My Dad was being robbed!
I went to see my dad a few months ago to talk about Tonik. He has always been someone who I bounce ideas off and look to for reassurance (don’t tell him I told you that though!). He’s is not what you would call ‘savvy’ when it comes to choosing deals. The amount of rubbish cars he has bought over the years and bargain buys that have turned out to be anything but all indicate that he is a sucker for believing what people tell him. He is a vicar and always seeks to see the best in every situation, but being a vicar also means that when it comes to expenditure he hasn’t got the money to waste in reality.
Anyhow, we spent all of 2 minutes looking at his energy bill to realise that he was one of the 60% of UK energy consumers that had shown loyalty to his Big 6 supplier (no names who but it rhymes with Spottish and Oven) only to have spent the last 3 years on their most expensive standard variable tariff. Why? Well put simply, he doesn’t ‘get’ energy and hasn’t got the inclination to shop around. In 3 years he hadn’t received a single piece of advice or help from said Big 6 supplier yet by my rough calculation they had charged him approximately ￡3000 more in those 3 years than he could’ve got if he had been on their cheapest tariff.
Just imagine that for a second…three grand for zero added value. You don’t need me to reel off a bunch of ‘that’s a bit like’ anecdotes. It’s a shed load of money and its unacceptable.
Having bored my Dad with stories about our vision for Tonik in the months prior to this the penny finally dropped for him as he sat and watched me re-do the calculation to make sure I hadn’t got the decimal point in the wrong place. He realised there and then why the Tonik team felt so passionately about creating an energy company that was on the side of its members.
There is a fair amount wrong with the UK energy market but whichever way you cut it, the end user is the one feeling the pain. End user sounds a little non-descript. It is in fact families, pensioners, people struggling to make ends meet, you, your parents. Energy Retailers have a massive role to play in making energy fairer for all and they can start by not building their business models on the hope that a large chunk of their customer base are oblivious to the amount of money they are being over-charged.
Tonik is being built on a set of simple values: Help our members use less energy. Keep pricing and profits transparent and be a force for good within the community. To achieve these we will use smart technology to help make energy tangible and keep costs low.
We have lots to do to develop our brand and our proposition but we are up and running in the market - that was job one. Now we get serious about helping people like my dad get a fairer deal and a clearer understanding as to how to they can reduce their bills further by getting smart with their energy. I’d love the opportunity to do the same calculation for you as I did for my dad. I can't promise that we can you save you all thousands but I can promise we'll be fairer, clearer and smarter. Check us out at www.tonikenergy.com. It takes 2 mins to get a quote and you can do it on the train home this evening or when you’re at home, sat on the sofa in your PJ’s. Simple.
We would love to become the last energy company you ever need to know. Not because of any tie in’s but because we continually offer you neat energy solutions that help keep more of your hard-earned cash in your pocket.
Three Grand……..that’s a bit like…..well, you decide.
#positiveenergy