Building Better Energy Control: How Smarta Energy Supports Caddick Construction
From procurement and market risk to meter installations, renewable energy and invoice validation, Smarta Energy has helped Caddick Construction bring its complex energy requirements together under one coordinated strategy.
Energy management in construction is rarely straightforward. Unlike organisations operating from a fixed group of buildings, construction businesses manage portfolios that are constantly changing. New developments begin, existing sites expand, project requirements evolve, and supplies need to close or transfer when work is completed. Energy contracts, connections, meters and invoices must keep pace with every change. When these areas are managed separately, construction businesses can face unnecessary costs, delays and limited visibility across their portfolio.
This was the challenge facing Caddick Construction, and the reason it appointed Smarta Energy.
Supporting a growing construction business
Caddick Construction is a family-owned construction group with more than 45 years of experience delivering complex projects across the UK. Its work spans industrial and logistics, residential, education, healthcare, commercial and leisure developments. The Group reported a turnover of £375 million for 2024/25 and a £1.4 billion forward order book, demonstrating the scale of its operations and future project pipeline.
With a growing portfolio of sites operating across different project stages, Caddick required an energy strategy that could respond to changing timelines, demand and infrastructure requirements. Smarta Energy was appointed to provide that joined-up approach.
The construction energy challenge
Every construction project has a different energy profile. Some sites require new electricity connections and metering before work can progress. Others need contracts that provide cost certainty for a defined construction phase. Consumption may increase significantly as a development advances before reducing or ending when the project reaches completion.
For Caddick Construction, the energy strategy needed to:
Reduce exposure to volatile wholesale markets
Secure competitive electricity and gas contracts
Reflect individual project timelines
Maintain flexibility around completion dates
Coordinate new connections and meter installations
Improve visibility across billing and consumption
Support wider sustainability objectives
Rather than treating these as separate requirements, Smarta Energy developed a coordinated approach covering the full energy lifecycle.
A procurement strategy designed around projects
Traditional energy contracts are not always suitable for construction portfolios. A contract may offer an attractive price but create problems if its end date does not reflect the expected project programme. Sites can complete earlier or later than anticipated, creating the risk of termination charges, out-of-contract rates or unsuitable volume commitments.
Smarta Energy monitors wholesale markets and works with Caddick Construction to identify appropriate procurement opportunities. Contract lengths and structures are considered alongside project timelines, expected consumption and the flexibility each site requires.
This approach helps reduce unnecessary exposure to market volatility without restricting the business as its portfolio changes.
Where greater budget certainty is required, Smarta Energy has also implemented fixed-price procurement strategies. Fixing rates at suitable points in the market cycle allows Caddick to plan expenditure with greater confidence across defined construction phases.
Creating greater commercial value
Securing the right contract involves more than comparing headline supplier prices. Smarta Energy conducts competitive tendering across multiple suppliers, uses its industry relationships to identify preferential commercial terms and reviews opportunities to reduce commodity costs.
Legacy agreements can also be reviewed where appropriate to identify whether stronger terms are available. Through this structured approach to procurement and cost management, Caddick Construction reports saving thousands of pounds across the contract term while retaining reliable supplies across its live developments.
Streamlining new connections and meter installations
Price is only one part of construction energy management. Before a new development can operate effectively, the correct infrastructure must be in place. Delays involving electricity connections, metering or energisation can create practical challenges and place additional pressure on project programmes.
Smarta Energy supports Caddick Construction by coordinating:
New electricity supply applications
Communication with Distribution Network Operators
Meter installations
Meter Operator appointments
Half-Hourly metering requirements where applicable
Timelines between developers, contractors and network operators
This provides Caddick with one point of coordination across several organisations and technical requirements. The result is a more streamlined meter installation process, helping new developments receive the infrastructure they need efficiently and reducing the risk of avoidable delays.
Maintaining control after contracts are signed
Effective energy management does not finish once a supplier agreement is in place. Invoices still need to be checked, consumption monitored and discrepancies challenged. This is particularly important for construction businesses, where responsibility dates, meter details and site consumption can change quickly.
Smarta Energy provides Caddick Construction with ongoing bureau and bill validation services, including:
Validating invoices against agreed contract terms
Checking meter and consumption information
Identifying incorrect or unexpected charges
Raising and managing supplier queries
Monitoring and reporting consumption
This ongoing oversight helps prevent billing issues from remaining unnoticed across a large and evolving portfolio. It also gives Caddick more reliable information for project reporting, budgeting and future procurement decisions.
Supporting sustainability and carbon reporting
Caddick Construction’s energy strategy also supports its wider sustainability objectives.
Smarta Energy secured 100% green energy at a lower rate than Caddick’s previous, not fully renewable supplier. The team has also supported Caddick with Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting and helped the business strengthen its approach to carbon management.
Alongside renewable energy procurement, Smarta Energy works with Caddick to identify longer-term opportunities across suitable developments, including:
Assessing the feasibility of solar photovoltaic installations
Evaluating potential savings from on-site generation
Exploring opportunities to reduce reliance on grid electricity
Supporting wider sustainability and ESG objectives
These opportunities are assessed against the practical and commercial requirements of each development rather than approached as a one-size-fits-all solution.
One joined-up approach
The real value of the partnership is not one individual contract, meter installation or invoice query. It is the ability to connect procurement, infrastructure, billing, risk management and sustainability within one coordinated strategy.
Through its partnership with Smarta Energy, Caddick Construction benefits from:
Reduced exposure to energy market volatility
Competitive procurement and lower commodity costs
Greater budget certainty where fixed pricing is appropriate
More efficient mobilisation of new supplies and meters
Better control over billing and consumption
Renewable energy and carbon-reporting support
An energy strategy that can adapt as projects change
This allows Caddick Construction to remain focused on delivering its developments while Smarta Energy manages the complexity behind the energy portfolio.
Energy management built for construction
Construction businesses require more than a supplier comparison. They need an energy partner that understands changing project timelines, temporary and permanent infrastructure, evolving consumption, site closures, billing complexity and the commercial pressure to keep projects moving.
Smarta Energy brings those requirements together. If your construction business manages multiple sites, changing energy demand or complex metering and billing arrangements, speak to our team about creating a more coordinated energy strategy.
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