J Sainsbury has signed a three-year contract with Northern Electric in which it will calculate its own bills, taking advantage of continued change in utility regulations.
Sainsbury expects to make significant savings by ensuring that charges are as accurate as possible and by cutting down on intervening bill-checking steps. Half-hourly meter readings will be passed to both the retailer and to the supplier, enabling consumption to be monitored on a daily basis.
The Utility Buyers' Forum says that most large organisations could achieve savings by switching to self-billing.
