The series of errors that led to Liverpool Council ’s chief executive issuing a public apology and its energy bill shooting up by millions of pounds is to be the subject of an extraordinary meeting.
It was revealed earlier this month that a catalogue of missteps by local authority officials has led to the city's electricity contract jumping from £10.6m to £26m just months after a controversial set of budget cuts were signed off. During a meeting of the council’s cabinet last week, it was confirmed a formal investigation had been ordered after the mayor, cabinet and chief executive were not informed of major changes to Liverpool Council’s electricity supplier which was met with a withering response from government appointed commissioners.
Now, the authority’s finance and resources select committee is to hold an extraordinary meeting to call-in the cabinet’s decision last week to agree to award a contract to Crown Commercial Services (CCS) for the provision of electricity for the period from July this year until 31 March 2023. The decision has been called-in for review by the committee chair, Cllr Barry Kushner, as “the impact of the decision on the Council’s budget and the fact that this was not made known to the Committee during the budget scrutiny process.”
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Liverpool Council previously had a contract in place with Scottish Power for electricity, which ran from June 2018 until May of this year. That deal related to the supply for the council's estate as well as the city's schools and the fire service, with an option to extend the deal for another year.
In July last year, discussions were held within the council about the options available for future electricity contracts, including whether to take up the extension option with Scottish Power which was agreed three months later.
In March this year, Scottish Power told Liverpool Council that due to the ongoing energy crisis in the country, it had closed its trade desk and was unable to open it for up to two months. This meant no new contracts could be priced and agreed and the council would not be able to extend its electricity deal until the desk reopened. It also meant the council would be placed on the company's 'standard variable' contract until the desk reopened.
This may have resulted in a doubling of pricing for the council. Mayor Joanne Anderson and her cabinet, nor chief executive Mr Reeves were informed of the changes before it was signed off.
To avoid a repeat of the catastrophic errors that have occurred, a procurement timeline has been drawn up for the council’s future gas and electricity supply. If Liverpool Council is to continue the relationship with CCS notice must be provided by September this year.
A draft cabinet report to seek approval for the preferred route to market will go before executive members in June with a decision to be made in July. The finance and resources committee will meet next Wednesday to discuss the changes made by cabinet.
