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More than $48 million: That’s the amount of money members of the Utilities Service Alliance (USA) saved in 2015 through a combination of programs that helped them run more safely, reliably and efficiently, and Supply Chain agreements that decrease the costs of purchasing services and owning components and equipment. As USA’s fiscal year 2016 nears completion, it’s worth noting that these savings paved the way for USA members to provide more than 13,000 megawatts of safe, reliable, carbon-free energy to homes, businesses and manufacturing facilities all across the nation.

“For over 20 years, the Utilities Service Alliance (USA) has helped non-fleet nuclear stations share resources, consolidate support services, and realize supply chain efficiencies typically reserved for fleet operators,” says USA President and CEO Carl Parry. “These savings and efficiencies are crucial to helping our members reach their goals in the increasingly challenging energy generation industry.”

Approximately $27 million of all 2015 savings are a result of the more than 60 supply chain agreements USA administers on behalf of its members. Supply chain benefits include first-cost savings, total cost of ownership savings and rebate incentives for volume purchases.

First-Cost savings is the difference between the price paid by a participating company on a USA agreement and the price that company would pay to the same supplier if it contracted on an individual basis. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is supplier-furnished value that reduces the total cost of using a product or performing a service. All savings are validated and accepted by the member utility before they are counted.

Rebate incentives for purchase volumes encourage collaboration among members and promote increased utilization of Fleet agreements. The more we pool our purchases, the higher rebate tiers we reach and all participants benefit by receiving a larger percentage rebate.

“USA members received more than $3.3 million in additional savings across all agreements through the application of volume rebate incentives made possible by Fleet-wide leveraged purchasing in 2015,” says Jim Kitchens, USA Director of Economic Strategies.

Kitchens says USA strives to ensure all reported savings are very accurate and “bulletproof.” That means putting every number through a gauntlet of verifications from both members and USA.

The balance of the $48 million in USA member savings comes from the alliance’s programs and projects. Station requirements like Nuclear Safety Culture Assessments and Mid-Cycle Assessments, which can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete, are included in a station’s membership.

Other programs, like USA’s Personnel Sharing, allow stations to loan employees to other USA members. The stations that loan employees reduce labor costs.  The borrowing stations receive trained and experienced veteran employees who are exceptionally valuable in supporting outages and emergent situations. Both loaning and receiving stations benefit from benchmarking and the exchange of solutions and best practices.

“USA gives non-fleet nuclear stations an opportunity to benefit from resource sharing, access to fleet expertise, better pricing on equipment and components, and additional supplier oversight,” says Parry. “The performance improvements and savings we generate by working together mean our all of our stations have more resources to put into performing more safely, reliably and cost-effectively.”

USA is an alliance of seven utilities operating eight nuclear power stations generating 13,192 megawatts of energy. In addition to administering a network of more than 60 nuclear suppliers, USA helps its members leverage their combined resources, talent and expertise to serve their customers with clean, safe, reliable and cost-efficient energy.