Peterborough City Council signs off on £21m electricity contract

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) leaders have approved a contract for its future electricity supply worth up to £21.7m.

The council’s Cabinet signed off on the agreement with Total Energies Gas and Power (TG&P) with a maximum value of £21,691,780 between October 2024 and September 2028 on Monday (13 February).

This figure represents a 10 per cent increase on the £19,719,803 it would be worth if energy prices were to remain at their current rate.

Council leader Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives) called the sum “eye-watering”, but agreed to endorse the contract aimed at keeping costs lower by planning ahead.

The Cabinet also signed off on PCC’s budget which contains a 4.99 per cent increase in Council Tax next year.

PCC is also planning a further 4.99 per cent the year after.

Cllr Fitzgerald said that Peterborough is “one of the lowest-charing unitary authorities in the country”, adding that the council must balance its duty of providing services to the public with raising money to support them.

“If they want everything, then they have to pay for it,” he concluded.

Finally, the Cabinet approved the council’s intended allocation of around £2.5m of Shared Prosperity Funding via the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).

The largest share (around £1.25m) will go towards a Youth Zone – a “safe place for young people to go in a state of the art building” – with smaller sums going towards improving footpaths on Lincoln Road and tackling fly tipping among other projects.

Approximately £100,000 for programme management is also “available to both the CPCA and the Council to administer these projects”.