Are energy issues a board level concern in your organisation?

Many thanks to our colleague David Gray for letting us know about a series of podcasts NPower has put together in conjunction with the Major Energy Users Council (MEUC), aimed at helping organisations better understand four key energy issues. The topics covered are: ‘Security of Supply’, ‘Managing Energy purchasing’, ‘Managing Carbon Reduction’ and ‘Renewables’, all of which have significant cost implications and should be incorporated into business strategy.

As Wayne Mitchell, head of corporate sales at npower says,  “As staff issues have risen up the corporate agenda HR directors have taken a seat on the board and some are now even taking the step to appoint IT directors, but energy isn’t always a board priority.  We believe that time has come – energy now brings with it financial, carbon, operational and even reputational considerations that deserve board level attention, but we know that it’s not always clear exactly how such considerations affect the running of a business.”

Many organisations, large and small, already have bitter experience of rising energy costs over the last few years and, as we’ve seen from recent posts, energy companies are busy reviewing accounts to see if they can raise (in some cases very significant) back bills. Add to this the new burden of Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) compliance for organisations with half-hourly supplies, energy usage management, renewable and green energy issues and it’s not hard to see why so many organisations outsource responsibility for managing this complex and time-consuming business cost area to experts like Auditel.