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WHY REBEL ENERGY IS APPLYING FOR FULL B CORP CERTIFICATION

Rebel Energy is a Certified Pending B Corp (and we aim to become fully certified later this year).  

Frankly, we were never going to be anything else.  

There’s a simple reason for that: we think B Corps are the future, and it turns out a lot of investors share that view.  

A quick rundown on why: 

A B Corp — or Benefit Corporation — is legally required to consider the impact of its decisions on all of its stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, local communities). Doing good is literally built into the legal structure of the business. 

B Corps are at the vanguard of stakeholder capitalism, a badly needed alternative to the existing model of shareholder capitalism. 

There are now over 500 B Corps in the UK – a remarkable number, considering the certification was only introduced here in 2015. Look through a list of these companies, and you’ll immediately see that these are businesses at the cutting edge: industry leaders, innovators and firms that will be successful long into the future. 

B Corps have a lot of advantages over their more traditional competitors.  

One, they attract talent. People who want to make a difference in their industries are drawn to B Corps. That’s partly how a start-up energy company like ours has been able to recruit some of the best minds in the energy industry.

Two, they attract customers. Millennials and Gen Z together amount for the biggest slice of the consumer market in the UK, and this demographic demands better from businesses. 62% prefer to buy from sustainable brands, and 68% of those are willing to pay more for it.  

But it’s not just the younger population. Across the country, more and more people of all age groups are spending their money with mission-driven businesses. The pandemic has heightened this urgency. B Corps are businesses that people can trust.  

Three, they attract investors. B Corps tend to be both innovative and resilient. Often remarkably so. After the 2008 recession, B Corps were 63% more likely to survive. That’s a stunning figure. And in the UK, these companies have reported average revenue growth of 14% year-on-year since launch.  

We’re proud to be a part of this remarkable community of businesses. All of us pursuing what shouldn’t be such a radical idea: long-term success, for everybody.

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WHY REBEL IS THE ENERGY SUPPLIER FOR THIS UNIQUE MOMENT

The UK home energy market is set to *double* over the next 15 years. We’ve worked this out based on an explosive combination of new factors (an increase in electric vehicles, more people working from home) with old factors (a growing population, an increase in housing stock).  

We’re pretty sure this will be the biggest-ever period of growth in the market. And companies offering clean energy, affordable prices and superb customer service will see by far the biggest piece of that growth, as customers new and existing will move away from out-of-date suppliers.  

Commentators call it ‘the energy transition’, and Rebel Energy was founded to make it accessible to everybody, no matter what your income is.  

The pandemic has accelerated all of these factors – and added a new one.  

There is a sudden awareness that we can tackle the big issues facing us, and that these issues are interlinked anyway. We saw an incredible wave of altruism and a determination to buy local and to help the people around us.  

And people mean it. A number of studies have shown that, since the pandemic, people are making more ethical, sustainable and environmentally friendly choices. 

This is what change looks like.  

That’s what makes Rebel the energy supplier for this unique moment. As well as supplying clean, affordable energy, we keep things local. We generate our energy in the UK, and we invest in carbon-removal projects throughout the country. And the issue that is dearest to our hearts – ending fuel poverty in the UK. 

There has never been a greater urgency for businesses that tackle social issues. For people who were struggling financially before COVID, the added pressures of the past year have been devastating. The status quo—the poverty premium, rising prices, stagnant wages and disinterested business—is just not going to cut it anymore. 

When you support Rebel, you help us support the people who need it. 

We always knew now would be a good time to go to market. But we never imagined just how remarkably timely a company like ours would turn out to be. 

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WHO MAKES UP THE REBEL TEAM

The team that we’ve put together at Rebel has a list of collective achievements that would make anybody sit up and take notice.  

Industry veterans, rising stars and eye-catching innovators – all working together to transform the energy market. To get one of these people is great. Two, really impressive. But all five? Ridiculous.  

Here’s a quick look at our recent hires.  

