Bulb customer platform to be offered to other retailers  

The consumer platform built by Bulb has been repurposed for use by other energy retailers as part of a new proposition being headed by the former supplier’s chief technology officer (CTO).

Zoa, an energy as a service platform, has been created after Bulb’s technology assets were transferred from Bulb parent company Simple Energy. Zoa Technologies was registered on 9 March, according to Companies House.

Zoa chief executive and Bulb’s former CTO John Marshall, told Utility Week that the platform is a “unique combination” of mobile and web apps, helping consumers manage their energy assets such as solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles, while at the same time facilitating all outbound communications.

Marshall said the platform is designed to rebuild trust between energy retailers and consumers.

He said: “We need every consumer to be participating in the energy system, allowing their cars and their homes to be part of the smart grid together. That takes a new layer of trust between consumers and the industry in order to help consumers electrify their lives.

“That’s where we come in. Because before we became Zoa, we built the technology that made Bulb such a loved and trusted supplier, and built the technology lab that allowed Bulb to lower prices. Because it really turns out that if you take care of your consumers, you will lower your costs, or you turn them into engaged energy users. And that’s good for your bottom line.”

The new company employs the same team which designed the platform at Bulb, with around 100 people working for Zoa.

Marshall would not however say whether any retailers had signed up to use the platform, simply saying “watch this space”.

In recent years the sector has seen the emergence of Octopus Energy Group’s Kraken platform, as well as Ovo’s Kaluza platform. The former has made huge inroads in the sector and has been adopted by legacy suppliers Eon and EDF.

Asked about how Zoa hopes to compete against such an established market player, Marshall said his company does not view Kraken as a rival. He said that the need to rebuild trust between consumers and suppliers is a global issue, as is the need to help them electrify.

“So in one sense, Kraken’s made giant inroads, I’ll be the first to say I think they’re doing a terrific job with the underlying platform. On a global level, the industry is still dominated by older platforms, legacy platforms, and there’s a lot of space to be able to develop a great consumer experience platform.

“We don’t actually look at Kraken as primarily a competitor. There are parts of their system that overlap parts of our system. But our system also provides additional layers that aren’t with Kraken and they can coexist within a single retailer perfectly fine.”

Asked about what additional layers Zoa provides, Marshall said: “Kraken has a white label app. But what we bring with our app is it’s a much more configurable app. It is a no code solution for the retailer.

“But it’s actually configurable so that they can choose to make it match their business model, their operating model, which is actually something that, in my experience in talking to energy suppliers, they find very important.”