Specialist depth
An electricity-transition specialist across the full value chain — retail, generation, and cross-chain electrification and VPP. Not a generalist who does some energy work.
Electricity & Energy-Transition Strategy
Partner-grade strategy
for the energy transition.
A boutique management consulting practice for executives, boards and investors navigating the electricity sector and the energy transition — delivered direct, lean, and fast.
01 The Firm
The senior judgment of a tier-one firm — without the overhead.
Cima Consulting is a boutique strategy practice focused on the electricity sector and the global energy transition. You work directly with the partner who does the thinking. The person sold is the person who delivers — no leverage pyramid, no junior team learning on your budget.
The result is senior judgment, faster turnaround, and a flexibility large firms can't offer. Clients get a tier-one firm calibre of counsel — working shoulder to shoulder with the advisor, at boutique flexibility and proximity.
02 Why Cima
Four things that change the engagement.
Full-stack judgment
Strategy, innovation/growth and transactions fluency in one mind. A growth strategy, a diligence exercise and an investor conversation — each run with equal credibility.
Senior-only delivery
Direct access, continuity and senior attention on every engagement — never diluted across a pyramid.
Lean by design
A deliberately lean model means speed and sharpness without big-firm overhead — efficiency you feel in the turnaround, not just the price.
From problem to measurable impact
“Complexity, inefficiency and growth barriers, turned into a small number of decisions a board can actually make.”
03 Services
Focused engagements, priced by scope.
Each engagement is scoped to the decision in front of you and the outcome it needs. A short menu, deliberately.
S1
Strategy Sprint
A focused three-to-six week engagement: competitive strategy, wargaming, market entry, or a growth-adjacency thesis — fast, senior, decision-ready.
S2
Transition Planning
Sector-specific themes such as portfolio transition planning, alternative uses for legacy sites and assets, and the development of new business and operating models to support future-focused growth.
S3
Implementation Support
Targeted support for delivering on plans. This includes deep expertise in capability planning and build — crucial for an industry that sees growth vectors hindered by scarcity of the right in-market talent.
S4
Diligence Support
Commercial and market diligence for investors and corporate M&A; sub-sector deep dives and capital-deployment theses.
S5
Strategic Advisor Retainer
On-call, partner-grade counsel with periodic deep work — continuity and priority access for leaders steering through ongoing change.
Something else?
If your decision doesn't fit a box, it usually means it's worth a conversation.
Get in touchGentailers & large utilities
Retail competitive strategy and wargaming, generation and thermal-closure transition planning, portfolio build, and growth adjacencies.
Investors, infrastructure & PE
Market entry and sub-sector diligence, asset and platform diligence, and capital-deployment theses across the transition.
Renewables & VPP developers
Growth strategy, capability build, and electrification adjacencies — from early platform to scaled portfolio.
Government & heavy industry
Transition policy interface, decarbonisation pathways, and the electrification of industrial operations.
05 Track record
Built on tier-one work across the value chain.
15+
Years in energy & strategy
Tier-one pedigree — a track record built through years at blue-chip consultancies
Full
Value chain — retail · generation · cross-chain
Work spanning utilities, renewables, mining, infrastructure and government — from refreshing the long-term strategy of a major electricity generator and merger-integration for a generator-retailer, to thermal-closure transition planning, VPP development, and growth strategy across the value chain.
06 About
Michael Crestanello
Founder & Principal Advisor
Michael is an independent strategy and energy-transition advisor based in Melbourne. Over 15+ years he has helped executives, boards and investors navigate their most critical decisions — strategic planning, market entry, energy-transition pathways, M&A diligence, capability building and large-scale transformation.
He was a Partner at Oliver Wyman and at premium boutique Azure Consulting (acquired by Oliver Wyman in 2022), following earlier roles at Bain & Company and as a General Manager at nbn. His work spans utilities, renewables, mining, infrastructure and government, with a finance and capital-markets background underpinning the advisory work.
- Partner · Oliver Wyman
- Partner · Azure Consulting
- Case Team Leader · Bain & Company
- GM Strategic Initiatives · nbn
- MBA · University of Chicago Booth
- BE (Hons) & BCom · University of Auckland
Let's talk
Weighing a strategic decision in the energy transition?
Start a direct conversation with the advisor who'll do the work. No gatekeepers, no pitch team — just a senior view on your problem.