The project, which coincided with COP26, was realised in Glasgow through collaboration with the local art community, and was designed as a call for global leaders to invest in renewable energies such as solar PV, in order to power a sustainable future. Jon played a key role in establishing leading Australian challengers Simply Energy (now part of Engie) and Alinta East Coast retail holding a number of senior roles across operations, customer experience and market development. Epitomising the agile leadership that is synonymous with disruptive businesses, Zoisa leads both the generation the business retail arm of Octopus Energy. It was the companys third major investment round since launching to the market. Stuart has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University. We scaled the business by repeatedly cloning micro businesses, and what works for us wont work for other businesses. There are bright pink octopus toys dotted around the half-full offices, and crisps and sweets on a communal table. Greg: Octopus is unusual. In 1992, after graduating from Rio Grande High School, Jackson founded his own martial art, Gaidojutsu, which combines rudimentary techniques from catch wrestling and Muay Thai with basic judo locks. Britains failure to invest in renewables led us into the gas crisis, says Jackson, and a revolution in energy supply and policy is urgently needed. Cheap energy bills arent coming back this decade, Christopher Harborne: the silent donor behind Brexit and Boris Johnson, Sherif Tawfik: The Middle East and Africa are ready to lead on the climate, The power trap: Why the energy crisis is a crisis of politics, Elon Musk was never really the worlds richest man, Why Jeremy Hunt is gambling with thousands of small businesses, The year woke broke: a brief history of a contested word, Why Britains economy has never been worse, with Duncan Weldon, The good social network: what Twitter could learn from the coffeehouse Audio Long Reads, Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance, HR, Training and Organisational Development, Information and Communications Technology, Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives, Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities, Science and Technical Research and Development. As of September 2021 the company has over three million domestic and business customers, making it the fourth largest energy supplier Interview with Entrepreneur - Greg Jackson - CEO of Octopus Energy. Greg is the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, the green energy tech pioneer based in the UK with over 3.1 million customers, further operations in 13 countries and over 23 million accounts licensed worldwide to its green technology platform, Kraken. [3][4][5][6] Jackson has trained many successful fighters, including former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre, former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm, former Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, and a roster of other UFC contenders and World Extreme Cagefighting champions. We'll cover a range of topics, including asking Greg what 2023 holds for the tech and energy sector at this challenging time, and which technologies he thinks are going to make a difference to the sector in the future. Our CEO Greg explains why standing charges are higher on new energy tariffs, and why electricity standing charges have gone up more than gas ones. He began his working life as a video games programmer and always fancied a stint as a motorcycle courier (electric, of course).. As 31 energy firms went bust since the start of last year, public ire has been directed at the bosses of failed challengers. Upon the acquisition, Octopus announced it was targeting a million Spanish energy accounts under its brand by 2027. Greg is an experienced digital entrepreneur, passionate about making the green energy revolution affordable through technology. In 72 hours, the six-year-old company had swelled to accommodate more customers than Scottish Power (to 3.1 million in total) and a higher valuation (approaching $5bn) than Centrica, the owner of British Gas. I want them to feel happy and fulfilled by the work they do. Gregory Jackson is an American mixed martial arts trainer who co-owns Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, widely considered one of the top MMA training centers in the world. In regards to your global expansion plans, Octopus Energy is currently located in three continents, do you have any plans of expanding into Africa or acquiring any green energy businesses in Africa? The green energy firm's founder on his sympathy for those struggling with bills - and his exasperation at net zero opponents The customer accounts will be migrated onto Kraken from 2023, increasing the number of energy accounts contracted to be served via Kraken to over 20million worldwide. [59] It was first licensed by UK rival Good Energy in late 2019, for an initial three-year term, to manage its 300,000 customers. This blog is the second in a series of business advice from Octopus Energy's founder and CEO Greg