Council overspent on electricity by £400,000

Crawley Borough Council has been hit with an unexpectedly high electricity bill

Crawley Borough Council has overspent on its electrical costs by over £400,000, a meeting has heard.

The overview and scrutiny commission was told on 26 June the authority spent £403,000 more than expected in the final quarter of 2022/23.

Councillors heard that that bills which had been lower than £1,000 per quarter came in at £15,000 between January and March.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported work was being carried out to find out if the increase was down to price rises or excessive usage.

Councillors were told there had also been an overspend of £138,000 on gas.

This was put down to its principal gas contractor enduring "significant increases in sub-contracting prices", leading to higher costs to the authority.