Startup solar experiment on Waiheke

Background: In customer discovery interviewing, this startup power company was getting extremely positive feedback. They were offering solar power without the panels - peer-to-peer solar for residential customers. So a portion of your power each month would come from locals who were exporting their excess solar energy to the grid. Prices were competitive. People were saying it was great. But they weren't shifting.

Approach: The team was watching the stats on residential monthly power company moves and they knew that the average rate of moves was never going to create a viable business. And they didn't have the marketing budgets of the big players. So they decided to run a short and sharp experiment to test if this idea had legs. They went large on Waiheke for 6 weeks - because "Waiheke locals are a close-knit community of forward-thinking, eco-conscious New Zealanders. They’re our kind of people”. They put up posters everywhere, blitzed local papers, ran competitions through the schools, and even considered a stunt with a polar bear washing up on a beach.

Outcome: The targeted effort did shift the needle beyond the average monthly power company moves, but it didn't shift enough to justify further investment. While people said it was great and they would do it, they didn't actually do it. The team picked themselves up, and pivoted to find other ways to get the technology to market. They are now operating as a B2B technology business, rather than a customer-facing electricity retailer. They have developed their PowerPal app which has won awards in NZ and internationally. The app incentivises efficient power usage so that customers use fewer fossil fuels, get charged less and help make the electricity network more efficient as a whole. They are also hatching larger plans about how to use technology to bring about better climate outcomes through our electricity system.