An Edinburgh-based couple whose crowdfunding bid raised nearly half a million pounds to take on the ‘Big Six’ energy firms with a customer-owned energy company have launched it to the market and pre-registered more than 4,500 customers.
This week new customers will begin to receive gas and electricity across the UK as People’s Energy begins trading.
People’s Energy gives 75% of profits back to its customers, who are represented on the board of directors. People’s Energy will share salaries, decisions, accounts and prices with customers, becoming the first completely transparent and customer-focused UK energy company in the UK, with only one simple tariff and 100% renewable electricity.
David Pike, 53, and Karin Sode, 47, became so fed up with existing UK energy firms that they decided to do something about it. Over the past 12 months, they have raised funds, secured an OFGEM licence, won an entrepreneurial and innovation award, and built a team from their base in Musselburgh.
Pike originally trained as an engineer and in recent years has provided leadership consultancy to the power generation and network sectors for EDF and Scottish Power. Sode is a management consultant who has supported CEOs and entrepreneurs of small and large global companies across Northern Europe,
Pike said: “Our goal is to put one million people in charge of their own energy by 2024 – and provide an alternative for customers who have lost trust in energy suppliers.
“We want to create not just a different kind of energy company, but an entirely different approach to services that put people squarely at the centre. Energy belongs to no one, we all need this resource, and all should benefit from it, not just a few greedy shareholders. “
Sode added: “We offer customers a genuine opportunity to shape the direction of the company, and unlike others in our industry the customer will be at the heart of everything we do – in actions, not just words.
“That’s why we offer transparency and share the profits. We believe that people have the right to be treated with respect, as owners of their own energy and of the company.”
29 Aug 2017
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