Energy dispensation - our new energy contract

This is the process we go through before we award any contracts for services or works. We have a helpful explainer video on our website which helps to explain the consultation process.

When we don’t have enough time to complete the full Section 20 process, we can ask the First Tier Tribunal to give us permission to choose suppliers without the normal consultation. The Tribunal reviews our application and if it decides there’s no reasonable way to consult everyone in time, it agrees we don’t have to comply with the Section 20 process, granting us dispensation.

Dispensation can be used in emergency situations, where contractors can’t deliver services or major works are needed quickly, for example. Typically, we only use dispensation for energy services, as we generally have time for Section 20 consultation on everything else. You can read about the Tribunal process on the government’s website.

No. The Tribunal won’t decide if the contracts we award are reasonably priced, and won’t say that we can or can’t recharge these services to you. The Tribunal will only decide if we can comply with the requirements of Section 20 or not.

Please note it’s our responsibility to get the best deal for you. We don’t make any profit when we buy energy, we only recharge what we have to pay.

No, the supply won’t be interrupted and you’ll still pay your service charges in the same way.

Energy prices are expected to come down eventually, but we don’t know when that will be. Energy contracts lasting between two and four years tend to be cheaper and means we can fixing prices when there’s a real risk of costs continuing to rise.