The founders of People’s Energy, a community interest energy company set up with the aim of eradicating fuel poverty, have expressed their sadness at the decision of Nottingham City Council to sell Robin Hood Energy to British Gas.
The news comes following a strategic review of the council owned energy firm, which was originally launched as a competitor to the Big Six. With similar aims to People’s Energy, Robin Hood was the first not-for-profit energy company in the UK, however it has been blighted by financial problems and a critical report from external auditors Grant Thornton showed it put tens of millions of taxpayer funds at risk.
The Robin Hood Energy website says it was set up ‘to help give people a cheaper, more helpful alternative to the Big Six’. The failed firm has now been sold to the highest bidder, meaning that well-meaning households who had chosen Robin Hood Energy for its doing-good mission, will now be automatically switched to British Gas, which despite many years of huge profits to shareholders, last year made a £1.1 billion loss.
The team behind People’s Energy believe it would be much better for the people of Nottingham, and other customers across the country, to have been transferred to an ethical energy company more in line with the initial vision for Robin Hood Energy.
People’s Energy was set up to provide an alternative to the Big Six and has pledged to return 75% of its profits to its customers in the coming years.
Launched in 2017 following a successful crowdfunding campaign, People’s Energy is growing fast, with 180,000 customers in just three years. The organisation’s mission is to eradicate fuel poverty, which it aims to do through charitable projects and partnerships with local authorities, amongst other activities. People’s Energy has no external shareholders to report to and has customer and staff representation on its advisory board.
People’s Energy has now set up a free helpline for any Robin Hood Energy customers who would like to discuss their options for switching. Concerned customers can call 0131 3701819 free of charge over the next ten days.
Karin Sode, co-founder of People’s Energy said: “We were saddened to hear that Robin Hood Energy has been sold to one of the very companies it was set up to disrupt and our thoughts are with the 250 Robin Hood employees who have been made redundant during this process.
“As this, and other failed not-for-profit energy companies, has shown, running energy companies should be left to the experts and we believe a better model is for councils to work with strategic partners to offer lower cost energy to their residents. Partnering with an existing energy firm and negotiating a competitive rate is win-win for everyone and avoids councils being burdened with huge financial risk when things go wrong.
“A great example of this is the new tariff we’ve just introduced with East Lothian Council. We are offering all East Lothian residents a deal significantly below our already competitive rates and would like to do more of this across the country.
“Our aim, as the UK’s first community interest energy company, is putting people before profits and right now we feel compelled to help the hundreds of thousands of Robin Hood Energy customers faced with a transfer to an energy company they don’t want.
“We welcome any former Robin Hood Energy customers who would like to be supplied by an ethical, customer-owned company that doesn’t report to external shareholders. We’d love to hear from anyone interested via our dedicated helpline.”
People’s Energy has a specialist team set up to support Local Authorities and housing associations across the UK who are interested in a very low risk alternative to offering residents competitive energy pricing.
They can be contacted here: www.peoplesenergy.co.uk/robin-hood
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