Costs get brush-off as firm moves

May 12 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

ONE of the region’s oldest companies has brushed away almost a third of its energy costs thanks to a groundbreaking initiative.

Cottam Brush, which sells specialist brushes to various industries all over the globe, slashed its energy bills by 30% after working with One NorthEast’s Energy Resource Efficiency team.

The 150-year-old company re-evaluated its energy consumption following its recent move from Sunderland into a new state-of-the-art factory in Hebburn, South Tyneside.

Financial director David Cottam said: “In the midst of moving our manufacturing from Sunderland to Hebburn, the negotiation of energy supply contracts had been neglected. We also had little experience in these matters.”