♥ Peoples Energy Board | Board members wanted

The People's Energy Company are on the hunt for a Chair and a Non Executive Director. I first met Karin Sode several years ago when creating the Snook Ensemble network - I'm really happy to support her newest adventure.

People’s Energy is a new ethical and green gas and electricity supply company. They offer a real alternative to the Big Six and have seen an exciting reception from the public so far. They've raised £500K from the public in Crowdfunding; this allowed them to launch on August 1. They have over 2,500 live customers now and a further 3,500 with pre-registered interest. 
 

People’s Energy is the only UK supply company who offers
·       75% of the profits paid back to customers; from year 7 that will be 100%
·       Shares free of charge to customers (from year 3)
·       Full transparency: They will share accounts, our salaries, key decisions, and cost and price structure with customers
·       Democratic influence: They will invite a customer and an employee representative onto the board. In addition, people will have a say through polls and an interactive community website. 
 
People’s Energy is a green company: electricity is 100% renewable, and when they have built sufficient capital they will purchase renewable generation sources (customers will be involved in making these decisions). 

“Our vision is to put 1m UK citizens in charge of their own energy. We all need warmth and light. It doesn’t feel fair that corporates and faceless shareholders make a large profit, while ordinary citizens are struggling to pay their bills. We want to enable people to take back the power, literally. ”

Here's what the team have to say about their challenges and what they are looking for...

We are still in the early stages and our value ‘we’re on it’ is being put to the test daily as we seek to iron out any operational issues. In addition, we need a rapid customer growth trajectory, to be financially sustainable for the medium term. We will also need to get our democratic board processes and general customer democracy working.
 
For the medium term, we want to extend our range of propositions to be able to live out our value of inclusiveness more (‘human-to-human’). This would include altering our systems to make us able to take on customers with pre-payment meters. We also want to drive the sustainable agenda more strongly. This would require us to be able to provide a higher percentage of green gas. And finally, we will need to be on the forefront of the digitalisation of the home, adopting smart meters but also moving decisively to technologically enabled ways for customers to manage their energy and accounts and engage with us.
 
People’s Energy is led by David Pike MSc, MBA, PgDip.Couns., FInstLM. – Co-Founder and CEO. David is an experienced business director who has also worked in a consultancy capacity for the power generation sector (EDF and Scottish Power). Experience of leading teams of over 600 staff through significant change, turning multi-million pound organisations from loss into profit as Operations Director in NACCO and as Managind Director in SAS International.
 
Karin Sode PhD – Co-Founder, Chief Customer and People Officer. Karin has significant business experience, having provided strategic and people leadership advice to some of the most influential companies across the UK and Northern Europe, including Scottish Power, BP, Skyscanner, RBS, Diageo and Sony Music. Her PhD was in applied communication within the business environment. 
 
Duncan French - Chief Financial Officer. Duncan has extensive financial leadership experience. He has worked within top accountancy firms in the UK, led on Financial Control in one of largest Banks, and he has been Finance Director for a highly successful entrepreneur. In addition, as operations manager we have an experienced energy operations expert, Ryan Wilson. In addition, John Wright, former Chair of the Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank, is a Board Advisor. 

Chair of the Board is Peter Lederer, CBE. Peter offered to be interim Chair in the pre-startup phase. As they are now live and have moved into an operational phase, they are looking for a permanent replacement.

 
 Board roles available:
 
Karin and her team are looking for three Board members at this point – two Non-Executive Directors, and one Chair.
 
Key skills, experience and insights that would help them the most are:
·       Marketing, business development and growth management skills, particularly around innovative marketing in the digital age, and experience in community building. Rapid growth is key to our sustainability
·       A deep understanding of technological development and innovation – to help us stay at the forefront of digital developments and offer our customers a unique service
·       Energy sector experience and understanding (desirable – but as we are seeking to differentiate significantly from the existing cadre of energy suppliers, the top two skills are higher on our wish list)
·       Legal and regulatory background and experience
 
Other desirable skills and experiences:
·       Corporate Governance
·       Strategic
 
Previous board experience is also desirable, particularly from within innovative organisations. They want to establish a diverse board which actively embraces different thinking, and they are looking for individuals with a clear ethical mindset who, like them, want to drive real change in the industry.
 
Time commitment is 4 – 8 hours per month minimum - 5 board meetings per year. Remuneration is tbc, depending on previous experience.

Karin approached me about sharing this opportunity because she wants to build a diverse board and attract people who might not typically see themselves as a board member. She wants fresh thinking and new perspectives. This means that even if you don't tick all the boxes (or any!) but you think you have value to add please APPLY :) Don't listen to the voice that is telling you that you aren't good enough - you are.