Customers increase by third to drive rise in Good Energy profits

Independent renewable energy supplier Good Energy’s customer numbers have swelled by more than a third to drive a 38 per cent increase in gross profit.

The supplier’s results for the first six months of 2015 have revealed a gross profit for the company has risen by more than a third to £10.2 million from £7.4 million in H1 last year.

Electricity customer numbers increased by 20 per cent to 55,000 up from 46,000 in the same period last year. Gas customer numbers increased by 40 per cent to 28,000 from 20,000 at the same time last year.

Good Energy’s chief executive Juliet Davenport said: “We’re delighted to report good customer growth as more consumers turn to us for renewable electricity.”

The company said its two operational windfarms, Delabole and Hampole, have “performed ahead of expectations” during H1 due to high wind speeds, contributing to a 126 per cent increase in renewable energy generated by the company. This represents 28 per cent of the total energy supplied by the company in H1 2015.

The supplier added it is planning to increase its customer numbers five-fold from 176,500 in June 2015 to 900,000 by the end of 2020 and expects to invest a further £0.6 million to continue to build capacity to support this future growth.

Davenport said: “To meet this increasing demand, we continue to invest in our generation capacity and have brought four new solar farms on stream in the first half, delivering 23MW.”

However Good Energy is pessimistic about its full year results, predicting them to be “below expectations” as it will no longer be able to cover the costs of its development business through a site sale.

Good Energy also said the “overall lack of clarity on energy policy” had “necessitated a constant review of the company’s long-term plans” primarily affecting its generational asset pipeline and appetite for site sales.