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I am the customer: Peter Haigh

“The council’s ethos is central to our business”

This winter has once again brought to light how energy companies could be doing better to serve their customers, whether by passing on lower wholesale prices or providing a higher quality service to suit different needs. At Bristol Energy, we aim to balance the objectives of generating profits while offering fair prices and great, as well as accessible, customer service.

The energy supply company was created by Bristol City Council in 2015 to be a force for social good – generating income for the council to support city services, but also to help alleviate social and environmental struggles associated with energy, such as fuel poverty and energy waste. The council is the sole shareholder, so its ethos is central to our business.

There are also people out there who are happy to pay higher prices, if they know the money will be spent on a good cause, so we’ll be exploring that.

Knowing customers is incredibly important. We realise that those people who we’d most like to help are not always those most likely to switch. We’re also conscious of how complex energy can be to understand and will be offering customers in our region face-to-face help to understand bills and other services that could help them.

Bristol Energy is also looking at ways to help community energy projects thrive. There’s a strong movement in the city to be more self-sufficient and we’ll do what we can to help communities generate their own energy and make the best use of it.

Peter Haigh, managing director, Bristol Energy