UK venue managers link up to fight off the big rise in energy bills

Venue managers facing major hikes in power costs are being offered big savings by their own association.

The UK Venue Managers Association has sealed a deal with the utility broker that cut the cost of electricity for a leading Premier League football club by 20% to £350,000, saving them thousands of £s.

“That’s the same percentage saving that Scottish Power has announced it is going to charge its customers on top of their current costs – so we could be talking tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds in savings,” says UKVMA Director Neil Levett.

“It’s ridiculous to ask venues to pay 20% more for a vital service, especially at a time when they are under increasing pressure to increase their revenues, improve profitability and cut costs. Without power they will die and there are thousands of jobs at stake in this country.”

The offer, open only to members of the UKVMA, starts with a free audit and assessment of the venue’s utility bills – gas, electricity, water and telephone. The figures obtained will allow the utility broker to negotiate a broad range of price reductions with the suppliers and offer them direct to the venue.

“This link helps us to achieve one of the prime aims of the association,” Levett adds. “We want to be able to offer a wide range of cost-cutting initiatives across the entire spectrum of the industry. Some of the larger venue complexes are already able to use economies of scale to bring prices down, but our objective is to ensure that venues of all sizes, indoor and outdoor, get the same benefits.”

The UKVMA has been established to help managers and operators of multi-use venues throughout the UK. Members log in to a secure web site (www.ukvma.org) where they can share information on-line, with the ability to ask like-minded professionals questions about matters that are key to their operation, including: purchasing of supplies and services, environmental data, training, and specific, possibly confidential matters, without the involvement of commercially-interested bodies.

Many sports stadia and arenas are using their facilities to stage a wide range of other events, as are stately homes, university complexes, hotels, and agricultural societies. UKVMA have agreed to establish a secure web site so that they can privately share operational information and set up a purchasing strategy to minimise costs.

To join the UK Venue Managers Association simply go to the web site and follow the link (www.ukvma.org).

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