The supplier wants a current LOA, today
You are in the middle of pulling together a renewal for a client with several sites. You ask the current supplier for consumption data and contract details. The supplier's broker desk replies that the letter of authority on file has expired and they need a new one before they can share anything.
The LOA is in a folder on the shared drive, signed by a finance director who has since left the business. You draft a new one, email it to the client, and wait. The client is busy. A week goes by. The renewal timetable slips, and the supplier's offer window with it.
Why LOAs are always out of date at the wrong moment
Letters of authority look like simple documents, but they carry several details that matter to suppliers, and those details change.
- LOAs may have an expiry date or a validity period that suppliers apply.
- Scope varies: which sites, which meters, which suppliers, what the broker may do.
- The signatory must be someone with authority at the client, and people leave.
- Some suppliers want their own form or particular wording.
- LOAs are stored as PDFs, with no record of their dates or scope outside the document itself.
Nobody looks at an LOA until a supplier asks for it, and that is exactly when it is too late.
Delays that ripple through renewals
An expired LOA stalls everything that depends on supplier cooperation: data requests, contract information, queries and sometimes the renewal itself. The delay is felt most in the weeks before an end date, when time is short.
It also looks untidy to clients, who are asked to sign the same kind of document again with little warning. And chasing signatures by email takes account manager time that should go into the renewal itself.
An LOA register with reminders and e-signing
We build a register that treats each LOA as a record, not just a file.
- Every LOA is recorded against the client with its signatory, date signed, expiry or validity period, and scope: sites, meters and suppliers covered.
- Existing LOAs are read with an extraction step, using a model such as OpenAI or Anthropic Claude, to pull out dates, signatory and scope. A person checks each one before it is saved.
- The register links LOAs to meters, so you can see which meters are covered and which are not, including new sites added since the LOA was signed.
- Reminders go out well before expiry, and before any renewal where the LOA will expire during the tender.
- Re-signing is handled by e-signature through a service such as DocuSign or a similar tool, using your template or a supplier's own form, and the signed copy is stored against the client.
- When a signatory leaves the client, the account manager can mark the LOA for replacement, and the new request goes to the right person.
| Question | Shared drive | LOA register |
|---|---|---|
| Is this client's LOA current? | Open the PDF and read it | Status shown on the client record |
| Which meters does it cover? | Read the schedule | Linked meters listed |
| When does it expire? | Found out from the supplier | Reminder in advance |
| Re-signing | Email a PDF, wait for a scan | E-signature request, tracked |
| New sites | Often not covered | Flagged as not covered |
What your LOA says, and whether it suits a particular supplier, is for your consultancy and any legal advice you take. The register keeps track of what has been signed and when.
Renewals that do not wait for paperwork
When a renewal comes into view, the account manager sees at a glance that the client's LOA is current and covers every meter in the tender. If it does not, the re-signing request went out weeks earlier, when there was no pressure.
When a supplier asks for an LOA, it is sent from the register in a minute. When new sites are added to a client, the register shows they are not yet covered, and the paperwork is sorted before anyone needs it.
Are expired LOAs slowing you down?
- LOAs are stored as PDFs with no record of their dates.
- Suppliers have refused requests because an LOA had expired.
- LOAs have been signed by people who no longer work at the client.
- New sites are not always covered by the existing LOA.
- Re-signing depends on emailing PDFs and waiting for scans.