The Orders of St John Care Trust

The Challenge

OSJCT has been providing care for some of the most vulnerable members of UK society since 1975. With a team of around 4,000 staff assisting more than 3,000 residents across 60 sites, budget control is paramount to ensuring the charity can maximise quality of life for those in their care.

OSJCT chose to partner with Trident in July 2017, when seeking:

• Procurement services for electricity, gas, and water, to ensure budget certainty and the best utility prices across its care home portfolio.
• Procurement of MOP/DCDA contracts.
• Support and guidance around legislative compliance and ESOS, SMART meter rollouts, and arranging new meter installations at new home developments.
• A comprehensive suite of bureau services including invoice validation, budget forecasts and an online portal to view invoice and consumption data.

Simplifying admin by establishing a single end date across contracts was a very important factor.

The Solution

Initially, we secured OSJCT a fixed-price contract for the first year. When the renewal date arrived the market was extremely high, so we discussed an alternative approach. Following collaborative risk management scoping sessions, the charity decided to opt for a flexible contract for two years.

When the market then hit all-time lows, a fixed contract to capitalise was the most appropriate course of action. By securing fixed supply contracts for three years on an average unit price of £43.15/MWh and 34.84p/therm for electricity and gas respectively, we ensured that OSJCT avoided the highs when prices reached £851.86 and £827.08p.

The Benefits

By working with us to adapt its procurement strategy and secure a long-term contract at the right time, OSJCT managed to avoid the unprecedented market highs of recent years. Fixed supply contracts avoided maximum price increases of 1974% for electricity and 2373% for gas.

The strategy helped the charity save £464,000 on electricity and £332,000 on gas, against the initial budget.