Liverpool City Council paid extra £2m after energy bills blunder

The mistake led to millions of pounds being added to the authority's energy costs

Liverpool City Council paid an extra £2m to keep its lights on after failing to renew its electricity contract properly, a new report has revealed.

Mistakes last year meant that the authority was placed on a more expensive tariff.

A report, which outlines how much extra was paid due to the error, will be discussed at next week's finance and resources select committee.

When asked to comment, the council said it had nothing further to add.

In April 2022, local authority leaders were not informed that its electricity provider had withdrawn from the commercial market.

This led to the council - and other city institutions including schools and the fire service - being placed on a more expensive contract.

• Energy error put extra £2.2m on schools bill

• Exact reasons for city energy error remain unknown

• Council could pay extra £4.5m over energy errors

Last month, the council signed off on plans to reimburse schools more than £2.3m due to the mistakes.

In the latest report, it noted the period when Scottish Power charged the above market rate for electricity stretched between April and June.

As a result, the council incurred an additional cost of £1.1m for its operational buildings and a further £1m for street lighting.

An additional £350,000 bill was handed to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.

Along with the schools fee of £2.3m, the council was in the red for an additional £4.8m.

As a result, it is expected between April 2022 to March 2023, Liverpool City Council will pay £24m for its electricity, rather than an expected £19m, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council incurred an additional cost of £1.1m for its operational buildings

These estimates exclude Paddington Village and include actual consumption bills from Crown Commercial Service inclusive of the energy bill relief scheme.

The total final costs will not be known until February and March invoices have been completed, which is expected by early May.

The report to the finance committee was written by the council's assistant director asset management.

That role was cited in reports into the failing last year as being responsible for not informing cabinet as early as March of Scottish Power's decision to temporarily close its trade desks, which ultimately led to the move to a more expensive tariff.

The assistant director openly admitted this is something he should have done, according to the report, but had not acted with deliberate intent to mislead.