Annual pre-tax profits have more than doubled to £3.3m at Good Energy, the fast-growing renewable energy group, as more consumers turn away from the major utility firms.
The Chippenham-based firm, which plans to own more than 110 megawatts of renewable electricity generation by 2016, had a gross margin of 34% in the year to December 31 on revenues up 43% to £40.4m. Pre-tax profits rose by 136%.
Chief executive Juliet Davenport said: “We are out-performing Britain’s energy market, with customer numbers rising 32% as more than 100,000 households, businesses and renewable energy generators opt for Good Energy’s electricity, gas and feed-in-tariff services. 
“The company has exceeded market forecasts, improved its margins, expanded generating capacity and maintained its focus on customer service.”
At year end, Good Energy had grown its electricity customer base by 25% to 40,000 while its gas customer base jumped by 76% to 15,000.
It also ended the period in a positive cash position following the completion of successful equity and bond issues, enabling continued investment in generating assets and customer growth.
Julia Davenport added: “The corporate bond was heavily oversubscribed with £15m of demand and Good Energy topped the Which? customer satisfaction survey for the third year running.
“Britain is becoming a nation of renewable generators with 59,000 of our customer sites providing clean energy for their homes and the grid. Our rapid customer growth, including from households generating their own power, demonstrates the growing appeal and value of renewable energy.”
The firm anticipates further growth in the current year as customers continue to gravitate to cleaner and more competitively-priced sources of heat and power.
