Octopus Energy for Business:  Dreaming big and supporting small

At Octopus Energy, we want to support businesses of all sizes in making greener choices, supplying them with 100% green energy at fair and competitive prices. We have even created local business energy tariffs in two of the cities we call home: Leicester Business Power and Brighton Business Power.

On average, businesses spend just ten minutes a year thinking about their energy supply.

That’s the same time it takes to unload the dishwasher, or listen to the Beatles’ “Octopus’ Garden” four times. 

And, to be honest, no wonder it’s no longer. Energy for businesses has historically been an absolute headache. The market can be full of complicated contracts and brokers who are more interested in commission than customers, often ripping businesses off by pinning them into extortionately priced ‘deals’. 

I would much prefer an empty dishwasher.

We want to help businesses make greener choices, this is why we have developed our local business power tariffs. We are embracing these communities with all our tentacles by supporting local initiatives, partnering with local renewable sites and running educational classes for schools in the area. Our ultimate goal is to supply 100% renewable energy to a network of local businesses, pushing for cleaner, greener and more connected cities. 

In light of the recent pandemic we believe that supporting smaller businesses is crucial now more than ever.  We recognise that energy is an essential service and so our mission is to offer honest, simple, fairly-priced deals to customers. You can read more about our response to coronavirus here.

I caught up with a couple of the businesses on our Leicester supply - Blackened Sun Microbrewery and The Goods Depot - to talk about the great work they are doing and why they’re proud to be up and running on locally sourced, renewable energy. 

Blackened Sun Microbrewery

Blackened Sun Microbrewery makes local beer for local folk. It is a family-run business set up by Gary and Sharon, husband and wife passionate about brewing the best quality craft beers they can without using any additives or preservatives - cheers to that!

I stopped to grab a cold one with Gary, chief brewer at Blackened Sun, and find out a bit more about their work. 

Eloise: Can you tell me a little bit about Blackened Sun Microbrewery and how you started?

Gary: I started home brewing back in 2013 when my wife bought me a kit for Christmas and I really took to the process. At the end of 2016 I set out to turn my hobby into my profession. The last few years have been a labour of love and we finally opened in 2017. Our ethos is using amazing quality ingredients and not doing too much to the beer itself: no chemicals, no filtering, no pasteurising. 

Eloise: How is sustainability at the heart of what you do?

Gary: As a business we give the byproducts of brewing to other local people and support their initiatives. 

A local farmer takes our malted barley to feed his cows - apparently it’s their favourite food! We also recycle hops, which is one of the ingredients used in the brewing process. Hops flowers are a really good fertiliser, so a local organisation called “Branch-Out MK” collects our refuse. They have allotments where they work with adults and children with learning differences and autism, engaging them through social and therapeutic horticulture. The organisation is even starting to plant the hop flowers on their land, so we can buy the hops from them, then return the waste as fertiliser - a truly circular partnership.

And, of course, 100% local renewable energy powers our operations every day. We know we are a small business in a niche sector, so we aren’t going to have a large impact on global emissions. But for our own integrity, we want to work sustainably and do good within our community. 

Eloise: Why did you choose Octopus Energy as your supplier?

Gary: The first thing that sparked my attention about the Octopus local tariffs is that I can actually be connected with solar energy generated in the UK - and not just in the UK, but in neighbouring Leicestershire!  When I did some shopping around and compared prices, Octopus was also one of the cheaper energy suppliers. I saw it as an absolute win win- reasonably priced energy that was also both local and renewable. 

The Goods Depot

The Goods Depot is delivering valuable change in Leicestershire by delivering value goods to those in need. They are a small, yet powerful team of passionate volunteers and employees, working on repurposing white goods (think: washing machines, fridges, electric cookers) and providing them to vulnerable people in Leicestershire. I caught up with Alex Grealis, Project Manager at the Goods Depot, to chat about their fantastic and important work. 

Eloise: Can you tell me a little bit more about The Goods Depot? 

Alex: Our parent company is Charity Link. They operate on the belief that everyone deserves a decent standard of living, the right to adequate food and shelter, and the means to keep warm, clean and rested – no matter what difficulty they may be facing. They work all over Leicestershire and beyond to provide essential items to vulnerable members of the community. 

We purchase reused white goods and Charity Link then provides them to people in need and in crisis. We have been around for just over 18 months and have delivered well over 1,000 units this year to people who otherwise would not have access to everyday kitchen utilities.

Eloise: Why is being on Octopus Energy Supply important to your business?

Alex: Having an environmentally friendly, cost-effective energy supplier is essential to our goals. We run as a project that is both sustainable in its operations, but also helps provide financial sustainability for Charity Link. 

Our environmental impact is a key part of our work; for instance, we mostly deal with reused and reconditioned white goods to stop so many going to landfill. Being powered by renewable energy is non-negotiable for us in order to be a sustainable project.

Yet we also strive to keep our operating costs as low as possible so that any profit we generate can be put back into Charity Link’s pot. This helps the charity with its crucial work. We don’t want to be landed with an extortionate energy bill, we need to funnel as much of our finances as possible into supporting people in need.

You can find out more about Charity Link’s work and donate to them here.

Are you a Business that could benefit from fair priced 100% renewable energy? You can get a quote from us today.