Director
Rachel Littlewood
Phone
07950 698860Specialisms:
- M&A / Special Situations
- Cashflow modelling
- Strategy
- Transformation
Rachel leads our Financial Optimisation workstreams, working with leaders to improve profitability and cashflow.
Rachel helps clients improve profitability and cashflow by identifying and solving problems related to revenue and margin leakage, as well as debt and operating costs. Rachel also provides financial expertise to support the success of M&A transactions.
Rachel’s recent work includes helping a large challenger energy supplier review its cash performance and target key areas for improvement. She supported a ‘big six’ supplier to recover metering overcharges, and delivered an end to end revenue leakage diagnostic to improve its profitability and cashflow. Rachel also acted as subject matter expert supporting a client through operational and financial due diligence of a customer book in a recent acquisition.
Rachel held roles in finance, commercial and operations within the energy industry for over 13 years before joining BFY. Most recently, she was Head of Credit Risk and Collections at E.ON.
Start a conversation with:
Rachel Littlewood
News
Rachel's Latest Insights
Pre-payment debt has increased 100% to £1bn since Q4-21
Over the past two years we’ve seen pre-payment meter (PPM) debts continuing to rise, and as of Q3-2023 they now stand at £1bn The amount of customers using their PPM to repay a debt has risen by 40% (up 220k to 750k), and the average debt balances have also risen by 40% (up £400 to £1,300) - resulting in a 100% (up £500m to £1bn) increase in total pre-payment meter debt.
Energy debt hits record £3.8bn, as Ofgem propose initiatives to raise standards
Energy debt has reached a new high of £3.8bn as of Q3-24, up £134m from the previous quarter, and £0.9bn over the past year. Alarmingly, £2.9bn (75%) of this debt remains without any repayment arrangement in place, with 2m customers in this bracket. Total debt has almost tripled since 2020, and the volume of customers without repayment arrangements is up 700k (55%) in the same period.
Energy bills to rise ~£800m after Winter Fuel Payment cut
Analysis from BFY Group shows the ~10m customers losing their Winter Fuel Payment will pay an additional ~£800m in energy bills this winter vs last.
Meet The Team
Our Customer Debt Team
Joseph Cooper
Manager
Joseph supports our Retail clients to improve their operational processes and business performance.
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Kev Brown
Senior Manager
Kev leads continuous improvement and lean transformation projects with our clients, supporting customer operations to deliver our Leadership and People Excellence programme.
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Ed Breslin
Manager
Ed works with clients to improve their cash flow/revenue delivery, and leading the Commercial/Financial Modelling within our M&A/Transaction Advisory engagements.
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Holly Odle
Manager
Holly supports clients with large-scale business transformation programmes, delivering significant bottom line improvements through back-office optimisation.
View ProfileCase Studies
Our Results
Collections improvements deliver ~£5m cash for Water retailer
We supported a B2B Water retailer with a series of collections improvements, achieving a cash uplift of ~£5m in five months.
Tactical debt improvements deliver ~£7m cash for large Energy retailer
A large Energy retailer was facing significant challenges with customer debt, requiring improvements to their collections processes to mitigate this. Their total debt was ~£100m at the time of engaging BFY, with communication gaps present across the customer debt journey.
Challenger supplier reduces debt book by ~£30m with improved processes and new campaigns
Challenger energy supplier facing ~£75m debt book increase due to inefficient processes, a lack of collection campaigns, and little progress towards Ofgem smart meter install targets.