A WORCESTER electricity company has won one of Britain's most prestigious industry awards.

On-line electricity supplier BizzEnergy came first in the Utility Industry Achievement Awards' e-commerce category for its innovative web-based product.

BizzEnergy, based on the Berkeley Business Park, is the brainchild of industry experts John Devaney, Dave Cave and David Wilson.

Commercial director Mr Cave, who lives in Worcester, was the driving force behind locating the business in Worcestershire.

Company chairman, Mr Devaney, said Worcester was ideal as it had good motorway links, a strong presence in the electricity market, and much lower costs than London.

"You can get a lot done for £25 in the centre of Worcester," he said.

The city is also a good catchment area for the kind of staff BizzEnergy needs and the majority of the 39-strong staff are local.

BizzEnergy opened for business in May 2000 and started trading to larger businesses in October that year.

In August 2001 it launched in the smaller business market, and at the beginning of 2002 it plans to expand into the gas market.

The team also has its sights set on mainland Europe, with plans to launch in the Dutch market in the first half of 2002.

Since its launch, BizzEnergy has grown rapidly and is now the second largest independent supplier of electricity in the business market.

It is also the only supplier to have built its business plan around the internet. All of the 67,000 quotes BizzEnergy has distributed since its inception have been requested, either directly or indirectly, through the Internet.

Mr Devaney said this meant the company could get good information about potential customers, which in turn meant it could give good, error-free quotes.

"And that should, hopefully, mean customers rarely have to speak to their supplier," he added.

"Which is good because customers don't want to talk about electricity or gas - they just want it to be there."

Chief executive, Eddie Hyams said winning the award was great for the staff who had been working hard to start up the business.

"It makes everyone feel good," he said.

"We're very pleased that our approach has been recognised by this award."