Decent Energy Appoints Two Non-Executive Directors to Support Growth in Smart Digital Energy Management

Cambridge, UK – 10 July 2025 — Decent Energy, the Cambridge-based climate tech start-up driving down the cost of energy and pushing forward the decarbonisation of demand, is delighted to announce the appointment of two non-executive directors: Marion Nöldgen and Ben Grinnel. Their combined experience across clean energy, AI and organisational scaling will support Decent Energy’s mission to reduce household energy costs and carbon intensity through software that optimises and integrates decentralised energy assets.

Tom Cox, Founder of Decent Energy, said
“We’re building more than just software—we’re building an ecosystem that unlocks low-carbon living for millions of homes. Marion and Ben bring the kind of strategic clarity, operational depth and system-level thinking that will help us scale quickly and responsibly. They’ve both lived the future we’re trying to build, and I’m thrilled they’ve chosen to help shape ours.”

Marion Nöldgen

Marion combines entrepreneurial drive with commercial sharpness, having led multiple scale-ups from the ground up. She built her reputation by taking Tibber—one of Europe’s most ambitious clean energy scale-ups—from zero to 70 employees in Germany, launching the company in two new markets and establishing Tibber as the go-to name for dynamic electricity tariffs and smart home energy in both press and politics.

She has consistently chosen high-impact ventures—and now, through her company ClearImpact, she helps scaling companies navigate growth pain, resolve chaos phases and build the leadership structures they need to grow. From diagnosing organisational blockers to stepping in during critical transitions, she works with both startups and established players to make their teams faster, sharper and more resilient.

Why I joined the board:

“I’ve seen the energy world from all angles—growth-stage scale-ups, political negotiations, corporate partnerships, product launches. And in every corner, I kept seeing the same thing: too much friction. Too many good ideas dying in complexity, inertia or lack of trust from customers.

What excited me about Tom’s vision for Decent Energy wasn’t just the tech or the business model (which are strong). It was the ruthless clarity: letting green energy flow by fixing the scheduling friction that causes waste—and doing it in a way that saves customers money while driving real climate impact. It’s rare to find a model that’s this elegant and this scalable.”

Ben Grinnel

Ben is an entrepreneur and investor who made his money through a technology startup and, after a stint at the Big Four, a consulting startup where, after being bought by North Highland, he continued as the first UK Managing Director and Global Lead of CIO Services / Digital.

He has always been at the forefront of technology advances from the DevOps movement to AI and has worked with ITRevolution on several papers and conferences on this subject. He most recently spent a week in Silicon Valley with representatives from leading companies around the world including OpenAI and Anthropic writing papers on the current challenges in enterprise AI which will be published in July and showcased at the Technology Leaders Enterprise Summit in Las Vegas in September.

Why I invested:

“Through the Covid years I invested a significant amount of time and money transforming my London house into an ecohome, which involved only really keeping three of the four walls. It achieved EnerPHit standards with GSHP, MVHR, triple glazing, airtightness, EWI, solar, batteries and even its own water well. I wanted to show it could be done and make it easier for others to follow this climate-driven crusade, but in so many areas it was unnecessarily hard and expensive.

What I loved about Tom’s vision for Decent Energy was that it was going to make one element of that carbon neutral home easier and take that so much further—enabling energy suppliers to stop switching off green energy due to scheduling problems. And it makes adoption easy through a business model that costs customers nothing whilst reducing their energy bills.”

About Decent Energy

Decent Energy is building a software-based interoperability platform that optimises home energy use to reduce cost and carbon intensity. With no need for hardware or site visits, its products—Shîfter and Flexa (formerly Decent Energy Grid)—enable customers to maximise their use of green energy while giving energy providers the tools to build and manage virtual power plants. By shifting demand, not just supply, Decent Energy helps tackle curtailment, enable electrification and reduce household energy bills, all without compromising on climate goals.

Press contact:

Tom Cox
Founder & Managing Director
[email protected]