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Marks & Spencer is one of the UK's leading retailers of clothing, foods, homeware and financial services, serving 10 million customers a week in over 400 UK stores. In line with their business objectives, Marks and Spencer needed to improve the efficiency of utility invoice processing and management covering a budget of approximately £30M.
Following a rigorous tendering exercise, all invoice processing and management covering electricity, natural gas and water was outsourced to Inenco early in 2003.
Handover from the present supplier was successfully implemented and new systems put in place immediately. Historic overcharges were recovered, and tighter controls implemented resulting in Inenco fees being recovered within the first three months. Significant overcharges were identified on invoices passed by the previous contractor, including for stores no longer owned by Marks and Spencer. Simpler and more relevant reporting has been introduced and this is now “trusted” within Marks and Spencer.
The relationship is now well established and Marks and Spencer have expanded Inenco’s brief to include advising on meter operation for half hourly (HH) electricity supplies and energy procurement.
Inenco’s expertise has helped Marks & Spencer to actively manage its risk exposure to the volatile gas market:
”Whilst we are all aware of the general trends, it is now virtually impossible for anyone to forecast daily market movements with any degree of accuracy."
"Spreading risk by making a range of purchases at different times and in different market conditions can therefore make a lot of sense."
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately it is a view that is not available at the time the key decisions need to be made,” says Mervyn Bowden Energy Manager at Marks and Spencer.
Marks & Spencer does not rely on procurement alone to control its energy costs and continually targets and achieves reductions in usage:
“We achieved a reduction in electricity usage last year despite growing floor area by three per cent and are targeting a further three per cent reduction this year."
"All of this helps us to reduce our C02 emissions and reinforces Marks & Spencer’s commitment to supporting the government’s climate change programme,” adds Bowden.
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