Award-winning Cornwall Insight has year to remember

Anyone who keeps half an eye on the news may have heard the company’s name mentioned in coverage of the energy crisis. 

The firm’s price cap forecasts have been followed closely by MPs and journalists, including consumer champions such as Martin Lewis.

However, while its predictions may have thrown the company into the public consciousness, brand awareness was never the motivation, according to CEO Gareth Miller.

“We could have shied away from doing some of the analytical work that we've done,” Gareth said.

“As soon as you say the price cap is going to go up, you know it's going to get media coverage, and then you know there’s going to be knock-on consequences of that,” he added. “Both how people are feeling about being able to pay their bills, and the influence it’s going to have on shaping government policy.

“But we see it as a real positive responsibility to make sure that decision-makers and people on the other end of those decisions are well informed about what's happening in the market.”

Yet Cornwall Insight’s analysis of the energy crisis is “a fraction” of what it does as a company.

The firm generates the bulk of its revenue providing consultancy and research services to energy companies in the UK, Ireland and Australia – as well as businesses looking to move towards net zero.

Gareth has grown the consultancy side of the business since joining Cornwall Insight in 2013.

“Today, we still produce a lot of subscription-based market intelligence to energy retailers, but back then we weren’t doing any bespoke consulting,” said Gareth.

“It was a fairly obvious move to take the amazing insight and knowledge base that we've got, then leverage it to answer bespoke questions our customers might be asking us.”

Cornwall Insight has trained a number of young energy analysts (Image: Chris Harvey)

People now depend on the company to “create business cases for building new energy infrastructure”, Gareth explained, adding that demand for its services has grown rapidly as businesses outside the energy sector have recognised the need to reduce their carbon emissions.

“The idea that all businesses across the entire economy are getting interested in energy, either from an ESG (environmental, social and governance) perspective or a cost-saving perspective, is a huge opportunity for us,” said Gareth.

“We've created a team to try and support those customers, and that's already yielding some results.”

It has also seen the company redefine its purpose.

“We went through a whole exercise during Covid and came up with a very simple purpose statement, which is ‘To enable a net-zero transition to happen successfully’,” Gareth added.

“We work with our customers – whether they’re governments, regulators or private sector – to create simple, actionable insights to move net zero forward.”

Cornwall Insight has developed its knowledge of the energy sector over the best part of two decades, but the key to its success – both today and in the future – is passing it on to the next generation.

“What we've been really successful at doing is taking the grey hairs or the experience around the company and using that to train and develop young analysts,” said Gareth.

“They have either gone on to become really successful in our business, or they've gone off and done other things in energy, which I'm equally proud of.”

The company now employs 120 people worldwide – with headcount and profit trebling in Gareth’s six years as CEO.

He said the Outstanding Achievement award is a sign that the business is heading in the right direction.

“It gives us a huge sense of validation that the trajectory we're on is a good one.”

For more information, visit cornwall-insight.com