13790-TEC-Annual-Report-23.v5 - Flipbook - Page 3
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
CHAIR JO BUTLIN
“I am very proud of TEC’s performance throughout the year,
actively supporting members through the crisis and stepping up
proactive communications with all stakeholders.“
JO BUTLIN - CHAIR, TEC
By any measure the financial year to March 2023 was an extreme challenge for both our members and
TEC. The energy crisis, exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia was as its height and market
prices were seemingly soaring out of control driving a new affordability and cost of living crisis. Not
only were prices rising, but the market was more volatile and unpredictable than ever before, and as a
consequence liquidity and the ability to trade out of difficulty became much harder. With energy prices
being a reflection of global markets, TEC’s ability to manage a balanced risk managed strategy relies
on a good understanding of geopolitical issues, national economies and imperatives and importantly
physical asset availability all of which became more complex and fast moving.
Whilst, since Winter 2023, market prices have considerably
reduced, they are still relatively high and there has been a
fundamental shift to a new normal. With the UK’s continued reliance
on gas, wholesale price is now most heavily influenced by the
availability of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) which is highly sensitive
to international supply and demand. Volatility remains a significant
issue, with markets easily spooked by the smallest news story. The
shift to renewable energy and changes to government policy adds
uncertainty.
In this context I am very proud of TEC’s performance throughout
the year, actively supporting members through the crisis and
stepping up proactive communications with all stakeholders. The
governance around trading and risk management has never been
more important, nor difficult, as uncertainty and market conditions
created severe challenges in achieving good prices for members.
It became a regular occurrence to have emergency governance
meetings to respond to the rapidly changing market conditions.
Power purchase agreements remain a key risk mitigation approach
to energy market volatility and we continue to develop market
leading solutions available to our member base.
The TEC team stepped up to the challenges and across the
organisation delivered for members, whether trading, member
support or the ever more complex data services. Quality data and
detailed understanding of patterns of energy consumption remain
the key to actively addressing rising energy costs. Never before has
it been more true that the ‘cheapest electricity is the electricity you
don’t use’. Along with the imperative to reduce carbon, we recognise
and continue to develop our data services with the development of
new products and services to members, at no additional cost.
As members increasingly focus on energy usage and carbon
emissions across their estates, TEC is also developing its support in
this area. As we move into 2023/24 we are enhancing the Board
with Non Executive appointments from the Estates and Finance
community. We are delighted to welcome all our new Board
members whose expertise and insight will help us further enhance
our offer to meet member needs. We are also delighted to appoint
John Brenton, a previous Board member, to the team as Head of
Carbon Reduction Solutions. Energy, sustainability and carbon
reduction are intrinsically linked and there is recognition that the
solutions to deliver reductions in usage and carbon are both complex
and potentially require high levels of capital investment, behaviour
change and improved data and reporting. TEC recognises that with
our expertise in the energy markets, analysis of data and linkage to
members in all stages of plan development, we have an essential,
and growing role to support members in their transition to net zero.
The confidence that members place in TEC is reflected in our
continually growing membership and profile in the sector. We were
delighted to welcome 15 new members through the year whilst
retaining 100% of the existing membership. We now offer our
services to 148 members. Whilst proud of what we have achieved,
we are far from complacent, and continue to strive to meet ever
changing and more complex member needs to effectively manage
energy costs and carbon emissions. We take utmost pride in serving
our members well.
THE ENERGY CONSORTIUM - ANNUAL REPORT 2023
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