Wessex Water buys automated energy switching platform Flipper, eyes business market

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Wessex Water has acquired switching platform Flipper, which automatically switches subscribers onto the cheapest energy deal.

The company, with its future more secure, is looking to move beyond energy. Wessex Water said it will now explore how to apply the platform to the business-to-business market.

Flipper launched in 2016 and takes a small annual fee from members instead of commission, which is how most regular switching sites – and brokers in the b2b market – make their revenue. Flipper says this ensures its interests are aligned with customers, not suppliers.

It switches members up to four times a year. Currently the switching process can take a number of weeks, however smart meters and associated infrastructure should make that process much faster. That could lead to more regular automated switches.

The company put potential buyers on alert when it entered administration last week. Wessex clearly sees it potential.

Nigel Evans, chairman of Flipper, welcomed the deal.

“Today marks a major milestone for Flipper and a huge vote of confidence in our innovative and disruptive business model to transform the energy market.

“Under the deal, Wessex Water has committed to invest significantly in the business. This will enable us to rapidly grow customer numbers in energy.

“We will also look to respond to the feedback from Flipper customers and expand our automated switching service to other household bills.”

David Elliott, Wessex Water Group director of strategy and new markets, said:

“Flipper works by putting the customer first and takes away the pain of assessing complex tariffs and pushing commission-led deals. Quite simply, it ensures you’re on the best tariff and does all of the hard work for you.”

He told The Energyst“Building on the success that Flipper has had in the domestic market, we certainly feel the benefits it can bring would appeal to businesses and we’ll be looking to explore this further.”

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