New investment to power energy consultancy's growth

Sustainable Energy First is set to accelerate its growth after securing significant investment from Beech Tree Private Equity.

The Lytham St Annes-based consultancy was founded by Russ Priestley and Chris Jones in 1997 to address the cost and complexity associated with business’s energy needs. It is a certified B Corporation and holds Investors in People Gold accreditation.

The company specialises in reducing the carbon footprint of its clients. Spanning public and private sectors, including NHS trusts, councils, global restaurant chains and the majority of large UK supermarkets, they account for 3.5 per cent of UK business power consumption.

The new investment will support Sustainable Energy First’s objective to decarbonise the UK’s business community by 327,000 tonnes CO2e by 2028. This would be the equivalent to taking 73,000 cars off the road.

Beech Tree’s investment will allow Sustainable Energy First to expand on its core service offering, which includes clean energy procurement, revenue recovery, compliance support and net zero consultancy. In particular, Sustainable Energy First has set its sights on accelerating corporate take-up of clean energy.

One service area earmarked for growth is the Sustainable Energy Consortium – a pioneering group buying approach which makes truly renewable energy accessible to more businesses. It will also be scaling up its successful Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) service for large organisations. A CPPA is a direct energy contract between a renewable generator and a large corporate consumer.

Russ Priestley, founder of Sustainable Energy First, said: "The co-investment with Beech Tree and the management team will increase our service capabilities, marking a new highly progressive chapter for Sustainable Energy First and our clients."

Andy Marsh, managing partner at Beech Tree, said: "We are delighted to partner with the Sustainable Energy First team whose core mission is to reduce the carbon footprint for its customers.

"We are excited to support the team in continuing to deliver market leading organic growth and supplement it with strategic acquisitions and further investment in data and technology to accelerate the momentum of the business."