The Ebico Trust has partnered with Sustainable Pioneers, CIC, who are part of the Sustainable Ventures group, the UK’s leading cleantech hub, on a mission to develop solutions for sustainable, affordable home warmth.

Jointly they have launched an entrepreneurial innovation programme, The Ebico Affordable Warmth Incubator, to elicit, support and develop high-potential, sustainable solutions for affordable home warmth. You can read more about the programme here.

The programme supports the creation of new businesses to develop innovative and impactful ideas to address the long-standing challenges of providing affordable, low-carbon warmth to the UK’s most vulnerable households. 

The initial applicants have been shortlisted and you can now meet some of the cohort and read their profiles.

Meet some of the 2021 cohort.

We are really excited about the project and are looking forward to learning about their innovative ideas in August this year. Stay tuned-in and we will share further updates.

The Ebico Trust has partnered with Sustainable Pioneers, CIC, who are part of the Sustainable Ventures group, the UK’s leading cleantech hub, on a mission to develop solutions for sustainable, affordable home warmth.

Natural Gas is the fuel source for 75% of the space and water heating in homes in the UK. To support the UK’s net-zero commitment, this must be replaced with carbon-free heating. The cost of this three-decade transition is currently estimated at £20bn (rising to £25bn) per annum¹. Yet already one in ten householders cannot afford to heat their homes to a level consistent with health². Reducing these domestic decarbonisation costs is a national priority.

In response, The Ebico Trust and Sustainable Pioneers, CIC have partnered to create The Ebico Affordable Warmth Incubator Programme. The purpose of the programme is to support the creation of innovative and impactful solutions to the long-standing challenges of providing affordable, low-carbon warmth to the UK’s most vulnerable households.

Across July 2021, the successful applicants will come together with Sustainable Pioneers, CIC and their team of entrepreneurs and sector experts to explore the problem, form teams and create high-potential solutions. This will culminate in a team pitch to a panel of experts, including members of The Ebico Trust’s board and Sustainable Ventures’ senior management team. Each participant will receive a £500 stipend to participate in this first stage.

Three pre-start up teams will progress to the first incubation phase and will receive £7,500 in grant funding along with access to a coworking space and workshop facilities in Sustainable Ventures’ flagship site (Waterloo, London). During this three-month phase, they will receive a broad programme of support to aid the development of their business plan and to prepare them to pitch for investment. The pitch event will close this first incubation phase and two teams will be invited to progress and form a start-up, along with a £15,000 investment from The Ebico Trust.

A second four-month incubation phase will focus on company formation, bespoke support and the identification of further funding opportunities. This will include the possibility to pitch for investment from Sustainable Accelerator, as well as other investment opportunities. The programme will act as a springboard for the development and scale of long-lasting solutions in the sector.

“As net zero targets draw closer, and heating and running homes remains a struggle for many, low carbon solutions for one of our biggest polluting sectors—housing—needs new ideas and innovation to accelerate.  This programme sets out to do just that by tapping into the entrepreneurial might found in this sector”- Phil Levermore, The Ebico Trust.

Lee-Ann Perkins, Managing Director at Sustainable Pioneers, CIC commented, “The Affordable Low Carbon Warmth Programme represents an unmatched opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators to focus on game-changing solutions for a national, even global, problem. Access to our deep venture development expertise as well as The Ebico Trust’s sector gravitas is unique and unprecedented. We believe that this programme will have a lasting impact on the lives of millions and inspire the next generation of sustainable solutions.”

To apply for The Ebico Affordable Warmth Incubator Programme, visit: www.sustainableventures.co.uk/ebico-affordable-warmth

Applicant enquiries can be directed to: ebicoaffordablewarmth@sustainableventures.co.uk

• Green energy supplier Octopus Energy announces new ‘white-label’ partnership with Ebico
• Ebico’s initial offer to include two new 100% green energy plans
• Partnership brings together the UK’s first not-for-profit energy company with the first energy supplier to be Which? recommended four years in a row

London, 13 April 2021: Ebico and Octopus Energy today announce a new strategic energy partnership that will make sustainable home warmth cheaper for all.

As part of the partnership, Ebico – the UK’s first not-for-profit energy company – will retain its brand and responsibility for acquiring new customers while the entech pioneer Octopus will supply energy to Ebico’s customers and provide world-class customer service.

The partnership will initially offer two new energy plans: Ebico Prime 12 Saver, designed for credit meter customers, and Ebico Prepay, for customers supplied via a prepayment meter. The electricity for both plans comes from 100% renewable sources and both deals carry no exit fees or tie-ins.

