[London, ENGLAND] Energy procurement has long been an
Internet service in the United States, but now Europe can
make energy savings at the cleverly named
buyingpower.com,
a new site launched Monday.
buyingpower is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
which it intends to group into communities within local
geographic areas. By grouping together at the buyingpower
energy portal, the businesses will increase their purchasing
power and obtain lower energy prices.
buyingpower says it will achieve the lower prices by conducting
competitive, online auctions with the suppliers. The lowest
bidder will be the winning supplier for the community in
question.
Les Hayden, chairman of buyingpower, said that group buying
has been generating savings for years on the Internet — but mainly
for consumers, not for businesses. At the same time, deregulation
of the energy industry has not led to significant savings for
SMEs even though industrial energy prices have plummeted.
“Our service is an innovative proposition – demand aggregation
and dynamic pricing – for a very special section of the business
community, to get them the best price,” said Hayden.
Damien Bombell, chief executive of buyingpower, said the company’s
mission is to deliver value to both SMEs and suppliers. He
reported strong support from the business community and
suppliers alike, in both the U.K. and the rest of Europe.
“SMEs get better prices for their energy and suppliers gain access
to large groups of SMEs in each ‘powergroup’. This helps suppliers
reduce acquisition costs so even greater savings can be passed on
to buyingpower members,” said Bombell.
However, expansion across Europe will not be immediate. The service
will move into Germany and Scandinavia towards the end of the year.
In the U.K., the first auctions — initially for electricity but
with gas following soon after — will take place at the beginning
of August.
