Good Energy

Good Energy Group PLC is a British energy company based in Chippenham, Wiltshire that provides services in the electrification of transport and decentralised renewable energy generation such as domestic solar panels. The company is also an energy retailer, and built a portfolio of wind and solar generation which was sold in 2022. Founded by Juliet Davenport, its CEO is Nigel Pocklington.

The company was set up in 1997 as Ofex, an offshoot of the German power company Unit Energy Europe. The business was later bought by its management and changed its name to Good Energy in 2003. The company sources some of its power from 800 small and medium sized, distributed renewable electricity generators across the country, as well as investing in its own generation sources; it had a target to supply around half of its customers' demands from its own resources by 2016. In 2012, Good Energy Group was listed on the Alternative Investment Market and raised an additional £4 million of investment. In 2015, Good Energy announced it had partnered with energy start up Open Utility to trial the UK's first renewable energy marketplace, 'Piclo', where generators and consumers buy and sell renewable energy directly at prices they agree on. The six month trial began in October 2015, and was funded by the DECC Energy Entrepreneurs Fund and Nominet Trust. It was also supported by Ofgem, the energy industry regulator. As of the end of June 2016, Good Energy supplied 72,250 customers with electricity and 43,000 with gas. The company also administered over 124,500 feed in tariff generation sites in 2016, making it one of the largest feed in tariff administrators in the UK. After announcing reduced profits for 2017, the company stated that it was seeking buyers for the remaining solar and wind sites, and would become a provider of decentralised energy services such as electric vehicle charging and battery storage. Since June 2020, Good Energy is the controlling (50.1%) shareholder in Next Green Car Ltd, a Bristol based private company which operates Zap Map, an electric vehicle charging point mapping platform. Good Energy first bought a minority holding in 2019. On 1 May 2021, Juliet Davenport stepped down as CEO of Good Energy, and was succeeded by Nigel Pocklington, previously Chief Commercial Officer of Moneysupermarket. com Group. In December 2021, the company called on the government to support energy companies and bill payers through the energy price crisis. In May 2023, Ofgem found that Good Energy had charged almost 7,000 customers more than the maximum allowed under the Energy Price Guarantee scheme. The company was required to refund and compensate those customers, the average amount being £109 per customer; and to pay £1.25million into Ofgem's redress fund for "inadequate systems, processes and repeated inaccurate reporting of information to the regulator over an extended period".

In early 2016, 6.8% of the shares of the company were bought by rival energy supplier Ecotricity, making them the second largest shareholder. Ecotricity increased their holding to almost 25% in October 2016. In July 2021, Ecotricity Group made a cash offer for the rest of the shares which implied a value of almost £60million for the whole company. The offer was rejected by Good Energy on 22 July and the bid lapsed after failing to reach 50% acceptance by shareholders. Dale Vince, owner of Ecotricity, criticised the company's announcement in November 2021 that it would sell its generation assets, describing it as a break up of the business.

As of June 2017, Good Energy had two wind farms (at Delabole, north Cornwall, and Hampole, South Yorkshire) and eight solar farms. Delabole wind farm was the first commercial wind farm in the UK. In December 2008, planning approval was granted to Good Energy in order to refurbish (repower) the wind farm. The development was financed by an £11.8 million package including a £9.6 million loan from the Co operative Bank and £2.2 million equity from Good Energy Group's own resources. In August 2010 the ten original turbines were replaced by four more powerful turbines and in February 2011 Delabole was reopened. In January 2013, Good Energy launched a community tariff offering people living near the wind farm a 20 per cent discount on their energy bills. In December 2017, the company announced that two solar sites would return to community ownership. and provided around 15% of customers' electricity. The sale to Bluefield Solar Income Fund was completed in January 2022 for £24.5m. The NCC also found that, of twelve green supply tariffs, Good Energy's was one of only two that were going farther than they are required to by law (but see criticism section below). A 2007 Guardian article echoed the NCC's belief that Good Energy's was the best green tariff and in 2008 Good Energy was named Best Buy for green electricity by Ethical Consumer magazine. Which? magazine named Good Energy best utility company for customer service in 2010, 2012, 2013, and best energy company for customer service in 2014. Good Energy has won awards including: the Sunday Times' best Green Company, the Sustainable Housing Awards' Sustainable Innovation award for its HotROCs scheme, the Micropower Award for Innovation, the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Environment, the British Renewable Energy Company Award, the Observer Ethical Award for Best Online Retail Initiative and PLUS Markets CEO of the Year 2010. A report from Which? in September 2019 found that Good Energy fully met all criteria for supply of renewable energy. The company was recognised for matching all of its customers’ electricity demand through generating enough clean power from its own projects and buying directly from UK renewable generators.

Good Energy campaigns for more renewable generation in the UK and was one of the signatories to the 2009 Ofgem guidelines which aimed to clear up confusion over 'green' energy tariffs. In 2006, Good Energy commissioned Oxford University's Environmental Change Unit to review the green electricity market. Their report put a strong case for an accreditation scheme to advise customers. Juliet Davenport, CEO of Good Energy, sat on the Renewables Advisory Board until it was abolished in 2010 and, formerly, on the Board of Regen SW, the South West’s renewable energy agency. She sat on Ofgem's Environment and Advisory group and Microgeneration Steering Group.