Under Esyasoft’s new ownership, Good Energy is ready to ramp up its purpose
Having recently celebrated a quarter of a century at the forefront of the clean energy transition, Good Energy is now entering a new era. One in which we are poised to pick up the pace on our purpose.
Since 2012 Good Energy has been a public company, listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market and enjoying the backing of a wide array of shareholders. A significant proportion were customers who have backed us since the beginning and many others joined us along the way. We are grateful to every shareholder who has supported our aim of helping customers cut carbon.
Following an offer which was recommended by the Good Energy board and overwhelmingly voted in favour of by shareholders, Good Energy has a new owner ready to help us go faster towards that same goal.
Why Good Energy needed a new owner
Being a public company has many benefits. High governance and transparency, enhanced profile and of course, the openness of the public market, allowing anyone who sees value in a business to buy their stake in it.
However, in recent years, being a public company has limited our ability to raise the capital we wanted to grow at the scale needed to help support the energy transition. This was for several reasons, including a very difficult economic environment that left our share price discounted and the company undervalued.
Additionally, a prominent shareholder, Ecotricity and its owner, had an increasingly conflicting opinion about the business strategy and our transition toward becoming a leading energy services and supply provider. In maintaining a holding above 25% they consistently blocked market standard shareholder resolutions, including the legal embedding of our purpose, a requirement for retaining our B Corp status.
This made it difficult for us to access additional capital to grow at the rate we know is required to help support the energy transition.
When an offer was received that appropriately valued the Good Energy business and which showed the right potential to scale our purpose, the board was happy to recommend it and shareholders overwhelmingly voted to accept.
Why Esyasoft is the right owner
Good Energy’s new owner Esyasoft is a smart grid technology company with a goal to drive the transition towards reliable, affordable and sustainable energy for all.
In 2022 Good Energy set a target of helping one million homes and businesses cut their carbon by 2025 — a target we met. Esyasoft has a target that is similar in aim, but immensely greater in scale — to help one billion end customers customers cut their carbon.
The business, which is headquartered in Dubai and has over 1,200 team members across 12 countries, expecting to expand to 18 by the end of this year, has both the means and the motive to help scale Good Energy’s purpose.
Bipin Chandra, CEO of Esyasoft, has explained the potential he sees: “Good Energy is a brilliant business with a clear purpose to help people be a part of the solutions to climate change. Good Energy has been a changemaker since its founding 25 years ago and we are delighted to be partnering with Good Energy for the next phase of its journey.
“Our two businesses are at the forefront of the energy transformation agenda, and we are excited to work alongside Nigel and the Good Energy team to continue to make renewables a positive catalyst for change and accessible to all.”
Good Energy’s Founder and my predecessor as CEO, Juliet Davenport has said: “I founded Good Energy 25 years ago to be a pioneer in the provision of clean power to all customers in the UK. The energy industry back then was very different, founded around fossil fuels and designed to be a centralised system.
“This new investor for Good Energy offers an opportunity to scale the Good Energy propositions leading the decentralised and flexible clean power offering for the prosumers of the future to make a real difference to climate change.”
Esyasoft has chosen to buy Good Energy for the same reasons our customers choose to buy from us. Our purpose and our people. Esyasoft is committed to Good Energy running in much the same way it does today, with the same name, the same team, in the same Chippenham headquarters, with the same truly renewable approach to supplying power. It has also committed to supporting us in recertifying as a B Corp — which we will need to do now under new ownership.
We will continue to be the same trusted, truly green Good Energy, supporting small-scale solar and helping customers cut carbon. Only now we hope to have an even bigger impact, with the potential to expand it internationally too.
Our greener future together is set to be exciting.
