A smart mix of sourcing components
We help you combine the right sourcing components to balance cost efficiency, risk and volume flexibility. Some give you full budget certainty, while others let you benefit when the market moves in your favour.
Forward buying. Your expected minimum consumption is covered gradually, in small increments up to three years ahead, following a strategy agreed with you. Because cover is built up over time rather than at a single price on a single day, you benefit from long-term market pricing and reduce your exposure to short-term swings. One way to do this is an Index model, which follows the market mechanically every day.
Fixed buying. You agree on a fixed price for a fixed volume over an agreed period. Your energy cost is known in advance, and your budget is protected from market swings for the duration of the agreement. A PPA can also provide long-term price certainty for part of your consumption, with energy sourced directly from a specific wind or solar farm.
Spot market buying. You pay the market price for the energy you consume, which is set in 15-minute intervals. Your cost follows the market, so you benefit when prices fall and pay more when they rise. Spot suits consumption that is difficult to forecast.
At Mind Energy, we recommend a combination of sourcing components. Covering part of your consumption in advance gives you greater budget certainty, while the remainder stays open to the market. We adjust the mix over time as your consumption and the market change.
Balancing certainty against market opportunities
Securing a price means committing to a price and volume before the final market price is known. If market prices are higher than your agreed price, you save money. If they are lower, you pay more than the market price. Either way, you know your energy costs in advance.
A fixed volume carries a second cost. If your consumption changes, the cover no longer matches your actual consumption. You are then either short of energy or holding cover for energy you no longer need. This is one of the reasons forward buying builds cover in stages rather than committing it in one agreement.
When market prices fall, you benefit immediately, and when they rise, you pay more. As prices become more volatile and the gap between the cheapest and most expensive periods widens, spot alone makes your energy cost harder to budget.
Spot still has a clear role. It suits consumption that is difficult to forecast, and it suits businesses that can shift consumption towards the cheaper periods. For most, it works best as a share of the portfolio rather than the whole of it.
Electricity prices can vary significantly between the Nordic price zones because of grid constraints and local supply and demand. If you operate across several zones, for example in both western and eastern Denmark or across Norway and Sweden, where you are exposed matters too, not only when you buy. Finland is a single price zone, so this only applies to Finnish sites if you also operate in another country. Your strategy should take both into account.
Energy can be bought long before it is used. Alongside the spot market, which prices energy for delivery the next day, contracts are traded for delivery in coming months, quarters and years. Such a contract fixes the price in advance for part of your consumption during that period.
Instead of buying it all at once, your consumption for a coming year can be covered a little at a time, spread across many purchases at different prices. The price of your covered volume becomes the average of them, so no single day decides your year. A strategy determines how much is bought, how often and under what conditions.
That is up to you. You can choose between two mandates.
Under a discretionary mandate, our portfolio managers act within a framework agreed with you. You set the limits and the strategy, while day-to-day decisions are made by the people who follow the energy markets full time, so you can stay focused on your core business. You can follow what was bought, when and on what basis in your reports in My Energy.
Under an advisory (non-discretionary) mandate, every decision stays with you. You benefit from expert guidance and market insight, and you approve each trade before it is made.
The choice usually depends on how much time your organisation can devote to managing energy and how authority to make financial commitments is structured internally.
Case
How Fastpartner keeps its energy budget reliable
Fastpartner, a major Swedish real estate company, consumes around 62 GWh of energy a year, making energy its second-largest expense after interest. Through portfolio management with a strong focus on risk management, Mind Energy helps Fastpartner balance budget stability with its sustainability goals.
"Being able to set a reliable annual budget is crucial for us, and Mind Energy's risk management expertise allows us to do just that," says Svante Hedström, Head of Sustainability and Projects at Fastpartner.
The result is a partnership that gives Fastpartner a budget it can rely on, while advancing its sustainability goals.
The dimensions of an energy strategy
Besides Trade & Risk, your energy strategy covers Sustainability and Flexibility. The three dimensions are interconnected, and each one covers a range of business needs, ambitions and choices. At Mind Energy, we help you design all three around your business profile, so your energy setup supports how your business plans, adapts and builds resilience and long-term value. The result is a future-fit energy strategy that strengthens your competitiveness.
Administration is what keeps the strategy running. We define your administration requirements and design the right service setup for billing, data, reporting and governance, including automated sustainability reporting and documentation, and give you access through our self-service platform, My Energy.
Sustainability
Back your sustainability ambitions with credible action. Through guarantees of origin and asset-specific sourcing such as PPAs, you decide, among other things, how much of your consumption is covered by renewables, whether the assets meet recognised sustainability standards, and how closely generation is matched to your consumption in time.
Explore SustainabilityFlexibility
Unlock your energy flexibility and respond to market signals by shifting consumption from high- to low-price hours, while maintaining the same level of activity. We assess your potential, advise on the right setup and operate your flexibility in electricity markets, giving you the opportunity to lower your costs, create new revenue streams and help balance supply and demand in the electricity grid.
Explore FlexibilityAdministration
Gain insight into your business's energy use through efficient administration. Our self-service platform, My Energy, brings your costs, consumption, sourcing mix and invoices into one overview that updates automatically. That transparency strengthens decision-making and simplifies sustainability reporting.
Explore AdministrationTrade & Risk
Balance energy price against your risk appetite to secure stability. Based on how much energy weighs on your margins and how predictable your consumption is, we combine forward, fixed and spot buying to achieve the lowest possible price, while ensuring predictability in your budgeting and long-term financial planning.
