Ecotricity founder Dale Vince has revealed to Utility Week he has shelved plans to sell his company due to the continuing volatility in the energy market.
Vince said in April that he was planning to sell the business, which serves just under 200,000 customers, and move into politics ahead of the next general election.
He confirmed KPMG had been appointed to find a buyer and that the consultancy had indicated the supplier could fetch “in the region” of £200-£300 million.
However, speaking to Utility Week on Thursday (27 October), Vince said that despite having almost a dozen interested parties, the sales process was now “on the shelf” following the continuing market turmoil created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said: “We were at the final bidding stage when Russia turned the gas off and so that threw so much doubt into the market in terms of what was coming this winter. The boards of everybody involved said ‘not now’, which is fine.
“We had one offer, actually, that we didn’t take. We’re relaxed about it. We thought at the start of this it was a bad time to sell a green energy company or any energy company. And then it looked like a really good time because the amount of interest was incredible.
“But then world events caught up and threw a spanner in the works and we are where we are.”
Despite this, Vince said he believes it is an exciting time to be involved in green power considering the impact the energy crisis is having on both consumers and businesses.
He added: “Our time has just come right now. This energy crisis overrides the whole climate imperative that we’ve been trying to argue for decades, because it’s right in everybody’s faces.
“Nobody likes these energy bills. It’s a real problem for the government as well as for people and businesses and the answer is renewable energy. So it’s a great time actually to be a green energy voice which keeping Ecotricity gives me the chance to do so I’m alright with it. It’s meant to be, I’ll stay in the game and let’s see what we can do.”
Vince further revealed there is no timetable to sell the company in the future and that the focus now is on building new renewable projects, after spending the summer preparing for the winter ahead.
“We’re building two solar, one battery and our first green gas project right now. And we’re just dusting off another four projects to start building next year. So we’re just getting back to what we like to do,” he added.