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Case Study: Electricity Procurement in the Retail Industry

Customer Overview

Arco is UK’s Leading supplier of safety equipment, workwear, and maintenance supplies. It is a family-run 1,000+ employee business, founded in 1884.

As well as exporting its products and services across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, the company operates over 40 safety equipment stores around the UK and Ireland.

The Challenge

With the recent 30% increase in the number of new stores, Arco needed to ensure that its new outlets were operational and open for business as soon as possible.

Arco was looking for an energy partner in making the electricity supply and metering arrangements for their new outlets seamless and efficient.

World Fuel Solution

To ensure that Arco’s new sites became operational in the shortest possible time, World Fuel identified quality 3rd-party electricity suppliers, optimized timescales, supported Change of Tenancy arrangements, meter installations, and supply contract additions – all within a very short timeframe.

Arco relies on World Fuel to manage the company’s complete energy estate and ensure that opportunities to optimize the cost of electricity supply contracts are not missed.

Even after contracts with suppliers have been signed, World Fuel continues to monitor and report on wholesale market activity, identifying key opportunities for Arco to tender its estate. Being ready to act during the existing contract term has continually enabled Arco to secure competitively priced contracts.

Achieving transparency from suppliers is challenging if you don’t have the systems, processes, and detailed knowledge to rapidly compare offers on a like-for-like basis – particularly since prices are generally only open for a day and can be withdrawn at a moment’s notice. Thus, World Fuel advises Arco to ensure that 3rd-party suppliers’ offers and the implications of terms are fully understood.

World Fuel also aligned billing arrangements for the various sites with Arco’s internal processes to help streamline utility invoice processing and continues to provide Bill Validation services to identify and address any anomalies promptly and efficiently.

Business Impact

Effective procurement of energy contracts can be time consuming and perplexing. Contract terms can also be difficult to navigate. In its place, Arco was able to focus on its rapid store expansion while the energy experts at World Fuel handled all energy procurement and supplier arrangements, from contract management, to metering operations, to billing.

Working with World Kinect has been a great advantage to Arco in supporting the well managed and cost conscious growth of our company. World Kinect is fully engaged with the successful operation and delivery of Arco’s business, delivering competitive and well managed energy contract operations and wide ranging energy consultancy support.

IAN EDMONDSON FACILITIES MANAGER, ARCO, UK