Advantage Buying, a leading cost management company for Care Home businesses
Who They Are
Set up by the Founders, Nick Brookes and Salim Sajid, with a wealth of experience ensuring that care home providers and owners control their costs to optimise their business profits for further investment and growth.
For each Care Home that they look after the Team at Advantage Buying pride themselves on procuring the very best pricing, contracts and suppliers for each care home provider and owner that they support.
Why They Do It
At Advantage Buying the Team are passionate about supporting the future of care across the UK, seeking to support care home providers and owners having a fit for purpose operational and sustainable care home business.
This has never been more pertinent with the energy crisis continuing to impact all sectors including the care home provision, and the team at Advantage Buying, with their vast experience in energy procurement, continue to help care home owners to manage their energy bills as a top priority.
How They Do It
The Advantage Buying Team create a 4 stage plan of action and support for care home procurement
1. Review – a service manager reviews the care home’s current contracts and costs
2. Identify Cost Savings – the findings and savings are reported in a quote format
3. Join Advantage Buying – if the care home provider approves the report the Advantage Team then take control of all of the administration ensuring a smooth and transparent switch over
4. Ongoing Support – the Advantage Team monitor the services for the care provider during the agreed fixed term, keeping all cost savings at the centre of what they do
Spotlight on Energy Cost Reduction
The Advantage Team have an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the energy market, and with the current Government energy support scheme due to end on 31 March 2023, it has never been more important to review your care home energy costs now and for the future.
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Ownacarehome ask Nick Brookes: “What is the Government Energy Scheme EBRS finishing on the 31 March 2023?”
“The scheme provides energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI). Discounts should have been applied to energy usage between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023. The scheme has been available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:
- Businesses, voluntary sector organisations, such as charities, public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes.
The Relief varies dependant on when you signed or finished your contract and the wholesale price at that time.” “This scheme has been a life line for all businesses including Care Homes, offering relief levels up to a maximum of 55.05pence pkw for electricity and 17.64pence pkw for Gas.”
Nick adds: “But with the EBRS scheme finishing and the Energy Bills Discount Scheme starting are people aware of the prices they will have to pay from 1st April 2023, or are they walking into a massive increase in costs due to the huge reduction in support without knowing the implications?”
What is the new Government Energy Scheme EBDS starting on the 1st April 2023?
“The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) will run for 12 months from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.”
Nick says: “As with the original scheme, the new scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract who are on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 December 2021, signing new fixed price contracts, on deemed / out of contract or standard variable tariffs or on flexible purchase or similar contracts.”
“The difference in the NEW SCHEME is that support levels and maximum discounts have changed significantly.” “The maximum on the new EBDS scheme is set to be 1.96pence pkw for electricity and 0.697pence pkw,” says Nick,
“At Advantage Buying we look at how this change will affect your care home business and whether you are you managing your energy costs as well as you can to minimise the impact of these changes.”
Nick continues to say: “It’s more important than ever to look at ways to reduce your energy costs such as fitting LED Lighting which can be up to 80% more efficient, occupancy sensors in hallways and areas that don’t always have people in them, moving laundry and other heavy energy usage to the night to take advantage of lower rates available in off peak times in addition to looking at alternative sources of heat such as solar and air pumps.”
“It is essential for care home owners to look at all cost saving avenues which in turn can help to support future refurbishment projects and support applications for finance.”
“Ensuring financial stability of utility costs is just one area that we look at for care home owners.”
What is the outlook for the Energy Market (2023 – 2024)?
A question the team at Advantage Buying are often asked “When can Care Homes providers expect a return to normality for energy use?”
Nick Brookes says: “Unfortunately, we’re not out of this energy crisis yet, with many in the industry predicting that we won’t see a let up until 2024. It’s predicted that we will still be facing issues come Winter 2023-2024.”
“However, energy market prices are expected to hit a new norm this Summer, meaning we will see higher prices becoming the norm going forwards across the country.”
Nick adds: “The good news is more renewables and sustainable products have made their way into the market along with new sources of gas which will all help to stabilise the price as we become more self-sufficient as a country.”
“We have also been substituting gas with dirty coal for electric generation helping to reduce our dependence further.”
Gas & Electricity 2023- 24 Care Home Energy renewals
Nick says: “With many care home energy contracts due for renewal its more important than ever to make sure they are watching the markets and know when the markets are low.”
“Care Homes should look to have all contracts finishing before March/April 2024 written well before we move into Winter 2023 to avoid the potential volatility as we have seen this year.”
“Advantage Buying have access to live prices on a daily basis from the markets from a large panel with up to 33 suppliers available daily to price from. We are able to review gas and electricity supplies to ascertain if you have been set up correctly as a care home business.”
“If we find any potential areas where we can gain credits from suppliers, we will complete documents for the care home provider and submit to the supplier for credit.”
Nick adds: “Advantage Buying can also provide quotes for the supplies which are due for renewal within the window mentioned above. Help set up contracts with the suppliers taking away a large amount of admin required whilst adding our knowledge in the market to make sure everything is set up correctly and monitoring this for the care home owner going forward.”
“Advantage Buying’s CRM monitors all contract end dates making sure we speak with the care home provider before every renewal is due and gaining quotes/contracts year after year as a continuous process.”
A solution to the energy crisis is at hand.
The Team at Advantage Buying enable the care provider to make informed decisions for a pricing solution to the energy cost current challenges. Improved visibility on energy usage is essential for care home providers and owners to support ongoing operational cashflows and sustainability.
The procurement team at Advantage Buying benchmark supplier sources and cost of energy supply effectively running an ‘energy lens’ through the supply chain and thereby creating a thorough energy procurement strategy for care home providers and owners.
Nick concludes: “Now is the right time for care home providers and owners to look at all their options to secure an energy supply at the right price and to control demand as much as is feasible.”
At Advantage Buying we’re doing all we can to help our customers and offer support through the energy crisis. For more help and advice,
