After five months of build up, promotion, lobbying and industry chatter, the shortlist for our inaugural Energy Live Consultancy Awards is released today.

In total there are 30 different companies nominated across the 12 categories from both the I&C and SME consultant sector.

Each of the categories was judged by our shortlisting panel of independent energy managers without any interference from ELN or the sponsors. They said the quality of entries was extremely high and those who missed out making the shortlist should not be disappointed.

The shortlist will now be sent to our final judging panel, which we can proudly announce today will be made up of Angela Knight, CEO of Energy UK, Louise Kingham CEO of the Energy Institute, David Porter ex-CEO of AEP and the former editor of Utility Week, Janet Wood. They will be joined by Chair of Judges Mervyn Bowden on June 12th to whittle down the nominees to find our final winners who will of course be announced at our awards ceremony on June 27th.

The full list of finalists is as follows:

I&C Consultancy of the Year sponsored by npower (public vote):

Alfa Energy
Amber Energy
CUB
Energy & Carbon Management
ESP
Inenco
Inspired Energy
Maxim Eyes
Schneider Electric PS
Utilyx

SME Consultancy of the Year sponsored by npower (public vote):

Alfa Energy
Catalyst Commercial
Energycentric
Energy & Carbon Management
Inenco Direct
Make It Cheaper
Maxim Eyes
Select Energy
Utilities Direct
Utilitywise

I&C Most Trusted sponsored by ScottishPower

Amber Energy
EIC
Pulse Utilities
Schneider Electric PS
Utilyx

SME Most Trusted sponsored by Gazprom Energy UK

Make It Cheaper
Inenco Direct
Alfa Energy
Auditel Leeds
Power Direct

I&C Best Customer Service sponsored by GDF Suez Energy UK

Inenco
EIC
TEBL
CUB

Maxim Eyes

SME Best Customer Service sponsored by CNG

Zenergi
Utility Assist
Select Energy
Inenco Direct
Utilities Direct

I&C Consumer Champion sponsored by Haven Power

TEBL
EnergyQuote
Inenco
Ener-G
ESP

SME Consumer Champion sponsored by Energy Live News

British Utilities
Ener-G
Inenco Direct
Make it Cheaper
Select Energy

I&C Most Innovative sponsored by Opus Energy

Pulse Utilities
Utilyx
ESP
Inenco
Logical Utilities

SME Most Innovative sponsored by British Gas Business

Inenco Direct
Catalyst Commercial
Utilities Direct
Select Energy
Utilitywise

Rising Star sponsored by Hudson Energy

UES Energy
Logical Utilities
Amber Energy
CUB
Pulse Utilities

Best Advice sponsored by Dong Energy UK

ESP
Alfa Energy
Inenco
Schneider Electric Professional Services
EnergyQuote

Sumit Bose, ELN Editor said: “My thanks to all those who entered and those who voted for their favourites in the online vote.  My special thanks to our judges who put in a lot of effort let alone their time to mark the entries with integrity. The quality of entries was I am told very high and so was some of the supporting documentation used to make their cases. The shortlisted companies will now go infront of our esteemed final judging panel and I know that will be tough, so our winners will truly be very worthy of the accolade.

“When we launched these awards we set out to show just how much good work is being done in the consultancy space and to match that we wanted these awards to be thorough, fair and above all independent. The shortlisting panel have done their jobs and I know the final judging panel will be just as thorough. These awards will really set the gold standard and our awards ceremony will certainly be a night to remember.”