Leicestershire firm wins prestigious award for campaign on green energy

A Leicestershire electrical contractor has won a prestigious environmental award for its campaign to help local businesses cut their energy bills and carbon emissions.

Glenfield Electrical scooped an international Green Apple Award for Environmental Excellence in the Electrical and Electronics category for their recent campaign, A Sustainable Future for Leicestershire Business, which explored the barriers stopping local firms from adopting greener, cleaner energy. Selected from more than 700 entries worldwide, they will receive their accolade at a ceremony hosted at The House of Lords this November.

Phil Houlder, Managing Director of Glenfield Electrical, said: “Winning this award is a proud moment for us, and we hope it brings more attention to the difficulties local firms are facing.

“We work with businesses across Leicestershire, and energy bills are a real worry for plenty of them. People want to do something about it, but when you’re busy running a business, finding out what’s worth spending money on can be a job in itself.

“That’s why we started this campaign. We wanted to give local firms a clearer idea of what could work for them and understand what was getting in the way.”

Beginning their campaign, the company surveyed 40 Leicestershire businesses, followed by interviews with local owners. Three in five respondents were concerned about the impact of energy costs on their operations, yet 85% were unaware of government or local grants that could help fund energy efficiency improvements.

More than four in five (82.5%) wanted to reduce their carbon footprint, but only 17.5% had firm plans to install renewable technology within the following year.

Interviews also exposed a problem for businesses renting their premises: some could not secure their landlords’ permission to make improvements, even when willing to pay for the work themselves.

Glenfield Electrical turned these findings into a report and is in the process of producing free guides tailored to different industries, including breweries and manufacturers, to help businesses identify energy improvements that suit their premises and could bring their bills down.

The campaign received support from Mid-Leicestershire MP Peter Bedford, who visited the company’s headquarters and pledged to raise local businesses’ concerns in Westminster. Mr. Bedford described the initiative as “a very worthy campaign” and added: “It’s great to see a company in my constituency help others to cut costs and survive in such turbulent times for business.”

Glenfield Electrical’s full white paper, A Sustainable Future for Leicestershire Business, shares the survey findings and guidance for local businesses and is available to read here.