Octopus Vitality Providers (OES) is an important a part of Octopus Vitality’s plan to construct a sustainable power provider, match for the longer term. They’re tremendous gifted octo-engineers, fixing issues on the bottom, putting in sensible meters and different innovative inexperienced tech, and serving to flip our imaginative and prescient for a better, greener power system right into a actuality.
A number of weeks earlier than lockdown started, I acquired an opportunity to see OES’ multi-talented engineers in motion. I used to be issued a pair of sensible, rubber soled electrician’s boots and a giant reflective Octopus Vitality jacket after which hopped into an Octo-van with engineer Zoe, who had been tasked with exhibiting me the ropes. At each cease, I used to be greatly surprised by how unshakably competent, participating, {and professional} Zoe was, so per week later, I met up with OES CEO John Szymik to speak about my day trip and get a way for his the larger image. On this weblog, John talks us via his story, and the ins and outs of OES.
Jackson: Are you able to inform me a little bit bit about why OES was based, and what beliefs it embodies?
John: Octopus Vitality entered the market to disrupt the established order and problem outdated methods of dealing with power provide and coping with clients. That ethos applies throughout all our interactions with clients and every is equally vital.
A Sensible meter set up is exclusive as a result of it’s in all probability one of many solely instances that you simply’ll truly be head to head with a buyer, in their very own residence. With third occasion engineering companies (MOPs) and legacy power suppliers who set separate corporations up for metering, there’s a little bit of a disconnect – they’ve completely different goals and they’re run by completely different teams of individuals with completely different targets. At Octopus, we attempt to rework disconnected (and at instances, irritating) processes into one thing dependable, participating and outrageously good. That’s why we created a bespoke service inside our enterprise.
OES is an intrinsic a part of Octopus Vitality. It’s like that on objective in order that we’re all the time driving in the direction of the identical targets.
Jackson: Are you able to inform me a little bit bit about your story, and the way you got here to discovered Octopus Vitality Providers?
John: It began 17 years in the past once I was searching for a summer time job. I ended up strolling into the native recruitment workplace for an power provider and I’ve been within the trade ever since. I spent 10 years with that provider – it was an excellent proving floor however I’ve all the time had an entrepreneurial itch which working inside a big company was stopping me from scratching. I finally left to go travelling and returned as the top of an organization that manufactured and put in insulation merchandise. At the moment power corporations had been additionally beginning to set up the primary era of sensible meters. They wanted engineering capability, so we began to diversify.
Across the similar time, the power market was opening as much as competitors and new entrants had been starting to problem the incumbent ‘Massive 6’, and I made the choice to enter the provider market. Most entrepreneurs will clarify that they’ve based their companies over just a few pints with likeminded folks, or sat across the kitchen desk, and this was true for me too. I reached out to a couple former colleagues – folks with an unlimited quantity of data and expertise and who had been in an identical place to me once I determined to depart. Over dinner one night we determined that we needed to give it a go. Inside a few weeks folks had resigned and began constructing our provider – Have an effect on Vitality. We entered the market in 2016 as a result of we had been decided to disrupt the established order, providing excellent customer support and honest pricing that did not punish clients when clients got here to the tip of their mounted worth offers, or these on ‘normal’ or ‘default’ tariffs. I’m extremely happy with what we achieved at Have an effect on Vitality, delivering on our core values and changing into the very best rated power provider within the UK. Not dangerous for a small crew of 25 folks.
Octopus Vitality entered the market on the similar time and our values had been clearly aligned. After an preliminary dialog with the CEO, Greg Jackson, it took just a few weeks for Octopus to amass Have an effect on Vitality. As a part of this deal we had agreed that the Have an effect on Vitality crew would transfer throughout to Octopus and that we’d put money into rising the Brighton-based crew, an settlement that has been honoured and exceeded.