Mark Neveu, Head of Sales & Partnerships 

The indefatigable Mark is something of a legend in the energy world. In a 15-year career, he has directly negotiated partnerships with the likes of Google, Tesla, Oxfam and Waitrose. His results speak for themselves: a nine-fold expansion of Tonik Energy’s customer base and 50% year-on-year growth at Ecotricity. 

At Rebel, Mark is forming partnerships that will help shape the future of energy.   

Bwalya Kasase, Head of Operations 

Bwalya is one of the most highly-regarded people in operations in the energy industry, with over 14 years of brilliant work behind him.  

As our Head of Operations, Bwalya has already mapped out and automated most of our back-end processes. This is more disruptive than it sounds — many companies don’t do this for years, let alone before going to market. This makes us highly competitive from the off.  

Rich Faulkner, Head of Pricing & Risk 

Frankly, we don’t think there’s anybody sharper than Rich Faulkner when it comes to pricing and risk in the energy market. Before joining Rebel, he set the purchase strategy for a £1bn/yr commodity portfolio (during a time of sweeping regulatory and market change, no less) and pushed for investment in renewable energy. 

Rich brings nearly 15 years of experience to Rebel (plus an MPhys in Physics from Oxford). He is steering our work on pricing, and has already developed some ingenious strategies that allow us to help those in need.  

Seb Fox, Head of Commercial Projects 

Seb has had a bright start to his career in energy. He joins Rebel after being one of the key people at the hugely successful Future of Utilities Summit in 2020. A remarkable achievement for someone so new to the game. 

We’re delighted to have Seb running our commercial projects. In the past weeks, he has put together a masterful crowdfunding campaign for Rebel (which is currently live & can be viewed here).  

Ellie Rowlands, Marketing Communications Lead  

Ellie has already made a name for herself in the sustainability world, less than two years after graduating from the University of Exeter with a 1st. Her launching of a global behaviour change project with the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives and her stellar communications work at the ground-breaking Devon Climate Emergency caught our eye, and we’re delighted to have scooped her up before anybody else did.  

At Rebel, Ellie is leading a multi-channel communications strategy and developing partnerships with top agencies. 

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We can’t imagine a better team to start transforming the energy market. 

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WHAT A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO ENERGY LOOKS LIKE

At Rebel Energy, we offer fair tariffs on our 100% UK-generated renewable energy. No matter what your income is.  

Sounds like the bare minimum an energy company should do, right?  

We agree. So we go much further than that by: 

  1. Offering plans that work for people at all incomes and circumstances.  
  2. Reinvesting our profits into community organisations. 
  3. Helping our customers get off of prepay and onto plans that save them money (and more on that later), and  
  4. Generating all of our energy in the UK and paying our employees a Living Wage while doing it. 

We call it ‘rebuilding society’, but you could just as easily call it ‘being fair’. 

Because being poor? It’s expensive. Nearly everything costs more the less money you have on hand. Overdraft fees, prepaid debit card charges, the cost of credit if an appliance breaks, payday loans. It all adds up to what we call the ‘poverty premium’. Households that have less money pay an average of £490 more a year for essential goods and services. And for one in ten of those households, that figure is at least £780.  

Utility pricing is one of the worst culprits for this and people who are less able to pay are always penalised. If you’re using a prepaid energy card, you pay *one-third* more for energy costs than if you had a direct debit. Water suppliers, streaming services, phone companies, etc., etc. They all operate like this. 

It is obviously wrong. And we simply won’t contribute to a system that is so plainly, totally unjust. 

So what are we doing different? 

One, we’re the only UK energy company that offers weekly payments as well as monthly at no extra cost. For one good reason: our 100% UK-generated renewable energy is available to everybody, no matter their income, circumstances or when they happen to get paid. 

Two, we’re one of a small number of companies taking charge of their carbon offsetting. We’ve set up our very own Restoration Fund to offset the carbon we create from supplying gas.  

Three, our ground-breaking work with TransUnion helps us get customers off prepay, onto regular payments, and improve their credit ratings as we do it. This project could change the game, so if you want to get into the weeds with us, read more here. 

There’s a lot more going on at Rebel. So when you set up a Rebel Energy account, you’re not just getting renewable energy at a fair price, you’re helping others save money too.