Did you know there are alternatives to traditional, fixed-price business energy contracts? In this article we explore two innovative contracting options available to Australian businesses that are designed to make the complex, simple and to help your business meet its energy goals while achieving optimal energy value and flexibility.
Australia’s energy markets fluctuate due to the many complex factors influencing the cost of electricity. That’s why at Shell Energy we offer the option to progressively purchase electricity to help your business better navigate changes in the energy market.
Our progressive purchasing options, Strategically Timed Energy Procurement (STEP) Online and STEP Index, give businesses the option of agreeing their electricity pricing during the term of their contract, spread timing risk by locking-in energy prices as you go.
STEP Online allows larger businesses (customers that use more 5GWh per annum) to avoid locking in their electricity prices upfront at the time of contracting and instead choose prices for parcels as small as 5 per cent of the total volume for the purchase period on a quarterly or annual basis.
This gives businesses an opportunity to monitor market prices for electricity to proactively manage timing risk by helping to avoid locking in electricity prices when they’re high. A multi-year STEP contract also allows business energy managers to adapt their approach year-by-year according to their view of the market.
If you would like the benefit of progressive purchasing but aren’t able to actively monitor the market on a regular basis, STEP Index lets you spread market risk by averaging energy prices over periods of time, helping to smooth out market highs and lows.
If you’re interested in incorporating renewable energy into your electricity contracting, another available option is our latest innovative, industry-leading product, Renewable Energy Contracting Options (or RECO).
RECO allows Shell Energy customers to progressively purchase renewable energy. When you make a RECO purchase through our online Shell Energy Portal, Shell Energy buys Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs) from accredited renewable generators and surrenders them on your behalf.
One of the key benefits of RECO is that it allows large business customers to make RECO purchases online in just 5 easy steps. You can also make, adjust and track RECO purchases in line with specific electricity contract requirements, business needs and targets.
With a range of innovative contracting options available, finding the right contracting solution to align with your business’ unique goals and energy needs is simple.
To get started, get in touch with our market-leading account service team who will be more than happy to help along every step of the process.
Power your progress with great value business electricity from Shell Energy.
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