Record contract sparks expansion for Sheffield electrical firm

Halfway-based Main Electrical Ltd, which began as a one-man operation in the 1970s, has agreed the three-year deal with Severn Trent.

Main Electrical’s team will replace conventional fluorescent lighting with LEDs across Severn Trent’s sewage and water treatment plants in the Midlands.

It is the firm’s biggest contract and seals its future growth. ​Already, six new staff have been taken on, swelling the workforce to 36.​

“Our team worked incredibly hard to win the tender in the face of strong competition from much larger companies. It is a big deal to us, providing the company with a strong financial backbone from which to springboard to further expansion,” said Nikki Thorneloe, finance manager .

Teams from Sheffield will be at Severn Trent’s sites, which stretch from Scunthorpe to Gloucester and as far west as Wales, week in, week out, until 2018.

“We will be replacing tens of thousands of Severn Trent’s conventional lights with light emitting diodes, which are extremely energy efficient, safer and longer-lasting.

“LED lamps last up to 100,000 hours and will greatly reduce the water authority’s maintenance costs and increase their already strong green credentials,” added company director Peter Watson.

Main Electrical, founded in 1971 by plumber and electrician Ted Willers from a flat in Mosborough, provides electrical services to domestic and commercial customers and the public sector. Based at Cable House on Station Road, Halfway, its current clients include British Gas, Keepmoat PLC, Kier Group, Costain PLC, North Midland Construction, the Mears Group, mortuary and funeral suppliers LEEC Ltd, NMCNomenca Ltd, S&A Parsons Building Contractors and Mitie Group PLC. On the back of its Severn Trent model, Main Electrical have since carried out eight surveys for Thames Water.

“We are small company but we’ve proved we are big enough to care and big enough to fulfil major contracts,” added Nikki.