Our Generation, the energy services company set up in conjunction with the Mark Group, will work on a £10 million programme to install residential solar photovoltaic systems, which will be financed by the Foresight Group in the UK, over the next three months.
As part of the agreement, E.ON will be responsible for recruiting and managing the customer experience under its £150 million SolarExchange initiative, which is essentially a rent-a-roof scheme where the customer pays a one-off £99 administration fee.
Foresight will fund the installations from its Foresight Solar VCT, which has already raised in excess of £30 million from individuals, and from the Foresight Solar EIS. Ricardo Pineiro, Investment Manager with Foresight Group said, “For anyone who doubts the opportunity in UK solar PV, this deal demonstrates how quickly the momentum is building. We have had to launch the new Foresight Solar EIS fund just to cope with the demand for funding. If the opportunity develops as we expect, we will have close to £300 million of solar assets in twelve months’ time.
“We chose to work with Our Generation because quality is absolutely critical. The portfolio we build together will reflect the level of quality demanded by the biggest utility companies such as E.ON. And that in turn will help us deliver attractive returns without exposing our investors to high risks.”
Our Generation director, Ian Goodwin said, “Our philosophy is to partner with market leaders, such as Foresight, to develop winning propositions. We have attracted a high level of interest in our business model to date and know that Foresight will have a key part to play as we extend our offering to a wider customer base in the future.”
Roashan Patel, Head of Home Generation at E.ON, said: “We’re working hard with our more than five million customers to help get them energy fit – cutting their energy bills and reducing carbon emissions – and partnering with specialists like Foresight is proving to be a hugely successful way of doing that. The key to having a successful customer journey is providing a smooth process from first application to the final installation and beyond and that’s exactly where we come in.”
