Stadtwerke Gießen AG (SWG) is the best bidder in a nationwide tender and will supply all facilities of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft (ARGE) Energie Sozial in the Central Hesse region from 1 January 2010. The consortium represents the interests of Lebenshilfe Gießen e. V., Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg e. V., Lebenshilfe Rheingau-Taunus e. V., Gemeinnützige Schottener Reha GmbH, Behindertenhilfe Vogelsberg e. V. and AWO Gießen.
With today's signing of the contract, those responsible at Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energie Sozial and Stadtwerke Gießen AG are laying the foundations for future cooperation in the area of electricity supply.
The contract was signed by Matthias Acker (Deputy Company Spokesman of SWG), Dennis Adams (Sales Representative for Industrial and Business Customers) and Petra Walden (Sales Representative for Industrial and Business Customers) together with Werner Schäfer-Mohr (AWO Gießen), Günter Euler (Vogelsbergkreis Disabled People's Aid Centre), Markus Liebendörfer (Lebenshilfe Rheingau-Taunus e. V.), Magnus Schneider (Lebenshilfe Gießen), Berthold Ehling (Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg e. V.) and Christoph Schaefers (Schottener Reha GmbH) from ARGE Energie Sozial. TransMIT, which coordinated the tender for the consortium, was represented by Professor Frank Ehrenheim and Björn Reimers. For Stadtwerke Gießen AG, the conclusion of this contract is cause for celebration. "We are delighted with the trust placed in us by the consortium and are also proud that regional energy suppliers are absolutely competitive and can hold their own on the energy market with competitive conditions," says Matthias Acker.
In future, 215 points of purchase of ARGE Energie Sozial in the Central Hesse region will receive their electricity from Giessen. For SWG, the aim is to secure the electricity consumption of over 6,750,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year.
The supply by the municipal utilities will begin in January 2010 and - as is usual with public tenders - is initially limited to two years. Following the first successful tender, the consortium is now aiming to supply 100 per cent of its properties with green electricity. ARGE Energie Sozial is also already considering a tender for the supply of gas.
The project
Due to the enormous cost pressure, Lebenshilfe Gießen, Lebenshilfe Wetzlar-Weilburg, Lebenshilfe Rheingau-Taunus, Gemeinnützige Schottener Reha, Behindertenhilfe Vogelsberg and AWO Gießen decided to form a consortium. The aim of ARGE Energie Sozial is to jointly procure energy and thus not only to reduce costs in the area of energy supply, but also to actively contribute to environmental and climate protection and to utilise effective contract and data management.
In order to get joint energy procurement on the right track, the consortium has brought a strong partner on board in the form of TransMIT - Gesellschaft für Technologietransfer mbH - from Giessen. TransMIT sees itself as a partner for companies in the search for innovative solutions. After determining the requirements of all of the consortium's properties, TransMIT also coordinated the tendering process, from the cancellation of existing electricity contracts to answering the bidders' questions, evaluating the bids and concluding the final contract with Stadtwerke Gießen.
Partner to the region
The aim of Stadtwerke was not only to secure its existing customer base from the consortium, but also to win over additional customers - and Stadtwerke succeeded in doing so. SWG prevailed against three national and four regional competitors and will in future supply a further 169 properties in Central Hesse in addition to the 46 customers from the consortium.