19 October 2020
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VIDEO: Founder and CEO of UK's second largest energy supplier talks to Lucy Siegle about consumer behaviour change, new subscription models for home energy, and zero carbon aviation
Stephen Fitzpatrick founded OVO Energy in 2009 with a stated mission to make to make energy 'cheaper, greener and simpler' for everyone.
Since then the company has enjoyed a remarkable decade. First it emerged as one of the UK's largest challenges to the Big Six energy suppliers that have dominated the industry for decades, and then it catapulted itself into becoming the country's second largest energy supplier with the acquisition of the SSE Energy Services, which more than doubled its customer base to over five million households.
The past year has been particularly busy for Stephen and OVO in general. While adapting to the impacts of the pandemic and national lockdown in the UK, it has continued to ramp up efforts towards its 'Plan Zero' commitment to become a net zero emissions company by 2030, and to halve the carbon footprint of its customers.
The net zero vision is also shared by the other two companies Fitzpatrick has founded, smart grid specialist Kaluza, and Vertical Airspace, a company aiming to make zero emission electric air taxis a reality.
At BusinessGreen's recent Net Zero Festival, Fitzpatrick joined environmental journalist and broadcaster Lucy Siegel for a fascinating, wide-ranging discussion, touching on the challenges of encouraging consumer behaviour change, his belief in the shift towards subscription models for home energy use, and the potential for electric, zero carbon fligh. The interview can be watch in full above.
All of the panel debates, keynote speeches, and presentations from the world's first Net Zero Festival - which took place over three days from 30 September featuring hundreds of top speakers from business, politics and academia - are now available to watch again on demand through the Net Zero Festival website.
OVO is a partner for the Net Zero Festival.
