We’re managing the national launch this week of a domestic energy company with a unique ethical focus, having handled a locally-focused pilot introduction of its services last month.

Home Energy is the UK’s first gas and electricity supplier set to give a significant part of its business to charities – effectively enabling its customers to donate to good causes while they heat and light their homes.

Customers can nominate their favourite charity to receive the cash value of 20% of its business when it floats on the stock market around 2025, which could create a £20 million windfall for good causes. In addition, the company is giving approx 1.5% of its income as an annual donation to its customers’ nominated charities. This could mean annual donations exceeding £2.5 million in five year’s time.

Home Energy is offering a 5% rebate on the first year’s bill to the first 5,000 customers to sign up. The firm is also pledging a new standard of customer service, operating one of the highest contact centre staff-to-customer ratios in the business.

We’ve been working with the Home Energy team to:

  • define the company’s values, mission and target audience
  • review its positioning against other energy firms in the market
  • develop its business story and core materials, with an emphasis on its personal approach and charitable purpose – in stark contrast to the faceless corporates that dominate the market, and
  • announce the company in Surrey as it rolled out its services in a localised pilot ahead of its national launch

With the company’s services today gong live on a UK-wide basis, we’re now handling the national media launch of the new company, targeting relevant newspapers, personal finance magazines and charity titles.

Kevin Stoker, Home Energy’s Founder & CEO, explains:

“We’re setting an example for how companies and charities can work together — breaking the mould of how businesses can harness customer action for social good.

“With our pioneering business model, it was imperative for us to have the right marketing expertise to define our proposition and launch our company. We selected TK Associates because they immediately grasped what we were about and homed in on the challenges we face. In helping us gear up to start trading and spread the word about our innovative approach, they’re proving spot-on with their analysis — and they’re clear and concise about what we need to do to maximise our chances of success.”

You can find out more about Home Energy from its website, and more on our marketing work for small businesses and start-ups here.

 

Image by Callum Shaw.