Gas retail

Former BP trader creates challenger with ‘digital workforce’

Fledgling challenger brand Rebel Energy, due to launch later this year, is creating a “digital workforce” to complement its human customer service team. The company will combine employees with intelligent automation platform Blue Prism Cloud, allowing many customer service issues to be automated. Where the platform cannot resolve issues automatically, the team will be notified.

Yu Group: Energy market is ‘ripe for a shakeup’

Yu Group chief executive Bobby Kalar believes movements within the energy market are creating the perfect opportunities for the company to pursue its growth ambitions. Kalar was speaking to Utility Week following the acquisition of Bristol Energy's business customers.

Options for recovering bad coronavirus debt outlined

Yu Group acquires Bristol Energy business customers

Yu Group has acquired Bristol Energy’s business customers, covering 4,000 meters across c1,500 businesses. Yu has paid an upfront £1.24 million for the customer book and as part of the deal has acquired £1 million of customer debts, to be paid to Yu later this month.

EDF: Industry must ‘redouble efforts’ on complaints

Energy retailers should "redouble their efforts" to ensure they are listening properly to customers' complaints, an EDF Energy director has said. Paul Spence, director of strategy and corporate affairs, made the comments during Utility Week’s latest #AskUsAnything webinar in response to a recent article by Stephen Littlechild.

Pandemic halts progress towards lifting price cap

Plan Zero: How Ovo is fighting climate change

September marks a year since Ovo Energy unveiled its Plan Zero pledge to halve its customers’ carbon footprints by 2030. Utility Week catches up with Kate Weinberg, Ovo’s director of sustainability, to discuss how technology and the green recovery is helping meet the target and why Covid-19 should not distract us from the threat of climate change.

Citizens Advice says microbusinesses still need more support with debt

Microbusinesses need more support from Ofgem on debt-related issues, a principal policy manager at Citizens Advice has told Utility Week. The energy regulator recently unveiled a series of measures designed to protect millions of microbusiness customers from “unscrupulous” energy brokers, as well as enabling smoother switching.

Nottingham City Council absorbs £24m loss from Robin Hood Energy

Nottingham City Council has absorbed a loss of more than £24 million from its investment in Robin Hood Energy, mainly by writing off loans to the supplier. The company is currently undergoing a strategic review in which “all options” for the business are being considered.

Prepayment and default tariff price caps to be merged

People’s Energy to create 100 jobs after taking over Ovo office

Edinburgh-based challenger brand People’s Energy is creating 100 new jobs in Selkirk after taking over the recently vacated Ovo Energy offices in the town. Husband and wife founders of People’s Energy, Karin Sode and David Pike, said they spotted an opportunity when Ovo closed its Ettrick Riverside building in May.

Energy Ombudsman sees complaints rise by a quarter

Tonik Energy launches smart EV charging bundle

Effortless Energy enters credit default

Challenger brand Effortless Energy has entered level two credit default. According to the Balancing and Settlement Code administrator Elexon, the company entered default yesterday morning (30 July) and at the time of writing has still not cleared.

Customer Centric: Zebra Power

In the latest in our Customer Centric interview series Adam John speaks to Mark Royle, co-founder and chief executive of Manchester-based Zebra Power. From ensuring a swift response to enquiries to making every effort to retain its young workforce, Royle tells Utility Week about the secrets to their success.