Octopus had been beginning their sensible meter rollout, one thing that, by then, I had good expertise with. Our values had been aligned right here too – we had been pissed off with outdated fashions and poor buyer expertise and decided to shake issues up. This led us to discovered Octopus Vitality Providers, the in-house power companies supplier for Octopus Vitality clients, which brings us as much as so far! Over the previous 18 months we’ve constructed an power companies enterprise that holds itself to the identical excessive requirements as our power provide enterprise, and certainly all the opposite companies inside the Octopus Vitality group.
Jackson: Sensible Meters are a giant a part of what you do. There’s numerous speak about sensible meters and the way vital they’re for constructing a low carbon sensible grid – how does OES see its place?
John: Sensible meters have large potential to assist folks transfer away from consuming power from soiled, carbon intensive era sources. They allow us to present clients large perception into their power consumption patterns, and likewise to develop sensible tariffs that encourage folks to vary the best way they use energy – like Agile and Go – rewarding clients for shifting their consumption to instances when the power grid accommodates greener electrons. Not solely does this assist scale back our consumption of power generated from soiled sources however costs are usually most cost-effective when the era combine is at its greenest.
With a tariff like agileOctopus, clients can actually see what it means financially to shift their consumption to instances the place there’s much less demand on the grid. Sensible meters are the important first step right here. A sensible meter will not clear up the issue in itself, but it surely’s a great start line. It offers us the information we want, and it offers the client the perception that they want.
As soon as all UK households have sensible meters, the work to construct a very sensible power grid can transfer a lot faster, and thru the pliability and innovation sensible meters encourage, we’ll have the ability to transfer to a extra renewable energy-based system.
Jackson: Once I was out with Zoe, there have been a number of factors the place after putting in any person’s sensible meter, she would speak them via the In House Show, and strike up a dialog about consumption patterns and the way they may energy their residence with cheaper, greener power!
John: That’s nice to listen to. We prepare all of our engineers on this once we undergo the recruitment course of. It is also honest to say that almost all of our engineers have a ardour for combating local weather change they usually perceive that what we’re doing is a key enabler there. Our engineers have interaction clients, and assist level them in the direction of cheaper, greener power. Their eyes gentle up in the event that they get to a home the place a buyer has simply purchased a brand new electrical automobile, as a result of they’ll wanna learn about it. They’ll be asking about what their experiences have been to date, why they moved to an EV, whether or not they’ve acquired battery storage. It is a fixed suggestions loop. Our engineers essentially have a powerful understanding of the merchandise, companies and tariffs we provide, they’re in a position to assist clients with queries, they usually perceive the broader significance of what they’re doing.
Jackson: OES is changing into famend for a top quality service, what do you guys do otherwise?
John: Most service companies will let you know that the client is on the coronary heart of their enterprise and on the coronary heart of the choice making course of. That is a straightforward line to trot off and is one thing most fail to ship on. Every layer of forms and governance inside an organisation removes emphasis on making the fitting determination for the client. We’ve designed our Octopus Vitality companies to keep away from this.
One distinction is that we solely make use of individuals who genuinely care. You recognised that with Zoe, who got here from a background in social care. We’ve acquired folks from all kinds of unimaginable backgrounds who’re used to coping with clients in troublesome conditions. We’re lucky sufficient to have began this enterprise from scratch, so we will be selective about who we strategy. We’re extremely choosy and decided to search out the fitting folks.
We check closely for ‘smooth’ abilities, the fitting behaviours and perspective once we undergo the interview processes. Different companies have historically centered on technical capabilities, or have been in such a rush to develop shortly that they’ve compromised on this. In reality, from the very prime of the organisation, buyer expertise and technical compliance are taken equally as severely. When it comes to firm construction, the folks which might be in the end chargeable for these issues are as senior as one another. Our engineers have the coaching, instruments, and expertise to do the job safely and competently, however we strike an equal steadiness between these issues. We get your hands on folks with that mix of technical competence, the power to work together nicely with clients, who care, and whose values are aligned with our enterprise.
