The rising cost of energy has led Staffordshire County Council to take steps to ensure it can buy electricity at the lowest price possible.

The authority will also be sourcing "green electricity" as part of the arrangements agreed by cabinet members at a meeting on Wednesday.

The authority's electricity spend on corporate buildings, schools and other sites during the current financial year is around £6m, a cabinet report stated.

But the energy market is currently so volatile it is not possible to accurately predict future costs.

A flexible purchasing model is set be used by the council to obtain the best value for money from supplier Npower Business Solutions between April 2023 and March 2027.

Councillor Mark Deaville, cabinet member for commercial matters, said: "With the current cost of energy – and more importantly around the volatility of the market – it is essential that we take urgent action to ensure we have flexible purchasing arrangements in place to enable us to achieve the very best value for our Staffordshire taxpayers in extremely challenging times.

"The annual value of electricity is changing from a relatively stable cost base to one that is extremely volatile and it's increasing significantly. In an extremely uncertain market the only certainty is that costs will increase – and will probably increase very quickly.

"Central purchasing organisations offer a number of purchasing solutions. It importantly provides flexible price contracts and this provides the opportunity to purchase our electricity at optimum times when prices are at their lowest.

"This provides volume supply at a stable price. I'm sure you'll agree that is very important.

"The purchase of energy is a massive challenge to everyone; it affects businesses, hospitals, schools and households. This report was so urgent it was brought forward – the urgency of getting some assurance on energy prices affects us all.

"Additionally within this framework we will be purchasing green electricity. I'm also delighted to report that through our energy efficiency measures our corporate estate has reduced its energy consumption by 25% in the last five years – that's fantastic but we still have more to do."