Waterford Leads the way in Green Public Procurement

Waterford County Council is implementing Green Procurement Procedures as part of a broader move towards sustainable development across its policies. This includes a focus on the well-being and health of citizens, infrastructure for transport, water, waste and wastewater management, increased use of ICT and sustainable production and consumption of energy and food.

Using the open procedure, tenders were invited for the supply of a total of approximately 6,600 MWh per annum of electricity to Waterford County and City Councils.

The energy supplier appointed has confirmed that 100% of the energy supplied is from renewable sources. As a result of this tender and changes to Waterford’s energy management, its metered bill reduced from €1.54m in 2008 to €1.24m in 2009, a saving of €300,000. Due to increased energy prices in 2010, the annual electrical bill increased to €1.35m, but a benchmarking exercise with the prices of the previous (non-renewable) supplier revealed savings of €80,000. Additional savings resulted from energy efficiency measures.

Waterford County and City Councils have reduced the Maximum Import Capacity (MIC) at larger installations to match peak demand.  In addition, the Councils have worked with the energy supplier to implement tariff audit processes, whereby each tariff was reviewed and, where appropriate, tariffs were restructured to yield cost savings.

To see full details of the Waterford County Council Case Study Click Here

To see other great examples of Green Public Procurement Click Here