A ‘social good’ entrepreneur and energy expert has launched WattsWatt.co.uk, a new national service aiming to stop households overpaying for energy and unlock what it claims could be £3.8 billion in savings for 19.7 million households on the price cap.
The free-to-use platform offers a ‘Never Overpay Guarantee’, showing “ALL tariffs from ALL suppliers” in a single price-ranked list and allowing smart meter users to opt in for a tariff check every three months, with support also available via a phone line on 03306338811.
WattsWatt positions itself as an independent, impartial social enterprise with no affiliations to suppliers, adding features such as smart-informed tariff results, a home energy “health check” linking users to decarbonisation schemes, and a community energy matchmaker service called WattsWhere
The company was founded last year by serial entrepreneur Lisa Malyon and engineering veteran Richie Pearce.
Malyon began her career in PR before founding several companies, including the Sutton Apprenticeship Hub, Sense, FloGO Healthcare Products and Indoor Air Aware.
Pearce, meanwhile, has spent his career in engineering roles at big name companies including EuroTech, The AA and Utilita Energy. He also recently founded SaaS firm Made for Good.
growyze founders: How growing up in wake of Communism shaped us
On the company’s launch, Malyon said: “The price cap has created a false sense of protection for households, resulting in millions of people rationing heat when they could be getting as much as 14% more heat for the same amount of money. How has this been allowed to happen?
“The other big barrier stopping households unlocking more energy for their money is price comparison sites.
“One of the biggest – Uswitch – claiming to serve 63m people each year – doesn’t show the cheapest tariff by default, meaning households are more likely to see and choose a more expensive tariff.
“Meanwhile, energy suppliers pay extortionate fees to appear in searches, with no other choice but to recover the costs via energy bills. It’s lose-lose for consumers.
“WattsWatt flips this model on its head: fully independent, fully impartial – no hidden agendas. Just democratised access to life-impacting energy information.”
Pearce added: “Most of the technology needed to fix energy affordability already exists, but hasn’t yet been put to work for households.
“For too long, people have been forced to make high-risk decisions in a system where information is partial, distorted or hidden altogether. We built WattsWatt to change that.
“We have been motivated by the initial response from households, and are working hard to bring even more innovative features to make energy easier for consumers.”