Jackson. Will Dunn is business editor of the New Statesman. T&Cs [38], As of August 2021, the company has over 2.4 million domestic and business customers. Greg: No country is off limits to Octopus Energy, we aim to bring cheaper, greener energy and world-class customer service to many people all over the world. [74], "Octopus Energy sees 160% jump in revenue but still records loss due to 'relentless investment', "Blame game begins after the failure of Bulb Energy", "Al Gore's firm buys 483m stake in Octopus Energy Group", "Octopus Energy to take on 100,000 Iresa customers", "M&S cuts ties with Big Six as it partners with Octopus for new energy brand", "Hanwha Reveals Plans of Launching "Next Generation" 100% Renewable Energy Retailer in Australia", "Hanwha Group chooses Octopus Energy technology platform for Aussie launch", "Octopus Energy and Co-op Energy confirm major 'strategic energy partnership', "About our partnership with Co-op Energy, including Flow Energy and GB Energy", "Energy Companies: Which? Nov 2, 2022. Jackson has trained many successful fighters, including former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre, former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm, former Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, and a roster of other UFC contenders and World Extr Lara leads the Kraken Technologies licensing arm of Octopus Energy Group - one of the fastest growing 'EnTech' companies worldwide, launched in 2016 to use technology to unlock a customer focused and affordable green energy revolution. [31] This meant Octopus gained "unicorn" status, as a startup company with a value in excess of 1 billion. Clem Cowton is Director of External Affairs at Octopus Energy, heading up the company's advocacy on policy, government affairs and Net Zero. Spaces are limited for this very special event so make sure you dont miss out by signing up, To be the first to hear about our events, get immediate access to new podcast episodes, and hear news picked just for you . Despite the current crisis of price and supply in the gas market, its described by BP as resilient and by Centrica as more affordable than other energy sources. About Greg Jackson: Greg is an experienced digital entrepreneur, passionate about making the green energy revolution affordable through technology. Prior to joining Octopus Energy, Lara worked at US-based Opower, a customer engagement start-up and pioneer of Behavioural Energy Efficiency. The plan allows households to become part of the UK Tesla Virtual Power Plant, which connects a network homes that generate, store and return electricity to grid at peak times. Are you happy doing what youre doing? Octopus Energy is one of the fastest growing energy firms to ever launch in Britain and is on track to join the Big Six utility providers. Greg: While we cant change who our founders are, our leadership team is made up of 50% women, with BAME, LGBT+ and working class representation throughout. Rebecca is a highly experienced marketer and known for breathing new life into technology products. Theres some blokes with phones, and what theyve always done is phoned up coal and gas power stations and told them to turn on and off. Theyve been characterised as inexperienced and foolhardy for not hedging their energy far enough in advance. Greg Jackson was born in Washington D.C. to Kris and Jim Jackson, who were Quakers originally from the Midwest. After his parents split, his mother worked as a barmaid and later studied while on benefits. Octopus's approach is certainly not for everyone. Fiona studied Engineering, Economics and Management at Oxford, and initially worked at BMW on a hydrogen fuel cell for an auxiliary power unit, as part of a hydrogen car that used a combustion engine. [34], In August 2021, Octopus entered the Spanish market with the acquisition of green energy start-up Umeme. What defines a successful entrepreneur? We took the 15 years it usually takes to make a vaccine, and did it in less than a year. Energy companies around the world still maintain that natural gas (perhaps cleaned up with a puff of hydrogen) is the transition fuel that will take us to net zero. He's founded a number of successful businesses, including e-commerce company C360, built HomeServe's innovation business and is an angel investor in a wide range of tech start-ups. How much of your upbringing, surroundings and environment influenced your entrepreneurial journey? Its Kraken platform was designed to take the traditional worry about renewable energy that wind and sunlight vary in availability and turn it into a virtue, by forecasting and monitoring the output of wind turbines and solar panels, and deciding where the energy should be used or stored when it is abundant. She loves supporting kind, high performing teams and individuals who want to positively change the world. With the crisis that toppled so many suppliers continuing to rage, Jackson thinks the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is right to plough 15bn into addressing the cost of living: It makes economic sense for the government to find ways to bring bills and inflation down. Greg Jackson is the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, which currently has over 3.1 million UK customers. Jackson said that Octopus would be monitoring GB News content to ensure the channel would not be in breach of Octopus' advertising policy. As a Senior Partner and Managing Director at BCG, Deepak gained extensive experience transforming legacy businesses through technology, working across the UK, Nordics, US, South East Asia and India. Octopus Energy is also a leading investor in solar and wind energy, managing a 3.4bn portfolio of renewable energy assets across Europe. Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. Octopus founding team are from tech rather than energy backgrounds and are determinedly using technology to drive down prices, enable great service and drive towards a renewable future through the smart grid, which is essential to decarbonise affordably. With operations in the US, Japan, Germany, Spain, Italy, New Zealand and Australia, Octopus Energy Group's mission to drive the affordable green revolution is going global. Headquartered in London, the company has operations in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. [43], In its early years the company did not generate gas or electricity, instead making purchases on the wholesale markets. The only energy supplier Which? Before Bulbs collapse, Octopus flirted with taking over its rival. Youll be able to fuel your car for free, make steel for free, do indoor farming with virtually zero energy costs. But the current reality is that in government, too, the pace of change is frustratingly slow: a wind farm can be built in 12 months, and an undersea cable between the UK and France can be laid in ten days, but approval and grid connections can take years. Greg is an experienced digital entrepreneur, passionate about using technology to make positive change. Greg: Believe it or not, I dropped out of school at 16 to start creating video games before eventually going to Cambridge University. Is it profit, value or something else? Greg: If I could change anything I would have trusted myself more, as I could have started Octopus Energy five years earlier than I did! You cant become a car dealer if you havent got the money to buy cars, says Jackson, exasperated. Octopuss other renewables ventures include a huge push to replace gas boilers with heat pumps, and investment in what will be the worlds longest subsea power cable, linking Devon to a vast solar farm in the Moroccan desert. Jackson declined to comment on it. It was at that point she founded Octopus Electric Vehicles, and since then has been building a team of experts passionate about helping consumers and businesses make that transition to electric vehicles. Stuart Jackson is the Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of Octopus Energy. Greg: When I meet all of our new starters - which I always make sure to do during introductory training - the ones that stand out to me are the ones that ask themselves what they can do for the company, rather than what the company can do for them, they look at their own skills and wants, see what they can bring to the table and do their best. survey and was one of three recommended providers. Octopus Energy recent commitments: 10,000,000 to build a decarb of heat R&D centre 5,000,000 to establish the Centre for Net Zero 108,000 to its BLM fund 1,000 ad on a right wing . Greg Jackson is CEO of Octopus Energy, which is valued at more than 1.4billion . What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs? [45][46] At the time of the acquisition, the generation assets were reported to be worth over 3.4billion. How would you define a successful business leader? Registered office: UK House, 5th floor, 164-182 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1NN. Prior to joining Octopus Energy as Director of Operations, Tara spent three years at Tesla helping scale their service organisation in the UK & Benelux and as Country Manager for the UK. Rachel joined Octopus Energy in 2021, bringing with her a wealth of knowledge following more than two decades of experience in energy regulation. A day later, Generation Investment Management, a fund chaired by Al Gore, committed to a $600m investment in Octopus. Passionate, creative, innovative CEO, entrepreneur and investor. Aside from that, every experience has helped in some way or another, and been a vital lesson to learn to get me where I am today. Are people working at your company happy? A weekly round-up of some of the best articles featured in the most recent issue of the New Statesman, sent each Saturday. John is a highly experienced energy entrepreneur. In November 2021, Octopus acquired Italian energy retailer SATO Luce e Gas, rebranding the business as Octopus Energy Italy, investing an initial 51m and targeting 5% of the Italian market by 2025. Prior to that Stuart spent 6 years with Barclays Bank, including a stint running a 5bn credit card business and 10 years as a strategy consultant. [42], As part of their partnership agreed in August 2019, Midcounties Co-operative and