equiwatt

• How is current trading going? Are you seeing a lot of demand for the business and its products?

Since Q4 last year, the industry is experiencing a lot of demand for technology that enables Demand Side Response – homes and businesses decreasing, increasing or shifting their electricity use. This has been demonstrated by several different trials at a localised and national level including Project LEO in Oxfordshire and National Grid ESOs Demand Flexibility Service, which our app-based platform has been a key element.

These projects have seen energy companies and other businesses come together to support their customers with offerings to encourage more flexible energy use.

Our free app, which connects to people’s smart meters, encourages consumers to reduce their energy usage at peak times and be rewarded with high street vouchers or donate money to charity.

As our technology directly addresses net zero and the cost of living, we see demand for our solution only growing and we are collaborating with several companies to create different tailored solutions for them and their customer bases at present.

• How has the previous funding helped the business, and what do you expect to see after securing an extra £300,000?

Previous funding has helped us to improve our concept by allowing us to trial and develop our technology with real households. This has enabled us to have technology and features that are competitively ahead of the market.

The extra investment has helped us to employ four new members of staff and provide capital for the recently government funded EEF, through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, to further grow our user community and demonstrate that our model is commercially viable at large scales.

• What are your long-term goals and ambitions for the company? Do you have any specific turnover / employee aims for example.

Our goal is to be able to flex 400 MW, which is the equivalent of one contingent coal power station, which would need to be used in the event of electricity shortages if Demand Side Response wasn’t in place. We want to grow our userbase by in excess of million households by 2025 and expand our team to at least 30 staff by that year.

In addition, we are looking to develop our platform and tools in such a way that we are able to easily scale up and move into international markets to enhance existing propositions.

• How do you plan to expand and grow moving forward? Do you plan to move into any different sectors?

By enhancing existing energy companies’ apps by enabling them to utilise our Virtual Power Plant platform and tools and access flexibility markets by enabling their customers to participate in domestic Demand Side Response programmes.

We also see the benefit in collaborating with a range of relevant companies to add value to their customers, as well as helping them to achieve their business goals. For example, energy efficiency apps, EV charger manufacturers, retailers and rewards-based apps, which can enable their customers to save money and support the UK’s energy supply management and our drive towards net zero.