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The Utilities Service Alliance has renewed its agreement with Frham Safety Products Inc. USA members chose Frham Safety as their Materials Supplier of the Year in 2014 and 2016.

“Frham Safety demonstrated its commitment to delivering the nuclear promise by lowering prices on more than 5 percent of the items in the agreement and maintaining pricing on the rest,” said Margaret Vinsant, USA Manager of Supplier Relations. “We’re pleased to continue a great relationship with this dedicated USA supplier-partner!”

In 2015, USA members realized more than $1.4 million in First Cost and Total Cost of Ownership savings through Frham Safety, which provides a wide variety of radiation protection and safety supplies for nuclear and industrial applications. One USA member utility realized nearly $308,000 in savings by purchasing Frham Safety products through the USA agreement. Average savings per member utility was nearly $152,000.

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.

“In addition to First-Cost and TCO savings, certain agreements, including Frham’s, include incentives for volume purchases,” says Jim Kitchens, USA Director of Economic Strategies. “Such incentives, or “rebates,” are useful for encouraging collaboration among members and promoting increased utilization of Fleet agreements. As higher rebate tiers are reached, all participants benefit by receiving a larger percentage rebate.”

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

Founded in 1983, Frham Safety is headquartered in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Its agreement is one of more than 60 Fleet leveraged supplier agreements that USA administers.

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.