. 

Why are we talking about this?

Positioning yourself as an expert in a technical and complex field is a trusted position – placing a duty on a consultant to provide its services with skill and care. 

As an established industry presence, Inspired PLC has seen the impacts of pertinent and unfitting energy advice alike.    

In late 2024, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero sought views on options on creating a regulatory scheme for Third Party Intermediaries (TPIs) in the retail energy market and a recent summary of responses document outlined strong support for establishing a regulatory regimen. 

Inspired responded to this consultation to participate in the crucial dialogue around creating a more robust and transparent market landscape.  

We champion informed energy decision-making, which begins even before you source external support. Therefore, it’s important to ask your prospective consultant the appropriate questions – here are some of them.  

What key questions can I ask?

“What is your contracting model?”

Knowing what you are paying your energy consultant for the agreed services and whether this information is transparent is key. Therefore, it’s vital you understand the terms and conditions of the agreement you enter. 

A commercially negotiated bilateral agreement should include terms and clear costs that set out the obligations of each party and are governed by the TPI having to provide its services with a duty of skill and care. 

A Letter of Authority (LoA) type of contracting arrangement, where a consultant undertakes speculative work to secure prices for a client based on authorisation granted by a consumer has the highest propensity for potential harm due to more ambiguous service expectations and lack of commercial terms. 

Bilateral contracts govern the relationship between a client and the TPI and determine whether the client pays the TPI directly or nominates the agreed fee to be paid by the supplier to the TPI – whereas the fee for the LoA is always paid by the supplier to the TPI. 

Any well-structured bilateral contract should also outline an alternative dispute resolution and mediation process. 

“Does my energy procurement strategy align to my business strategy and budgets?”

Energy is one of the most volatile commodity markets in the world: How and when you buy matters. Therefore, every organisation should have a well-defined energy procurement strategy – tailored to your requirements and flexible enough to respond to a continuously changing market.

Making informed energy procurement decisions requires thoroughly evaluating what options are available to you. Whether your goal is budget security, cost savings or supporting your wider sustainability efforts, your energy consultant should take their time to understand your requirements.

It’s also worthwhile to acknowledge that some allegedly bad actors in the sector can try to misinform a client about the energy market to get to them sign longer term supply contracts, typically 4-5 years, to obtain undisclosed commission in the supply contract. This is not something Inspired, or any other honest and transparent consultant, would do.

“How do you provide additional value?”

Expert support should provide tangible benefits, such as cost, carbon or consumption savings. However, providing additional value is a different matter altogether. Your consultant should consistently support your informed energy decision-making. Here are some examples how: 

• Does your consultant regularly update you with energy market information and do they track the market on your behalf looking for the most opportune time to purchase your energy? 
• Does your account manager communicate with you and support you regularly?  
• What additional services does your consultant provide that complements your energy procurement offering? 

“What is your retention rate?”

Although occasional change of service providers is characteristic of any market, your consultant’s retention rate can offer insight to their service quality and additional value offering. 

“Do you work with organisations like mine?”

Although every organisation is unique in portfolio and requirements, an expert partner must understand the demands of your industry and surrounding regulatory landscape: For example, whether your consultant has experience in working with complex portfolios, public sector organisations or large energy users. 

Most consultancies can also present case studies to showcase their experience with diverse types of organisations. Can they present strong references within your sector?  

“How do you measure suppliers’ performance?”

Third-party intermediaries, like energy consultants, act as a valuable conduit between suppliers and clients. Although matters such as supplier target markets or number of bids received as part of public tendering process can limit available suppliers, it’s vital your consultant ensures you have access to the widest possible market. 

At Inspired, all suppliers are screened and held to task on specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure our clients receive a best-in-class service. 

For example, when we appoint suppliers to the public sector or private sector flex collectives we go to the whole supplier market and conduct rigorous interviews on matters including procurement options, product functionality, billing and customer service. We also regularly review the market to ensure these suppliers are still the strongest in the market.