Yorkshire Electicity wins "prestigious" Virgin Atlantic contract

With vast savings to be made through effective utility procurement, the airline, Virgin Atlantic has appointed Yorkshire Electricity as its electricity supplier. Although its not our largest contract, said Jonathan Davies, the account manager, its seen as a major win internally, because of the company name and "the similarities in approach between our companies".

Yorkshire will supply 10GW/h of electricity - enough to power 3000 homes. The contract comes into effect this month after being awarded in April. The largest site that Yorkshire Electricity will be supplying is Virgin Atlantic's HQ in West Sussex as well as a training centre and a number of smaller office locations. Yorkshire also numbers ICI and British Steel amongst its customer base.

"When we rebid for the contract," Jonathan Davies told i-FM, "we offered them a number of options which were orientated around their needs."

As FMs will know, the UK electricity market has been progressively deregulated since 1990, with corporates initially standing to gain fifteen per cent against tariff. Deregulation has created a fiercely competitive market and the UK has seen many "new kids on the block" come in to challenge the established players, along with a series of acquisitions, primarily by the Americans.

"When the Electricity Pool is replaced by new regulatory controls, in a year's time," said Jonathan Davies, "costs could come down by a further ten per cent."