The champagne was out for energy consultancies last night (27 June) as the first ever Energy Live Consultancy Awards, dubbed the TELCAs, kicked off in high style at the prestigious London Film Museum at County Hall.
Editor of Energy Live News Sumit Bose hosted a glitzy Hollywood-themed ceremony where winners were unveiled, before the 400-odd guests streamed onto the elegant Silver Sturgeon for a cruise up the Thames.
Schneider Electric Professional Services were the big winners of the day, not only scooping up the Consultancy of the Year Award for the I&C but also a TELCA for Best Advice.
Good things clearly came in pairs this evening as energy management consultant Utilitywise won SME Consultancy of the Year and the gong for Most Innovative in the SME sector.
Price comparison site Make It Cheaper (pictured, accepting an award) and energy consultancy EIC also claimed two awards apiece at the consultancy sector’s answer to the Oscars.
Make It Cheaper’s work for SMEs saw it take home SME Most Trusted and SME Consumer Champion, while EIC picked up the Best Customer Service and the Most Trusted awards, both for their I&C work.
Gas and electricity brokers EnergyQuote won the I&C Consumer Champion award and The Energy Services Partnership (ESP) received the TELCA for Most Innovative in the I&C sector.
Energy procurement and management firm UES Energy collected the Rising Star gong and consultancy giant Inenco Direct won in the SME Best Customer Service category.
The boss of headline sponsor RWE npower said it has “never been a more important time” for energy companies and consultants to work together for their customers.
The supplier’s chief executive Paul Massara said: “The TELCA awards have been a great success and the winning SME and I&C Consultancies of the Year should be proud to have been recognised against tough competition.”
He added: “With so much change taking place across the energy industry, it’s never been more important that suppliers and consultants work together to provide businesses with the right solutions to manage energy effectively – so npower is pleased to sponsor an award that recognises and promotes consultancies doing good work in the industry.”
Entrants were shortlisted following a rigorous judging process of two rounds. The shortlist was judged by an expert panel of major business energy users including Tesco’s James Summerbell and British Sugar’s Sarah Nottidge.
In the case of the Consultancy of the Year for SME and I&C customers the shortlists were based on public votes from business energy users.
The final winners were picked by an independent judging panel including Angela Knight, CEO of trade body Energy UK, CEO of the Energy Institute, Louise Kingham and Janet Wood, editor of New Power magazine.
