The Finance Director’s Survival Guide to Multi-Site Energy Procurement
You’ve just stepped into the FD role. New title, new pressure, new scrutiny. Alongside debt covenants, payroll, and forecasting, you inherit a mess nobody wants to touch – multi-site energy contracts scattered across suppliers. No single view. No timeline. No leverage. And every day you delay, margin drips out of the P&L.
This is your survival guide. Because if you let energy remain unmanaged, it won’t just be an operations problem. It’ll be your EBITDA credibility problem.
The Reality of Inheriting Energy Chaos
When you inherit multiple sites, you inherit multiple contracts. Different renewal dates. Different terms. Different rates. What looks like “admin” is actually unmanaged exposure. And exposure becomes leakage.
- Sites left to default rates: 10–15% premium, invisible until the bill hits.
- Rushed renewals: signed under pressure, costing 3–5% over market rates.
- Opaque charges: pass-through fees suppliers bury in complex billing.
- Lost leverage: fragmented volumes weaken your negotiation position.
Individually, they look small. Collectively, they distort EBITDA. And as FD, you own that distortion.
The FD’s First 90 Days: Energy Pitfalls and Wins
New FDs are judged on early wins. Boards look for signs you can control cost, tighten governance, and protect margin. Energy is the perfect test case. Why? Because the costs are material, the leakage is obvious, and the fixes are visible.
- Pitfall: Ignore it, and bills keep bleeding cash. Finance credibility drops.
- Pitfall: Delegate to operations. They renew late, take supplier word, and call it “done.”
- Win: Demand portfolio visibility. Know contract dates, volumes, and exposures within 30 days.
- Win: Benchmark. Show the board where you’re losing money today.
- Win: Launch a structured procurement process before the next renewal wave hits.
Get these right, and you establish authority. Get them wrong, and you set a pattern of missed governance that boards never forget.
Why Energy Is a Governance Issue, Not an Admin Task
Boards expect FDs to govern risk: debt, liquidity, FX. Energy is no different. Every contract renewal is a financial event. Every unmanaged site is an open liability. Treating energy as “admin” isn’t just lazy – it’s a breach of financial governance.
Suppliers thrive when you keep energy buried in operations. They win by keeping you in the dark. As FD, your role is to drag it into the light, reframe it as financial exposure, and bring it under governance. Do that, and you own the EBITDA conversation. Fail, and suppliers keep owning your margin.
The FD’s Survival Framework
You don’t need to become an energy expert. You need a framework that enforces discipline, shows the board you’re in control, and strips margin leakage out of the portfolio. Here’s the survival framework:
- Visibility: Get every contract date and volume in one place. No blind spots.
- Timeline Control: Don’t wait for suppliers to set deadlines. Run processes on your calendar.
- Competitive Process: Don’t accept renewal offers at face value. Force suppliers to compete.
- Aggregation: Bundle sites to build leverage. Fragmentation destroys negotiating power.
- Board-Ready Reporting: Frame results in EBITDA terms, not kilowatt-hours.
This isn’t about being technical. It’s about being disciplined. That’s what boards expect of a Finance Director.
Survival Depends on Avoiding These Mistakes
Falling into these traps is how new FDs burn credibility:
- Assuming operations “have it covered.” They don’t. They react; they don’t govern.
- Thinking energy costs are “too small” to matter. They aren’t. Leakage is compounding and material.
- Accepting supplier advice as neutral. It isn’t. Suppliers are margin-maximizers, not partners.
- Failing to link procurement to EBITDA. Boards don’t care about tariffs – they care about margin.
Make these mistakes, and you’ll lose control of the narrative. The board will assume energy risk is something you don’t manage. And once that perception sticks, it’s hard to shake.
Turn Chaos Into an EBITDA Win
The difference between chaos and control is framing. If you treat multi-site procurement as admin, you inherit chaos. If you treat it as financial exposure, you can turn it into a win. Show the board you’ve identified leakage, built discipline, and protected EBITDA – and you don’t just survive your first year. You thrive.
Energy is the FD’s chance to prove financial leadership where others see admin. Use it, and you earn trust. Ignore it, and you bleed margin.
Secure Your First Win as FD—Start With an Audit
Don’t let multi-site chaos define your first year. Demand visibility. Benchmark leakage. Show the board you’re in control. It starts with an independent audit that puts every contract and cost in one place – mapped to EBITDA impact.