Octopus established a joint venture to develop the UK's community energy market and encourage small-scale electricity generation. The last 12 months has been tough on a lot of businesses due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The companys flexibility platform KrakenFlex will be used together with Elia Groups energy data affiliate, re.alto, to enable electric vehicles, heat pumps and other green technologies to be used for grid balancing. After his parents split, his mother worked as a barmaid and later studied while on benefits. Greg Jackson, Founder & CEO. [33], In December 2020, Tokyo Gas paid about 20 billion yen ($193 million) for a 9.7% stake in Octopus, valuing the company at $2.1bn. Samuel Leroy Jackson (Washington D. C., 21 de diciembre de 1948), conocido como Samuel L. Jackson, es un actor y productor de cine, televisin y teatro estadounidense.Ha sido candidato al Premio scar, a los Globos de Oro y al Premio del Sindicato de Actores, as como ganador de un BAFTA al mejor actor de reparto y en 2022 se le entreg un scar honorfico a su trayectoria profesional. His school officially turned into an MMA school in 2000. The contemporary Jackson-Wink MMA Academy won the same award in 2015.[9]. [35] As a result of these acquisitions, Octopus now has retail, generation or technology licences in 13 countries across four continents. We need to work like that now on the clean energy system., [See also: The power trap: Why the energy crisis is a crisis of politics], This article appears in the 13 Oct 2021 issue of the New Statesman, Perfect Storm. Since launching in 2018, Zoisa's team has accrued 40,000 customers, from SMEs to large organisations such as Arsenal FC. It is the first time a CEO of a large energy retailer has come on The Martin Lewis Money Show to respond to questions from the British public live on air. [1] The company also supplies software services to other energy suppliers. These days, Greg Jackson is the founder behind the only energy company recommended by Which?. [10][11], In August 2019, an agreement with Midcounties Co-operative saw Octopus gain more than 300,000 customers, taking its total beyond 1 million. .more. Besides industry-standard fixed and variable tariffs, the company is known for innovative tariffs which are made possible by the national rollout of smart meters. [54] In June of that year, the group's fund management team bought the rights to develop the 35MW Gaishecke wind farm near Frankfurt, Germany. Zoisa also runs Octopus Energy's renewable generation arm, which recently announced the acquisition of a 3GW portfolio of renewable energy assets across seven countries. There was an unexpected issue while trying to process your request. Our team is made up of climate enthusiasts who know that switching people to green energy and growing that customer base around the world is the number one thing we can do to turn the tide on climate change. She is Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Octopus Energy. It was founded in 2015 with the backing of British fund management company Octopus Group, a British asset management company. [58], Octopus Energy licenses their proprietary customer management system called Kraken, which runs on Amazon's cloud computing service. Its technology platform Kraken also achieves dramatically lower cost to serve than rivals, so cheaper, green power is delivered hand in hand with unbeaten customer satisfaction levels. 464 views May 4, 2022 Greg Jackson is the founder and chief executive of Octopus Energy, one of the UK's fastest-growing energy companies. 8 Dislike Share Save. Please talk us through your entrepreneurial journey from when you graduated Cambridge University in 1994 to when you cofounded Octopus Energy in 2015? To be the first to hear about our events, get immediate access to new podcast episodes, and hear news picked just for you Join our community! The boss of Octopus Energy has a small tub, which pleases him as it is efficient and fills quickly. One department looks after Electric Juice, a service that lets customers add car-charging payments to their electricity bill. His first job on the milk round earned him 15 a week and he joined Greenpeace at sixteen. For those that don't know Octopus Energy, they are UK's fastest growing green energy retailer and are currently valued at $2 billion. Update your browser for a better web experience, here and all over the internet. There was a problem! A business leader is someone who doesnt look to make quick money, but really wants to change their industry for the better, do something different and lead from the front, rather than worry about what their competitors are doing. [55], Octopus Renewables is contracted as the investment manager for Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust, an investment trust established in 2019 which owns wind and solar generation in the UK, Europe and Australia. Since relocating to the UK 7 years ago, Jon worked on the set-up of Bulb and later Octopus Energy. What is the secret behind the growth and success of Octopus Energy? 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