Tom Kerridge Group
Identified high-level energy savings for the group which will result in a cost saving of £51,175 for one financial year.
© Cristian Barnett photography
The Hand and Flowers is part of the Tom Kerridge Group which owns and operates several properties across Marlow. They also have The Coach and The Butchers Tap & Grill (along with several staff houses and guest accommodations). The Hand & Flowers is the flagship with it holding 2 Michelin stars and operating seven days a week.
Advantage Utilities have been working with Alan Dooley the Managing Director for the group since July 2022 to assist with reducing their increasing energy costs due to the ongoing global energy crisis.
The Problem
The client’s energy bills were set to increase by 600%.
We were approached at the end of July 2022 by the group’s Operations Manager who was looking for advice from a consultant regarding energy, consumption management and carbon reporting.
The company’s electricity bill was up for renewal in December 2022 at the height of the energy crisis! From their own calculations before contacting Advantage Utilities, they had predicted their bills rising from £5,000 per month to £35,000 per month (seven times the original cost).
Our Solutions
To start with Hannah Thomas, one of Advantage Utilities, Senior Energy Consultants worked with the company to fix a short-term contract to cover the winter period from the 1st of December 2022 to the 31st of March 2023. The company is also entitled to the Energy Bill Relief Scheme for this period.
The monthly bill for the winter period was a forecasted total cost per month of circa £25,000-£27,000 (excluding any government discount being applied). The monthly cost is far below the expected £35,000 a month they were expecting to pay for the same period.
From April 2023 we anticipate the monthly bills to be an average of £12,800 with the expectation to reduce this by our trading performance over the agreed framework duration.
Energy audit
In the meantime, a detailed on-site commercial energy audit was carried out by one of Advantage Utilities trusted partners for The Hand and Flowers, The Coach and their other sites around Marlow.
The completion of the report gave over thirteen both high- and low-level recommendations of potential energy savings amounting to 269,739 kWh per year, which based on average prices within the building’s energy contracts amounts to year one financial savings of £51,175.
A lot of these recommendations were able to be implemented immediately, offering savings straight away without any investment.
The group are also looking to arrange training days for their staff with the Advantage Utilities sustainability team to help with ongoing management and awareness.
Savings identified amount to 27% of total energy consumption recorded over a twelve-month period.
Examples of potential saving areas include but are not limited to:
Air Conditioning Optimisation
Fridge efficiency
Guided by Advantage Utilities, the company is now monitoring trends in the market every day and on a weekly basis to continue identifying cost saving opportunities.
From the 1st of April 2023 Advantage Utilities will be purchasing their energy flexibly via Advantage Utilities trading team.
Client testimonial
When the energy market last year suddenly became very volatile, the renewal of The Hand & Flowers electricity contract became a huge concern. For the last three years we had been paying low prices as it had never been an issue until now. We are very independent and are not part of a large organisation, so we have to think for ourselves and find the solutions.
When we started looking to renew, we were unable to receive any kind of quote from anybody due to the uncertainty of supply. And when we did, we saw the unit price increase dramatically from our current rate 14p to anything from 94p to £1.04 per unit. The prices changed by the hour, and sometimes the prices quoted were suddenly just ‘pulled’ from the market.
For a business that uses approximately 30,000 units plus per month, our electricity bill would increase from £4,500 per month to over £30,000 monthly. An increase of over £25,000 per month. This would mean that for every guest that walked through the door at The Hand & Flowers (where we serve approximately 2,800 guests a month) it was working out at an extra £9 for every single guest.
We found the main energy suppliers unhelpful, and they could offer no guarantees if the prices would fall or where the market was heading. For us this was a major issue and could be crippling for such a small operation.
I decided to contact Advantage Utilities to see if they could help and be able to advise on how to tackle what was now a major problem.
Advantage began by carrying out a full review of all our businesses, looking at absolutely everything - from kitchen consumption, external lighting, heating, computer usage, iPad usage, peak times of usage, the list went on. For us as an independent operator it was a huge eye opener where we could save on our usage. This was a very good start and has helped us change our own culture in how we use our energy. We have made significant changes in reducing our consumption alone.
From this, we then set about looking at how we could reduce the overall cost of any new contract that we were going to sign into. We were well advised and guided by our account manager, who always has been incredibly calming, patient, and helpful, educating us about the energy market as we have gone along. We signed into a short-term contract to get us over the winter, before changing the way we buy our electricity. This has taken a huge shift in our mentality, but now buy monthly rather than signing into a two- or three-year deal that would have left us paying incredibly high prices which for us would be unsustainable.
Energy purchasing has become an integral part of our business - we now receive a weekly report on the market, have regular meetings with Hannah our account manager on where the prices are going. We now buy energy the same way we look at our food and beer prices, it has become that important. We monitor it all the time. We have heard so many horror stories on small independent businesses (like ours) struggling to plan. The issues are here to stay, and we need to have expert advice at hand.
It is very reassuring that there is someone we can turn to, and who can advise us on the best route forward. For us, this has been invaluable and have been very grateful to Advantage Utilities steering us through this incredibly difficult period. - Alan Dooley, Managing Director