“The vast majority of people want to be sustainable,” Amit Gudka, the co-founder of Bulb – one of the leading suppliers of energy-efficient gas and electricity in the UK – told us. “Up until now, there just hasn’t been a viable alternative to the status quo”. His company currently being rated the number one electricity and gas supplier on Trustpilot – a Danish company which publishes regular reviews of online businesses – Gudka has the evidence to back his theory up. And this is not all. Bulb goes the extra electric-wire mile to make sure the service their customers are receiving is not only 100% renewable, but also 100% accessible. “We are in a position where we can rival the Big 6 suppliers (British Gas, EDF etc.) in the pricing game,” Gudka continued. “We are around 25% cheaper!” Another progressive aspect of Bulb is the way that it uses its web portal. In addition to using the technology to provide “a state of the art service, contemporary, improved features are constantly being released for members,” the ethical entrepreneur said: “One we are currently developing, for example, allows the user to see their real time energy usage live on their mobile phones. Visualising the data will allow a better understanding of how one is consuming energy on a daily basis, ultimately encouraging more responsible use.” Warm, enduring and direct, Gudka’s company philosophy extends to one that is significant in the world: Bulb doesn’t just generate energy for our homes, but is a jump-start for the tired thinking that we are sometimes faced with when it comes to issues of the environment: “our aim is to catalyse that switch away from fossil fuels to renewables,” Gudka emphasised. “It is possible to actively regulate energy usage so we can all make a lasting impact.”
Please tell us a bit more about how ‘Bulb’ came about?
Hayden (my co-founder) and I had been friends for many years, and both worked in the energy industry. For a long time we’d discussed the inefficiencies of the energy market, and had grown frustrated at how consumers always ended up getting a bad deal – poor customer service, rip-off tariffs and renewables incorrectly portrayed as an expensive luxury product was the norm.
We realised that there wasn’t a company out there solving these problems, and so in 2014 we both left our respective jobs – I worked at Barclays for 8 years where I traded gas and electricity - to set up Bulb. We launched Bulb in 2015, and now supply homes and businesses across the UK.
How exactly do you supply sustainable energy?
We have agreements set up with independent renewable electricity generators across the country. We purchase the output from their electricity plants and deliver this electricity to our customers, via the National Grid. So for each unit of electricity consumed by Bulb members, a unit of renewable electricity is generated and put on to the UK electricity network.
We also supply natural gas – 10% of this gas comes from renewable sources. This ‘Green Gas’ is produced by anaerobically digesting farm waste, which produces bio-methane. This bio-methane is then injected on the gas distribution network, and delivered to homes and businesses.
You have said: ‘we think the current energy market is unjust, and the only way to improve things is to offer something different and get people engaged in the decision making around their energy consumption’. Do you think the only way to institute change for the way we consume energy is through a grass-roots movement?
Yes – people power is far more effective than any government intervention.
It is clear that the way we currently consume energy is unsustainable – we regularly use more than we need, and the vast majority of it is generated from fossil fuels. It has been hard as an individual to know what action to take, and the options up until now have been limited. To move away from fossil fuels you could switch to a renewable supplier, but that would end up costing you a small fortune. To use less energy you could try to reduce your heating at times when you don’t need it, but would be likely to forget and ultimately you wouldn’t be able to know how much of a difference it had made anyway.
We hope that Bulb can provide that viable alternative: by being cost-effective and allowing the digital visualisation of data usage so people can appreciate the impact their behavioural changes have on consumption, we are helping put the power into the hands of ordinary people.
Have you always been interested in environmental issues?
Yes, most certainly. My family are Jain and caring for the environment is core to those beliefs. But I think all people are interested in environmental issues once you get talking – it’s just that they haven’t always been presented in an interesting way.
It is very interesting that your company embraces the idea that tech can be societally ‘good’. Do you think technology sometimes gets away from human interest: for example the fears in the news about robots succeeding a human workforce?
Yes, it can sometimes feel that technology is less rooted in human interest or societal good and more in efficiencies for the sake of financial gain. It is crucial to us that we use technology for societal good, rather than just to profit maximise and create greater inequality. We are using technology to change and improve the way we all consume energy, whilst also enabling people to save money.
Name a mistake a lot of people make with start-ups?
Expecting to make a quick buck.
Finally, what would be the single, most important piece of advice you might give to others wanting to start a company?
It really helps to work with a business partner (or a partner) who has a shared goal.
