When Colette Costello joined Orchard Energy as a pricing analyst back in 2009, the company employed only 20 people. Now, it’s grown to more than 90, and Costello heads up five teams, totalling 42 people. “I feel really proud of the fact that I’ve progressed through the company, but most importantly, I’ve progressed with my team,” she says.
Orchard Energy is a utility management consultant, advising businesses that spend £30,000 to £11m a year on energy. As well as negotiating the best prices for their clients’ energy, they work with them to reduce energy usage.
“Energy was a completely new industry to me when I joined,” says Costello, 33, who previously worked as an analyst for an insurance broker. “It’s such a diverse industry – you never know what is going to happen from one day to the next as it’s an open market, trading commodities. It’s about constantly learning.”
Associate director Lucia Harney-Dey has worked with Costello since joining the firm in early 2011. “By that point she’d already progressed to bureau services team leader in the pricing team,” says Harney-Dey. “I was the new person coming into the business, not knowing anything about the industry, and she was always the person I would go to – ‘Colette, can you help with this? Am I doing this right?’”
In November 2015, Costello was promoted to operations director. She has introduced new software to help provide a better service for clients. “We’re currently redeveloping our system to improve staff experience and make their lives a bit easier, which will ultimately improve our clients’ experience,” says Costello. “We already have a 98% client retention rate, which is phenomenal – we believe the average is about 45% to 50%.”
Costello, who joined the board of directors in January, has also developed a team of internal energy assessors, enabling the business to offer energy auditing directly to clients rather than outsourcing to a third-party provider, which has increased profits.
Previously, Orchard focused on commercial clients but since the company’s acquisition by Lakehouse last year, the business has been moving into the public sector. Costello is playing a key role there, too.
“Over the past six months or so we have started looking at public sector tendering. It’s an area we have never been involved in before so I took that on as well – working very closely with my colleagues, of course. We’ve done a number of tenders and have won three contracts, which I’m very pleased about.”
It’s this willingness to grow, learn and take on new challenges that prompted Harney-Dey to nominate Costello for the Small Business Showcase Rising Star award. In addition, she says, Costello has been “a rock”, always finding time to support team members and new staff – she recently introduced a buddy system to help new staff settle in.
Costello is also passionate about equal opportunities and was instrumental in creating an area where mothers returning from maternity leave could express milk and rest in private.
“She’s always been a tower of support and strength to me and her team really look up to her,” says Harney-Dey. “She developed them all internally and they’re all super skilled. I think she really deserves this award.”
Colette Costello was shortlisted in the Small Business Showcase competition’s Rising Star category. Find out more about the competition here