Ebico was founded 23 years ago to make sustainable home warmth affordable for low-income households. In September 2020, Ebico’s customers moved to British Gas following the latter’s acquisition of Robin Hood Energy, Ebico’s former energy supplier. The partnership with Octopus Energy will enable the non-profit to continue on its mission through the home energy supply market.

Octopus Energy is the UK’s fastest growing energy supplier, having gained 2 million customers since launching to the market less than five years ago. It is also the UK energy supplier which has received the most accolades for its customer service in 2020 and the only one to have been awarded the prestigious “Recommended Provider” status by Which? for four years in a row.

Ebico remains committed to offering customers, both old and new, appropriate and competitively priced energy plans. Importantly, in partnership with Octopus Energy, Ebico will now be able to offer customers market-leading quality of customer service and 100% green electricity.  

Many will be aware that a Court-appointed Administrator is now in charge of our supply partner, Robin Hood Energy.  Whilst this is sad news, we would like to reassure everyone that we, at Ebico, remain very much in business.  We have not been taken over by British Gas and we will be returning to the energy market very soon.   

We look forward to welcoming you back to Ebico!

In the meantime, energy account enquiries arising from our supply partnership with Robin Hood Energy should be directed to British Gas on 03332 029 878 (for credit customers) or 03330 095 777 (for prepay customers).

Our supply partner, Robin Hood Energy, recently announced the purchase, by British Gas, of its business – which included Ebico’s energy customers.  We understand that British Gas has pledged to match Ebico customers’ existing energy supply deals for the remainder of their term.  Alternatively, should they wish, Ebico customers may select an alternative supplier and will not be charged an exit fee.

At Ebico, tackling fuel poverty has been our objective for the last 21 years and, despite the sad news from Robin Hood Energy, we will be continuing this mission.  We will be making an exciting announcement regarding our campaign for affordable, and sustainable, home warmth for all.

In the meantime, you can find answers to some of the questions you might have at www.robinhoodenergy.co.uk/britishgas.

Due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and the Government’s social distancing advice to protect our staff and wider public we have closed our customer service and sales lines. We continue to monitor the Government’s advice and we will notify our customers once our lines are reopened.

To get a quick quote and switch your energy to Ebico please go to quote.ebico.org.uk.

You can still manage your account online via account.ebico.org.uk. If you have not registered to manage your account online, yet, you can do so via the same link.

If your fixed term energy plan is coming to an end, or it has come to an end, you can renew your plan via online account management account.ebico.org.uk or complete a new application on our website quote.ebico.org.uk.

If you are currently off supply or have an urgent issue topping up your prepayment meter, please text Support to 80818 and we’ll call you back as soon as possible.

The operating hours of our sales line will be 9am-5pm. The number of agents available to take calls has been reduced so it may take longer to answer your call. If you wish to receive a quote and switch your energy to Ebico you can do so also via quote.ebico.org.uk.

If you require assistance in the case of an electric emergency, please dial 105.

If you require assistance in the case of a gas emergency, please dial 0800 111 999.

Ebico customers’ feedback to Which? has placed us in second place in the Energy Company Satisfaction Survey 2020 out of 35 companies scrutinised. As always, we’d like to thank all our customers who participated in the survey and have placed us, once again, amongst the top-performing energy companies for customer service and value.

For over 20 years, at Ebico, we’ve striven to give our customers a great customer experience, whilst at the same time maintaining our focus on fighting the growing issue of fuel poverty in Britain. Providing our customers with consistent good value and customer experience is a continuous effort that our team is proud of.
There is always room for improvement, and we will continue to work hard towards providing our customers the very best customer experience in the industry.

You can check the full results on the Which? website which.co.uk/energy-results

Results based on an online survey of 8,353 members of the public in September 2019. Customer score is based on satisfaction and likelihood to recommend. Customers also rated aspects of service; these are presented as star ratings. We need at least 40 responses to give a result; a dash (-) means too few responses to give a rating. Sample sizes in brackets. Full WRP results at which.co.uk/energy-results. a Flow Energy is now part of Octopus Energy.

Over the past 20 years we have worked hard to provide our customers with a consistently great customer experience. We recognise that there are always opportunities for improvement, which is why we’ll never stop focusing on the service that we offer our customers.

Our CEO’s Phil Levermore said “This is a great result and, as Ebico celebrates 20 years of service to British energy customers, it’s a real testament to the enduring success that our consistent focus on customer satisfaction has delivered.”