Case Studies : North America

Client: A manufacturer of automotive supplies in the Midwest region of the United States engaged NUS to review its electricity service agreements and invoices.

Result: A cost savings in excess of $70,000 per annum.

Details: Upon receipt of the client’s historical utility bills, NUS entered the pertinent information into its central database. The information was audited against existing rate schedules and service agreements to ensure each invoice was correctly computed and no overcharges existed. During this process, the NUS analytical team noted that one of the client’s plants was being serviced by a municipality. In many parts of the United States, local municipalities provide utility services including the supply of electricity. The relevance of this discovery is that most local municipalities are not governed by any state or federal regulatory body and are free to set utility pricing as they see fit.

After undertaking a detailed review of the electricity billings and related service agreement, NUS noted that the plant’s pricing and demand measurements were out of line with the surrounding investor-owned utility company rate schedules. NUS submitted a recommendation, contacted the municipality and had the client’s plant transferred to a more appropriate rate in line with surrounding market conditions.

Client: A refuse recycler located in the United States engaged NUS to review its energy expenses.

Result: A cost savings in excess of $250,000 per year.

Details: This client was particularly concerned about an expiring natural gas contract at one its main processing facilities located in the Northeast. Since natural gas is vital to its operations and has a significant impact on its overall budget, the client required a firm supply at competitive pricing. At the time of engaging NUS, natural gas was being purchased from a third-party marketer with the local utility company providing its transportation to the facility.

After reviewing and analyzing the client’s historical invoices and the proposed renewal contract from the marketer, NUS concluded that the renewal price offered by the marketer was competitive. However, NUS discovered that the transportation arrangements with the local utility were unfavorable given the client’s unique usage patterns. NUS submitted a recommendation to remedy the situation and after a thorough review of the situation with the client and utility company, the NUS recommendation was implemented and saved in excess of $250,000 per year.

Client: A large farm feed company with several locations in Canada engaged NUS to review their utility and telecommunications services and agreements.

Result: Annual savings in excess of $45,000 per year were achieved.

Details: As the cost of utilities was a major factor in pricing the client’s product, NUS immediately began assembling historical invoices from each of the client's sites and constructing a database of vital billing data. The majority of their energy services were located in Ontario and given the fact that electricity and natural gas services in this Province are deregulated; the client was purchasing their requirements on the volatile spot market. After analyzing the client’s particular load profiles, NUS was able to negotiate energy supply contracts at fixed prices producing savings as well as allowing the client to accurately forecast their future energy costs.

Additionally, in the areas of telecommunications and petroleum products, NUS consultants and analysts met with the client and recommended alternative purchasing strategies that yielded significant cost reductions.

Client: A publishing company with several offices in Canada contracted NUS to review and analyze their telecommunications expenses.

Result: An annual saving in excess of $57,000.

Details: The client had negotiated an agreement with a major telecommunications company for the bulk of their services. Due to their large volume, the supplier assured them that they were receiving a very competitive rate. They were also using three other companies for their telecom needs as each of their offices had its own particular choice of carrier. After a thorough analysis of the client’s supply contracts and billing data, NUS identified that many of the services were not receiving the contracted rates. Moreover, the contracted rates were not competitive given the client’s substantial volumes.

Based on these findings, NUS secured a credit from the existing supplier for the overcharges and recommended that significant savings could be gained by combining all of the client’s telecom traffic with a single supplier. The client implemented NUS’ recommendations and now has the benefit of centralized billing reports from the selected supplier as well as lower rates negotiated by NUS.