Working in partnership with The Arts Basket consortium, Beond has launched a series of energy forums focusing squarely on the energy challenges facing UK arts institutions today with the help of Royal Opera House, National Theatre and Royal Albert Hall. The Arts Basket is a dedicated energy procurement and compliance service for Britain’s theatres and arts venues.

The rise of energy prices will have no doubt affected your business in one way or another, we want to limit how much you will be affected by this, which is achievable through the Arts Basket. We have written this blog to educate our customers on this basket’s great savings for the arts industry.

What is an Energy Basket?
A ‘Basket’ is an aggregation of electricity consumers which provides the critical mass required in order to purchase flexibly rather than purchasing a traditional fixed term contract. Purchasing via a basket will deliver economies of scale hence more competitive prices.

Depending on the size of your organisation, you may be able to take advantage of bespoke energy prices and have access to trading to the wholesale market through energy procurement baskets. If you are willing to team up with other businesses on energy procurement, then your combined bulk buying power could land you competitive rates for gas and electricity.

What is The Arts Basket?
Originally set up in 2012 by the Royal Opera House, Royal National Theatre and Royal Albert Hall, the Arts Basket is designed to help decarbonise the arts sector by providing cheaper and greener energy procurement through collective purchasing.

This basket allows smaller theatres the chance to get the same energy deals as larger organisations by leveraging the buying power of the founding members.

The pandemic put a pause on everything in the world, apart from bills. Arts organisations have been hit hard as they were the last to return to work due to government guidance. The lack of revenue has affected the arts sector significantly as without revenue from ticket sales they struggled to pay their bills, but the Arts Basket was able to support them during this time as they were able to benefit from cheaper, greener prices.

It was relatively easy to estimate the impact on electricity consumption, but since most Arts Basket members are setup in very old buildings the impact on gas consumption was not as much as expected. Most buildings still needed heating for the small numbers of employees on site, and in order to maintain their boilers there was still a significant volume of gas usage at many sites.

As a result, many members experienced gas bills in which the volume wasn’t dropping as much as hoped. Fortunately, Beond had already purchased the bulk of the Arts Basket energy volume, so members have largely been protected from the record-setting high prices that we’ve seen in recent months.

Who can use this basket?
Any arts theatre across the UK can benefit from this basket! The basket has grown significantly since inception, with member benefitting from keener, greener energy supply contracts. As the fans return to enjoy the arts in theatres across the country, we want to support many more theatres, helping them secure greener, cheaper energy contracts.

Benefits of the Arts Basket
The Arts Basket provides many benefits, such as…

• Access 100% renewable electricity at a lower cost: We know your organisation is, or soon will be looking at how they can become net zero; we focus on offering compliance without compromise, and our relationship with our suppliers makes this possible. Through our relationships, we can offer our customers 100% renewable energy at a lower cost, with complete transparency on prices.
• Attend energy efficiency seminars: Working in partnership with The Arts Basket consortium, Beond has launched a series of energy forums, open to our customers, focusing squarely on the energy challenges facing UK arts institutions today. The seminars include ways for the arts to lower their energy bills and improve efficiency that support your energy targets, we can’t wait to continue these seminars in 2022. Keep a look out for our energy efficiency seminars!
• Bill Validation included: We include a free bill validation for all customers; we want to make sure you are only being charged for the energy your organisation uses and not a penny more. Through our Bill validation service, we can ensure this is always the case; our team will analyse your bills and contact your supplier if there are any discrepancies to ensure this is rectified.
• Carbon offsetting at no additional cost: The Arts Basket electricity contracts are 100% REGO-backed Renewable Electricity for all members, When we tender gas contracts, we ask the gas suppliers to quote for carbon offsetting. The winning supplier Brook Green has included this at zero cost premium, which means we are able to offer you competitive prices.

Why choose Beond?
With 9 years of experience behind us, we are able to offer the arts sector affordable green energy prices by focusing on compliance over compromise, it is very unlikely you will be able to find cheaper or greener energy deals anywhere else.

If your theatre or arts facility is looking for cheaper energy whilst still focusing on becoming green, our Arts Basket is something your business needs. It is easy to join The Arts Basket and get a better, greener energy deal for your theatre or arts institution. For more information, please call Beond’s dedicated Arts Basket team on +44 20 8634 7533 or email alex.moore@beondgroup.com to discuss your needs further.