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Options – what are the benefits of putting your energy in a basket?

When it comes to buying energy, the benefits of buying fixed versus flexible contracts are well known. However, whenever you choose a solely fixed or flexible contract there will inevitably be an opportunity cost involved.

Choose a fixed contract and you’ll have budget certainty, but you could miss out if the market price falls. Opt for a flexible contract and you’ll benefit from downward trends in the market, but you also risk your energy bills rising if prices increase.

With our Options portfolio, businesses don’t have to choose between a fixed or flexible approach to energy procurement – they can get the best of both worlds.

How does Options work?

At Inenco, we work with you to determine your attitude to risk management and create a bespoke strategy for your organisation. If we both agree that an Options approach is the optimum strategy for your business, we’ll spread your volume across up to four different purchasing strategies.

We’ll then group your organisation’s volume together with that of clients with similar profiles, trading your volume as one portfolio, so you can benefit from flexible purchasing access no matter the size of your volume. Our award winning trading desk will use their expertise to secure you the best possible price within your pre-agreed risk parameters.

How could it benefit your business?

A tailored approach

You can decide exactly how much of your volume is apportioned to up to four different purchasing strategies, including our capped, fixed, trend and prompt strategies.

By choosing to put some of your volume in a capped basket you can set a maximum commodity price so that you’ll have price certainty, while still being able to take advantage of any downward market movement. If you choose to put part of your volume into a fixed strategy, you can take a more co-ordinated approach, while still gaining the benefits of securing a fixed price tender when prices are low.

To benefit from a more flexible approach to energy procurement, you can also spread some of your volume across our trend and prompt strategies. If you opt for trend, we’ll make the best use of market volatility by making purchases close to market movements, allowing you to take advantage of a falling market while protecting an upper budget in a rising market. Finally, our prompt strategy buys volume on either the month or day ahead markets, so you can benefit from the most favourable prices around.

For more information on different energy procurement strategies, download our Energy Buying Guide.

Low risk

With four purchasing strategies available to you, you can ensure that your procurement is perfectly matched to your business’s attitude to risk. Options is a good choice for businesses with a low-risk approach to energy buying, as it enables you to stay firmly in control of your budget while still benefiting from flexible strategies.

Our expert traders have access to a range of market intelligence sources, from commodity markets to long range weather forecasting, which enables them to make well-informed purchasing decisions. A mix of fixed and flexible approaches to energy procurement, combined with our ability to accurately forecast costs, has often uncovered commodity savings for the businesses we work with – Read our case study to find out how we saved Liverpool Women’s NHS Trust over £67,000 with our Options service.

Total peace of mind

Taking four different strategic approaches to procurement may sound complicated, but our traders make it look easy – they will handle it all for you, so you can concentrate on your core business operations.

While our experts are watching the energy markets for you, you can still retain complete control of your energy. You can choose whether you want to put all of your volume in one or all four strategies, and you can shift volume out of one strategy and into another if your budget or the level of risk you’re willing to take changes.

Interested in exploring your Options?

If you’re interested in gaining the best of both worlds when it comes to fixed and flexible procurement, our team can advise you on how to create the optimum strategy for your business. Call us today on 0845 463626 or email enquiries@inenco.com.

Sustainable Energy First, has acquired Inenco.


The acquisition brings together two businesses with one common objective;
to make truly renewable
energy more accessible to businesses of all sizes helping them achieve their Net Zero targets.

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