How to compare energy consultancy services

Comparing consultancies is hard because two proposals rarely describe the same work. Put every proposal on the same page first: the same list of services, the same deliverables, the same payment basis, the same exit terms. Then compare.

Most confusion comes from bundling. These are distinct pieces of work, with different effort and different outcomes, and a proposal should say which of them it includes.

Ask each consultancy to answer the same set of lines. Where an answer is not given, mark it as not given rather than assuming it is included.

• Services included, from the list above, and services excluded.
• Deliverables and how often each one arrives.
• Who does the work, and whether any part is subcontracted.
• Payment basis for each service, stated separately.
• What the authority document permits, and how it is limited.
• Term, notice period, and whether the agreement renews automatically.
• What data is returned at the end, and in what format.
• Named contact and response times for queries and disputes.

A unit rate on its own is not comparable, because rates are quoted for different contract lengths, different capacity assumptions and different commission arrangements, and market prices move between one quote and the next.

Compare the total cost of the arrangement instead: the fee or commission for each service, the effort you have to supply, and what the work is expected to produce. A proposal that costs less because it excludes invoice checking is not cheaper, it is smaller.

No sheet tells you whether a consultancy will do careful work. Comparison narrows the field on scope, payment and terms. Judgment on quality comes from references, from what a consultancy is willing to put in writing, and from how it behaves when the honest answer is that nothing is wrong.

The records above deliberately separate procurement, consumption and capacity work. That prevents unlike results being rolled into one headline and shows whether the service being compared is the service that produced the result.