My working life..

Mar 14 2008

PJ Darling, founder of Spark Energy shares his work schedule

The 'spark' for setting up his own utility company came when PJ Darling was working for a property management company.

He noticed they were having a lot of problems between renters and gas and electricity companies, and decided he could do it better.

"None of the big six utility companies were addressing their specific needs," says Darling.

"Once you've identified the opportunity, then comes the challenge of structuring a company out of the idea and convincing a lot of people that the idea will work."

Now Spark supplies gas and electricity to renters across the UK through lettings and property management firms. With turnover hitting £3million the firm is the seventh largest utility provider in the UK.

Darling recently raised £1.2m in funding, including £500,000 from a London-based investment house. He says he spends half his time in London, but the travel is rewarding.

"The train is truly awesome - four hours of uninterrupted work with wifi access. If I didn't travel regularly to London I'd still take the odd trip there and back on the train just to get that time to focus," he says.

Head office is in Selkirk, which Darling sees as an improvement on having an office in Edinburgh.

Since he took the firm's customer service operation in-house, having previously outsourced it, he expects to grow his workforce to 150. This will make him one of the biggest employers in the Borders.

Hesays: "We were in Edinburgh but realised the cost of renting larger premises and higher salaries to handle the new customer service team would have a significant impact on the business."| "More importantly though, we wanted to ensure we moved somewhere where the potential team are less transient."