Leading national energy efficiency and fuel poverty scheme provider, Effective Energy Group has acquired Hampshire-based Premier Connections in a deal worth an initial £1million.
Nottinghamshire-based Effective Energy Group had worked in partnership with Premier Connections for over a year prior to the acquisition and had been extremely impressed by the volume of works ready orders it delivered; and its ability to identify homes in fuel poverty and provide them with funded energy efficiency measures.
The acquisition will see Effective Energy Group reach the milestone turnover of £100million – making it one of the largest providers of energy efficiency services in the UK.
Richard Cox, CEO of Effective Energy Group, said: “Tackling fuel poverty remains at the heart of what we are striving to achieve and with energy prices rising by 54% in April we believe that there could be more than six–million homes across England and Wales in fuel poverty.”
“Now is the time for a comprehensive joined–up approach to identify these homes. Bringing Premier Connections on–board will enable us to provide a comprehensive service to these households by accessing funding through Local Authority Delivery (LAD), Warm Home Discount (WHD) and Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) schemes, plus the new Energy Company Obligation programme (ECO4) that is due to start later in the year.”
The management team at Premier Connections has a proven track record in sales and energy efficiency. Since 2019, the company has grown from zero to a projected £15m turnover for 2022. In November 2021 the company commenced a LAD funding contract partnering directly with one of the UK’s biggest energy companies and within three months had built a national infrastructure of sales, surveying and installation delivery, capable of identifying and installing over 100 solar PV systems per week. Each week Premier Connections identifies and retrofit assesses over 200 properties, making them one of the largest providers in its field.
“With our enduring commitment to tackling fuel poverty, while also reducing CO2 emissions, and Premier Connections expertise in identifying and qualifying households in need we have the perfect fit for achieving our objectives,” added Richard.
As a result of the acquisition, Premier Connections’ founders, Ben Williams and Jon Dodd will join the Effective Energy Group board.
The Effective Energy Group has also acquired a minority stake in Prem IT. Prem IT is working with Premier Connections to develop an end-to-end IT platform that facilitates the collection of the extensive amounts of information required for all the schemes it works on. The aim is to develop this platform further so that it can assist with all aspects of the customer journey and not just the survey part of the process.
