Saving over £3m for the NHS in Norfolk

With extensive experience as Norwich Health Authority's former Energy Manager, Jim Graves now runs an eponymous energy management consultancy that is contracted by the NHS in Norfolk. Jim's services include billing validation for the health service. Over the last 18 years, he has detected in excess of £3 million in utility billing errors on the service's behalf helped by using TEAM's monitoring and targeting software – Sigma.

Background

Jim Graves joined the NHS in Norwich as Energy Manager in 1986, and later discovered TEAM software in 1990. At the time, the health service had been considering writing its own software for utility
monitoring. But after seeing TEAM's monitoring and targeting software in use at a customer's site, Jim
was convinced TEAM software was the right software tool and introduced it throughout the NHS in Norfolk.

Jim left the NHS in 1995 but continues to work for them as an energy consultant. He is contracted to
monitor consumption at over 200 NHS properties throughout Norfolk. The Trusts he looks after today
are NHS Norfolk, the Community Trust for all of Norfolk, Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Trust,
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and East of England Ambulance Service, which includes
Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Herts and Beds. The properties in this portfolio include
everything from small ambulance stations and health centres to cottage hospitals and large hospital
sites totalling an annual energy spend of £5.5 million. All of these properties are logged in a database created by TEAM Sigma software. The software monitors the properties' electricity, gas, water and, in some cases, oil consumption.

Bill validation and cost recoveries

The greatest benefit of using TEAM's software for Jim is the management of bills and easy identification
of potential overcharges from utility providers. Typical errors he has identified and cost recoveries
made with the help of the TEAM software include:

• Incorrect VAT rate
• Un-owned sites
• Meter readings do not follow on
• Wrong tariff applied
• Duplicate bill

Jim receives a regular schedule of readings from many of the sites he manages, which are then entered as temporary figures onto the database. When the bill arrives he can compare the reading with the invoiced amount and a query is raised if there is a notable discrepancy.

Wherever there is a current query, Jim will try to obtain a current reading from an engineer on-site or if necessary visit the site himself. "It is most important to have reliable data", he explains.

Consumption queries

Jim has an abundance of examples of how he has identified instances of unusually high utility consumption.

The persistent water leak

A number of years ago Jim was a member of an Audit Commission working party set up to develop benchmarks for water consumption in hospitals. When Jim subsequently checked the performance of hospitals in his database against the benchmark, he discovered that one of the small cottage hospitals used 3 times the amount of water and had done so consistently for the last 6 years. A water leak was originally ruled out as this would have caused the ground to soften and become water logged over time. Further investigation, however, showed that there was indeed a burst pipe situated just above a drain, where water would have been leaking - probably for many years - directly into the sewerage system.

Washing in the night

In one of the Community Hospitals Jim noticed that the gas consumption was unusually high. At the same time staff complained that the hot water system did not appear to be at full temperature in the mornings even though the boilers seemed to be working fine. On investigation it was found that a washing machine - provided for the use of patients - was actually being used overnight by staff to do their own laundry.

An empty building

In September last year Jim noticed that a considerable amount of electricity was being used in an old office building which had been vacated earlier that year. Following the move from this site to a new office block in May, electricity consumption had reduced as expected, however, from late August onwards bills with higher electricity consumption started to arrive. A site visit in October revealed that, although the boilers had been isolated, the circulating pumps of the heating system had not been turned off and they were pumping cold water around the building costing a total of £10K for the period
concerned.

Reporting

Apart from identifying supplier errors and consumption irregularities, Jim uses the data contained in the TEAM software to provide various reports to the different NHS Trusts.

ERIC returns

The TEAM software can easily calculate total annual consumption and cost for each utility. It is a compulsory requirement that each NHS Trust submits this information as part of an Estates Return (or ERIC Return) to the Department of Health. "The software allows me to produce this information within minutes. It's very easy and straight forward," says Jim.

Data for energy procurement

Jim uses the TEAM database to provide estimated annual consumption figures to the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency, who carry out the utility procurement for the sites he manages. This data ensures they obtain the best prices and avoid penalties for over or underestimating consumption.

Budgets and cash flow predictions

Jim assists the NHS Trusts in Norfolk in preparing annual budgets by providing estimated utility costs for the next financial year. "It's a bit of a guessing game at the moment due to the volatile market, but at least I can provide a very educated guess based on the previous year's consumption recorded in the database", explains Jim. Some Trusts also receive detailed cash flow predictions from Jim; providing estimated monthly utility costs for the coming year.

TEAM Support

As a software user, Jim has been using the TEAM support desk over the last 18 years. "The TEAM support is brilliant. It's very rare I need to ring the support desk now, because I know the software inside out, but whenever, I have had to call them, staff have been extremely helpful," says Jim.

Jim goes on to say, "I wonder how anyone manages their energy bills and consumption effectively without the use of an M&T system like TEAM. I am sure the £3m savings figure will continue to rise even higher in the future. It's immensely satisfying to make such a difference for the NHS in Norfolk.”