Energy supplier aims to sign 100,000 customers
Bright is promising to bring better value to the supply of gas and electricity, writes
A NEW 100pc renewable energy provider is aiming to sign up 100,000 domestic customers on both sides of the Irish border within the next two years.
Bright is a 50:50 venture between family-owned fuel and forecourts business Maxol and brothers Ciaran and Stephen Devine, who are entrepreneurs in the energy space.
Brian Donaldson, chief executive of Maxol, said that the company was investing a seven-figure sum in the new venture, which promises to bring better value with its gas and electricity supply.
“We know this is a highly competitive market sector,” he said.
“We know it is a highly complex sector. It is very highly regulated and therefore there is a high investment and high barriers of entry which go into it.”
He said that key to the Bright business model would be “using the right technology”.
“It really is a technology-driven business, with energy sitting on top in terms of our products and services.”
It launched its electricity offer last week and gas will launch late this year.
“Our objective in the next two years is to have a customer base of close to 100,000 people,” Donaldson told the Sunday Independent. “We think, in time, this can become one of the market leaders on the island of Ireland.
“Really what we’re looking at here is how can we use technology to simplify the process and how can we give people confidence to come over to our model.”
Bright will offer one standard variable tariff and have no special temporary rates to lure people initially.
“Because we have invested in the latest technology and IT platform, the number of people we need to run it is going to be a lot less. It will be down to us having a very lean and efficient organisational structure so we can offer a very competitive price on an ongoing basis.”
He said Bright would be able to provide electricity to a typical three-bed semi-detached home for €745 a year. The next cheapest provider would be around €225 more expensive, he claimed.
“What we’re trying to do is have a very simple price and a very simple structure for households to know they will continually get the best deal.”
It will use 100pc green energy. “It’s our intention to buy green energy from local power generators in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The energy we can’t buy from local providers we will buy in the wholesale market.” The main focus will be domestic users and some SMEs.
Discussions between the McMullan family, owners of Maxol, and the Devines began in August 2018 with the agreement signed in June 2019. “Being a family business and they being a first generation family business, we have great similarities — we like to understand the detail. We would be quite frugal, prudent in terms of our investment. Our values would be quite similar.
“My role is making sure that we are building a future for the next generation within the McMullan family and Ciaran and Stephen want to build a platform for their next generations.”