CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Registered charity 298740 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CSE, THE URBAN CENTRE FOR APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY
CSE's mission is to advance sustainable energy policy and practice. CSE seeks energy solutions that engage people and communities to meet real needs for both environmentally sound and affordable energy services. Ending the misery of cold homes and enabling action to tackle the threat of climate change are core objectives.Work is delivered in partnership with many agencies.
Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the group generated a combined income of £11,707,128 and reported a surplus of £179,274 for the year ended 31 March 2025. Per the reserves policy, unrestricted reserves stood at £1,726,466, which is above the stated minimum target of £1.5m, and the trustees confirmed sufficient resources to continue as a going concern.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Highest-paid employee band: £641,100 — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median £130k)
“The total employee benefits of key management personnel were £641,100 (2024: £572,114).” — page 43
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: £1.5m (held: £1.7m)
“Based on this policy and taking account of the diversity of our funding sources, at the end of March 2025, our minimum reserves target (for total unrestricted funds) was £1.5m”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Bill Hull, a trustee, is a Partner of TLT LLP. TLT LLP invoiced the charity £56,524 for legal services.
“Bill Hull, a trustee of the charity, is a Partner of TLT LLP. During the year, TLT LLP invoiced £56,524 (2024: £28,622) to the charity for legal services provided.” — page 57
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Retrofit West CIC
“These accounts represent the consolidated group financial results for both CSE and Retrofit West CIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of CSE.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Bishop Fleming Audit Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Top pay band moved from £70,001 - £79,999 (FY2024) to £641,100 (FY2025).
Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
Corporate structure
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Janine Michael — Chief Executive (source)
- Matt Ferdinando — Director of Finance and Operations (source)
- Keith Hempshall — Director of Local and Community Empowerment (source)
- Charlotte Johnson — Director of Research and Analysis (source)
- Ian Preston — Director of Development and External Affairs (source)
- Paul Winney — Director of Household Energy Services (source)
Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.
Company officers (Companies House)
Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.
- HAMMOND, Barbara Ann, Dr — director, appointed 05/08/2026on trustee list
- DOYLE, Rachael Louise — director, appointed 03/08/2026on trustee list
- NELSON, Sarah Kate, Dr — director, appointed 31/07/2026on trustee list
- WILDBLOOD, Jane Elizabeth — director, appointed 25/01/2024on trustee list
- BURCHER, Rachel Emma — director, appointed 25/01/2024not on trustee list
- MILLER, Claire — director, appointed 25/01/2024on trustee list
- SHANMUGALINGAM, Shantha Ganesh — director, appointed 04/10/2018on trustee list
- GILLIS, William Wright — director, appointed 04/10/2018on trustee list
- HULL, William John — director, appointed 09/07/2015not on trustee list
- DARNTON, Andrew Leyland — director, appointed 26/06/2014on trustee list
- CRAMPTON, Ariane — director, appointed 26/06/2014on trustee list
- FERDINANDO, Matthew Peter — secretary, appointed 12/10/2023
Official officers record.
Public-sector contracts awarded
From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.
Property (HM Land Registry)
2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Reported reserves equal ~1.8 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (100% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).
- Andrew Darnton
- Ariane Crampton
- BILL HULL
- Claire Miller
- Dr Barbara Ann Hammond
- Dr Sarah Kate Nelson
- Jane Wildblood · trustee of 2 other charities
- Rachael Louise Doyle
- Rachel Emma Brisley
- SHANTHA SHANMUGALINGAM
- William Gillis · trustee of 1 other charity
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the group generated a combined income of £11,707,128 and reported a surplus of £179,274 for the year ended 31 March 2025. Per the reserves policy, unrestricted reserves stood at £1,726,466, which is above the stated minimum target of £1.5m, and the trustees confirmed sufficient resources to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Bishop Fleming Audit Limited.
What does the highest-paid employee of CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY earn?
Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £641,100 band.
Who funds CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY?
Funders whose own accounts filings name CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY as a grant recipient include POWER TO CHANGE TRUST, THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR WILTSHIRE & SWINDON, THE TDS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, THE AURORA TRUST, THE BLAGRAVE TRUST.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
Funders of similar charities
Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.
Charities like this
Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with SEVERN WYE ENERGY AGENCY.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.