A bid by a council-owned company to the council has been deemed ‘commercially sensitive’, and cannot be made public, despite millions of pounds of taxpayers' money being spent.
Robin Hood Energy (RHE), a wholly council-owned company, bid to its parent company, Nottingham City Council, to be the electricity and gas supplier until 2024.
It had already been the supplier since 2017, but that contract was due to expire, and a new bidding process had to be held, which was subsequently won by RHE.
A Freedom of Information request was submitted to the city council to find the value and terms of this bid.
The council refused the FOI request, on the grounds that in a ‘highly competitive market’, this would pose a significant advantage to other energy companies, as they could then undercut this price.
The bill is likely to be in the millions, but is difficult to estimate.
Using the council’s estimated annual usages advertised on the invitation to tender, the bills on RHE’s two year green peace of mind V4 tariff - one of the cheaper available to domestic customers - the council's electricity bill would be £7.5 million and the gas would be just over £2 million.
However the price paid by a large consumer like NCC is likely to be lower than this.
Opposition councillor Andrew Rule, who represents Clifton North for the Conservatives, pointed out that another company undercutting the offer would save taxpayers money - as the eventual energy bill for the council would then be lower.
He said this amounted to the council prioritising RHE to the detriment of the taxpayer.
"It’s curious that the city council is masking a genuine enquiry into the value for money (or otherwise) of its utility arrangements with Robin Hood Energy.
“I am quite sure it would be possible for the council to release enough of the information from the tender to confirm how much they would be paying for supply without revealing any commercially sensitive information contained within the wider tender.
“By withholding the information, it looks as though the Council is more concerned about protecting Robin Hood Energy from competition than delivering value for money for the Nottingham council tax payer. "
A spokesman for RHE said: “We responded to the competitive tender like all other suppliers.
“Like all businesses the content of our submission includes our prices, trading strategies, margins and our business operating model, so if this was publicly released it would undermine our commercial position.”
Explaining its decision to decline the FOI request, the council said: “RHE operates in a very competitive commercial marketplace and release of the requested information would be likely to prejudice RHE’s position in the industry.
“The information in the tender submission was developed specifically by RHE for this contract opportunity with the council.
“Releasing the documents reveals the business model developed RHE.
“The tender submission describes RHE’s methodology, policies and working practices that have been developed and refined through years of experience at a significant cost and have allowed them to be as competitive as possible when delivering cost effective gas and electricity supply.
“Release of the documents would be likely to disclose RHE’s competitive advantage through embedded commercial practice and operation.
“The information contained within the documents is of key importance to RHE’s commercial success and would hold significant commercial value to their competitors, the documents evidence RHE’s approach to delivering gas and electricity provision, their pricing structure, and their employee’s qualifications, skills and experience.
