Agenda item

Report of the City Surevyor.

The Committee received a report of the City Surveyor in respect of a high-level overview of the City Corporation’s Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and the benefit due to the Barbican Estate.

The Assistant Director advised the Committee that the City Corporation had entered into a power agreement with a solar farm in Dorset and energy rates had been locked in for a period of 15 years. Excess energy was sold back to the National Grid at the market rates pertaining at the time. Those rates had been  favourable and had contributed to overall savings in electricity costs for the Barbican Estate.

In response to a question the Assistant Director advised that a monthly report was received which included a standardised kilowatt per hour rate and the variable rate when selling back to the national grid, and this was applied to service charge accounts. It was confirmed that the benefit of selling to the National Grid at higher rates was provided in budgets but such provision needed to be fairly conservative.

Officers confirmed that the City Corporation had been successful in reducing its energy consumption as part of its Net Zero by 2027 corporate target which reflected the beneficial contribution of the PPA.

A Member raised concerns regarding the sale of electricity back to the National Grid and whether the difference between the contracted price and market price would remain beneficial. The Assistant Director confirmed that the scale of credit received had been due to global and economic factors, however, did not envisage there was a risk that this would fall into a cost negative position. The Member asked if credit(s) attributed to non-residential blocks were used to offset estate expenditure and officers agreed to investigate further and provide clarity to Members on which switch rooms had been credited.

RESOLVED, that – the report and its contents be noted.

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