Prospects on this trade usually count on to have to sit down on maintain, after which to be handed from division to division in an try and have their question resolved. That does not occur right here. Our Vitality Specialists are educated to take care of the complete vary of enquiries a buyer might need, that means we are able to usually take care of issues shortly and provides folks the answer that they want. If we exit to a property as a result of a buyer is off provide, due to our operations crew, our technological methods, and the shut hyperlink between Octopus Vitality and OES, we usually have an in depth account of what the issue is, and may ship somebody who’s certified to unravel it. If any person’s distressed as a result of their energy’s gone off, they may have youngsters at residence – for us to have the ability to ship a knight in shining armour in – that is nice. Not all of these clients are pleased at the beginning of the method, however they’re usually pleased by the tip of it.
And as of July 2020, OES engineers will probably be driving spherical in specialised London Electrical Automobile Firm (LEVC) Electrical vans! This implies engineers will probably be utilizing these particular VN5’s to put in very the identical electrical chargers that their very own vans use, within the first ever round real-world trial of its form.
Jackson: What are the challenges OES faces, and the way have you ever been assembly them?
John: So, there are two major challenges. Our first major problem has beens scaling to fulfill demand. Octopus Vitality is rising extremely shortly and we’ve a duty for any of our clients that want help. It is difficult for the explanations I described earlier – we wish to recruit the fitting sorts of individuals – we don’t wish to decrease our requirements. We’ve clients saying ‘how shortly are you able to get right here’, as a result of they know they’ll get cheaper charges on Octopus Agile, or when charging an electrical automobile. We’ve been gearing as much as hit that head on, and sustain with the unimaginable progress that Octopus Vitality has been delivering.
The opposite problem is that the tech that pins collectively the sensible meter community continues to be fairly new and isn’t all the time as dependable as we want it to be. Non-public companies had been contracted to ship key components of the infrastructure that connects sensible meters, and we are able to’t simply management these features. We’d exit to do a sensible meter set up and discover we will not get the meters related. There are geographical challenges – areas of the nation the place the sign is not robust sufficient, however there are additionally technical challenges the place it is best to have the ability to join and the system is not dependable.
Fortunately we’ve been in a position to work very intently with these third occasion organisations. As a result of our clients are so engaged they usually alert us in a short time if issues aren’t working as anticipated. This usually means we’re forward of the sport figuring out points and lift them earlier than these accountable are conscious. In reality, OES has been chargeable for figuring out the foundation causes of among the largest points that the trade is dealing with. We had one final yr, associated to electrical energy meters. We took it upon ourselves to analyze, perceive, and check our principle. We introduced our findings to the third events, and after taking a look at our proof they stated, ‘oh yeah, truly we are able to see what that subject is now’ and that repair solved an issue for everyone. We had been notably proud about that – Greg blogged about it on the time! These items are actually irritating, however they’re getting so much higher.
Apart from scaling up – what instructions are you able to see OES transferring in now? What do you wish to experiment with?
John: It’s important that we transfer away from consuming fossil fuels and producing carbon emissions within the course of. So the longer term entails broadening the vary of merchandise that we are able to set up for purchasers and discovering options so these will be adopted on a mass-scale. Every product may have a deal with decreasing reliance on fossil fuels or electrical energy generated from soiled sources. I’m speaking a couple of mixture of issues – eradicating gasoline fired heating, an electrical automobile with a sensible charger, automobile to grid charging, perhaps battery storage in your house, perhaps photo voltaic era, perhaps even microgrids tapping into group power sources (like hydro energy from a neighborhood river), and an Octopus sensible tariff that wraps all of that up collectively. That method, via us, clients can entry the most cost effective, greenest power all from one place.
OES is already working with Octopus Vitality to ship group power the place there is a requirement for tech to allow that. Neighborhood power schemes and native, or in-home power era; decreasing dependency on the grid is absolutely, actually vital, so we’ll broaden the vary of merchandise that we provide. We actually need clients to have a one cease store.
