Changing energy supplier: How it works

The following is offered as a guide to ‘change of supplier process':

The Church Energy Purchasing Group is a commercial, Christian organisation dedicated to providing competitive energy procurement solutions to all 50,000 churches and places of worship within the UK, regardless of denomination or religious belief. In the event that your church or organisation accepts our competitive offer we will receive a fee or commission direct from the energy supplier and NOT from your church. We will also remain as your energy broker for the duration of the contract term offering ongoing advice and assistance on all your church energy related matters.

CEPG works closely with energy suppliers to obtain large scale discounts which are passed on to our clients. These discounts are achieved by prior and ongoing negotiation with suppliers, using group and collective bargaining to obtain the necessary economies of scale. CEPG also works with numbers of churches in the form of deaneries, dioceses, regions and districts to ‘aggregate' energy volumes and leverage their buying power to get lower prices and better contract terms for all churches within that group.

Tender process:

Complete the online registration form, fax, email or telephone our Enquiry Hotline with the following information: *Note: please ensure you have your electricity and gas bill available.

Name and address including postcode of each site including churches, church hall, convent, retreat, vicarage, manse, Christian organisation or other.
Current supplier of electricity and/or gas.
Contract renewal date for each supply *If unknown contact your supplier via the Customer Service telephone number usually found on each bill or invoice.
Annual consumption in kWh if known of approximate spend per annum.
Electricity; the ‘MPAN' or Meter Point Administration Number which is a 21 digit number usually arranged in a series of boxes preceded by a large capital ‘S'.
Gas: the MPR or Meter Point Administration found on every gas bill.

Details of each church are then submitted to the market for competitive tender usually on a daily basis. Up to 10 supply companies will submit their most competitive bids for each church, this process can take up to one week but can be completed within 48 hours. *Note: Urgent enquiries can be completed within 24 hours but this will obviously reduce the tender competitiveness.

Each church is then offered the most competitive contract in consideration of unit prices, any standing or fixed charges, capacity or availability charges as well as terms and conditions of payment etc. Your quote comes in the form of a CEPG Offer Acceptance. Should you wish to accept our offer this will need to be signed and returned immediately together with the direct debit mandate (if paying by DD) as well as the VAT declaration form which ensures you pay the reduced rate of 5% vat and NO Climate Change Levy (CCL). Your signed acceptance of the CEPG simply allows us to complete any further contract documentation on your church's behalf at the rates and terms quoted.

Some supply companies require acceptance on the same day of offer making registration difficult for those churches requiring permission from wardens, the PCC or additional committee signatories. We advise all churches to discuss some form of ‘delegated authority' which will enable an individual to accept on behalf of the PCC or committee any proposal falling within predetermined values.

In some cases where we have negotiated a discount with your church's existing supplier, little or no additional paperwork is required as this will be a ‘renewal', the new contract will usually commence with 14 days if you are on an ‘out of contract' or ‘tariff' rate, alternatively it will commence on the renewal date. For those changing supplier industry standards advise of up to 28 days to change supplier, however this varies amongst suppliers.

We advise ALL churches to read their own meters on the date of changeover as this will be the date that your new unit rates are applied. Your old supplier should take responsibility for reading the meter on the date of changeover and pass that reading on to the new supplier. Your should then receive a FINAL BILL from your old supplier within 14 days of the changeover date. This final bill is confirmation of the change, you will thereafter receive bills from you new supplier.

*Note. If you do not receive a FINAL BILL from your old supplier within 30 days of the expected changeover please contact the CEPG and advise accordingly.

IMPORTANT. Remember, you must give a minimum of 60 days notice of termination before the end of your contract, if not you may be renewed automatically under ‘default' as per the supplier's terms and conditions of supply without any further negotiation and usually at inflated rates. Check with your terms and conditions of supply or contact your supplier direct.

As your broker CEPG will remind you in plenty time and will automatically search the market for the best rates in time to change should that be necessary. In a rising market it is sometimes beneficial to negotiate rates up to 12 months in advance of any contract renewal date, in this way contract prices are held at today's prices to start on the renewal date. In a falling market the opposite is the preferred option ie negotiate right up to the last possible date for renewal. Remember if you serve ‘Notice of Termination' you should give yourself 28 days to change supplier, if not, you will pay ‘Tariff' prices from the end date until date of changeover usually at much higher rates.

Contracts. All contracts are direct between your church and the energy supplier and are not associated with any other church, you are billed direct from the supplier, there is no third party invoicing.

VAT & CCL (Climate Change Levy). If you have changed supplier at some stage and did not complete a VAT declaration form you may be charged VAT @ 17.5% and CCL. From the 1st April 2007 the new CCL rates will be 0.441 p/kWh for electricity and 0.154 p/kWh for gas. If you have been charged the higher VAT and CCL this can be reclaimed through your supplier (up to 3 years). If you are unsure about your status regarding VAT & CCL contact your district or diocese treasurer for further clarification.

Energy Pricing & Media Speculation. We often hear about news of energy price increases or cuts published in the press, on the TV and radio. This news invariably relates to domestic electricity and gas for home energy which is very tightly regulated and not the business sector. Since deregulation of the business market nearly ten years ago, business energy pricing is market driven with price fluctuations on a daily basis. Many factors are able to affect the price of electricity and gas and are usually linked to the price of oil, seasonal temperatures, outages, security of supply, seasonal demand, political developments in oil or gas sensitive regions etc. etc. The CEPG can usually provide churches with regular market updates for long term contract demand.