Jules’ launching customer in the UK was Total Gas & Power (renamed: TotalEnergies) in 2010. Total Energies was instrumental for us going to market in England. Through the Thanet Earth Group the initial contacts between Total and Jules were established in 2008.
Thanet Earth is a consortium of large industrial sized greenhouse growers of vegetables and plants located in Kent, England. The founders of Jules knew the initiators of Thanet Earth from their activities in The Netherlands. With its newly installed CHP’s, Thanet Earth noticed that it was not possible to sell and buy electricity at the day ahead power market in the way they were used to doing that in The Netherlands.
Jules was invited by Thanet to introduce the ‘concept of trading platforms’ for business energy customers to its incumbent energy supplier (Total Energies).
A close collaboration between Total and Jules was started resulting in the launch of the first retail energy trading platform of its kind in the UK in 2010!
In the beginning TotalEnergies focused on net generators (combined heat & power generators) to subscribe to the platform. In the meantime and simultaneously the platform evolved into an on-line instrument that proved to be a perfect medium to host a much broader target market of end-users. Today the platform is populated with any kind of business energy customers. Not only embedded energy generators benefit financial value, but also sheer electricity and gas consuming business entities use the trading platform as a convenient, efficient and valuable online procurement instrument.
After TotalEnergies, Jules has entered into partnerships with other energy retail suppliers like Engie, Flexitricity and Smartest Energy. On its own merits, these companies recognised the opportunities that a trading platform will bring to the customers they serve. Within these partnerships Jules takes on the role of Technology Partner. Jules builds,designs and hosts the platform and allows the Energy Suppliers to offer and operate a bespoke and white labelled platform.
Triggered by the need to control the costs to serve a customer, manage price risks and hedging positions, digitise business processes to offer customers new and differentiating journeys, many energy supply companies turn to Jules. Jules is aware of the span of issues to address and the stakeholders involved across various departments when considering/articulating the requirements and deployment of a trading platform in the retail space of the energy company.
