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Northern Powerhouse Fund invests £515k in North East energy firm

North East energy consultancy Cenergist has created new jobs in the Tees Valley with the opening of a new Billingham office, following a £515k investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).

The firm’s new site will work on growing Cenergist work with major energy companies around the government’s ‘affordable warmth’ obligation, which requires such companies to help vulnerable and low-income households to reduce their heating costs.

The investment from NPIF, managed by FW Capital, is also expected to create a further four jobs in the near future as the business builds towards substantially increasing its revenues from affordable warmth work.

James Waring, finance director at Cenergist, commented: “Our strong links with the major energy firms, allied to the technical knowledge within the business, leaves us ideally placed to help them meet their affordable warmth responsibilities.

“We’ve enhanced our existing skills base by bringing in new staff that can deliver on the energy companies’ obligations, and we’re already seeing demand growing for our new services.”

Mitesh Dhanak, managing director at Cenergist, added: “We’re expecting to create even more new Tees Valley jobs as we work towards building significant turnover from this new area of operation within the next 18 months.

“Our previous experience of working with FW Capital showed they were very practical and proactive people to deal with, and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund investment was a natural fit with our requirements.”

Cenergist has been working with FW Capital since 2015. The first investment was another six-figure loan from the fully-invested North East Growth Plus Fund to enable them to become the exclusive distributor for a money-saving smart shower device.

Keith Charlton, investment executive at FW Capital, said: “As an existing investor, we are delighted to back Cenergist again to help them with their latest plans. They have a highly experienced management team and an excellent industry track record.

“Their plans to create new jobs and revenues formed the basis of a strong business case for investment and we’re pleased to have extended our working relationship.”

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Cenergist is exactly the type of company that is crucial to the economic regeneration of Tees Valley. It is expanding and creating high-quality jobs and the investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is supporting these aims.

“This is yet another good news story for Tees Valley and I would encourage others to explore the help, advice and support that is available to ambitious companies through this and many other schemes.”