Why invest in community-owned energy? 5 reasons to back POP

People-owned power is an affordable, fair and resilient solution to the energy crisis, and POP is crowdfunding to bring those benefits to communities nationwide. The reasons this makes sense are many, but here are five that matter most to investors interested in pre-registering to support POP’s crowdfund:

⚡ We could make this the last energy crisis

🚧 Trust is a barrier to renewables: POP addresses it

📈 The more POP scales, the more efficient the model

💰 Local money stays local - for community wealth-building

🔋 A model built for the energy system of the future - not the past

Want to know more about why POP is choosing to crowdfund, and why this moment? Read our recent post here.

Reason 1: We could make this the last energy crisis

Since Autumn 2021, energy bills have spiralled for homes across the UK. This has been driven by wholesale gas prices rising, mostly in response to wars and invasions started overseas, by leaders we did not vote for. All while fossil fuel company profits rise. 

Relying on fossil fuels is costing us, even as our dependency drops. Solar changes the equation, as it can generate energy where it’ll be used, removing risks of supply chain and shipping route disruptions. After the initial investment, the cost to generate power drops down to nearly nothing, Sunshine is free. 

The full renewables transition might not happen overnight, but every step is adding up to a seismic shift that makes energy more secure and resilient to shocks or spikes, whilst cutting costs to households.

Why this matters for crowdfund investors: Investing in POP is backing infrastructure that accelerates the transition, helping to remove two key barriers to home renewables: upfront cost and trust.

Reason 2: Trust is a barrier to renewables: POP addresses it

The technology is tried and tested. But knowing which technologies will work for you, whose advice you can trust, and who is reliable to install on your home - that’s the stumbling block that stops so many people from getting started.

POP takes a community-first approach. POP embeds into neighbourhoods; collaborating with groups, showing up at events, and figuring out ways to support communities in ways that work with them. The POP network of Street Power Champions is a collective of passionate neighbours who often just want a little support to get their street onboard with renewables. Much of our growth is word-of-mouth over costly paid advertising.

The credibility of one neighbour saying to another, I know someone who did this, this is how it could work for us, we could save together - that’s something you can’t buy.

Why this matters for crowdfund investors: Connection at the community-level helps build trust; trust that smooths the path towards renewable energy at home, whilst strengthening communities. This cannot be replicated through advertising alone.

Reason 3: The more POP scales, the more efficient the model

Simultaneously installing a cluster of homes cuts surveying time, logistics, travel costs and other overheads significantly. Those savings are passed onto customers. Once POP is in a community, it’s very simple for us to scale up.

Neighbours benefit from hearing each other's questions (and answers), cutting their own research process. POP can offer consultative hands-on support for groups (as well as each household) that stays specialised even as more neighbours sign up.

This scales beyond linear growth. The more households in each community onboard, the more streamlined each install becomes. The more streamlined each install, the more capacity POP has to create resources (guides, FAQs, and webinars) that benefit everyone. These resources can be shared infinitely; knowledge that further addresses the trust gap. 

Why this matters for crowdfund investors: Beyond installing renewables systems, POP is developing a structural approach to getting renewables into the hands of communities. This means the cost of onboarding a new community drops as POP grows, whilst the quality of the support on offer stays high.

Reason 4: Local money stays local for community wealth-building

By recruiting, training and working with tradespeople local to the area, POP is making sure that skills stay local, ongoing support is nearby, and those wages are spent locally. This keeps more money circulating locally to where it’s been earned and spent, supporting community wealth-building.

POP’s model also means more money stays in household pockets and out of fossil fuel producers’ profits; through lower bills, export income, and access to flexible energy tariffs. Not to mention the discount that means neighbours are rewarded for taking the leap together.

It’s a symbiotic relationship, where POP’s growth in turn provides more opportunities for wealth to remain and circulate in the communities that are installing renewables. 

Why this matters for crowdfund investors: retention and referral are built into POP’s model, not bolted on. Our growth plans are sustainable and support the communities that support us.

Reason 5: A model built for the energy system of the future, not past

The UK grid was designed for energy being generated centrally, with usage following pretty standard patterns. It’s straining under the demands of distributed energy and growing fluctuations in generation and use. The policy environment is also pushing for change, with a growing devolution agenda and both the Local Power Plan and Warm Homes Plan focusing on a future energy system.

The decentralised generation, local storage, and community-level flexibility that POP is building towards aligns with a future-ready grid - one that can run renewables reliably instead of trying to crowbar innovation into a system that’s no longer fit for purpose. 

POP isn’t trying to retrofit the energy system of tomorrow; we’re building future-ready energy infrastructure today. Home by home, street by street, community by community.

Why this matters for crowdfund investors: POP is building in the direction that regulation and policy is moving. When innovations like peer-to-peer energy trading get the greenlight, we will be ready to go, no playing catch up.

Where next on the POP crowdfunding journey?

Crowdfunding, to be owned by our community, is the logical next step for a business model that puts power back in the hands of communities. 

Our crowdfunding campaign is open for pre-registration now, so you can commit to investing later. It takes two minutes, and helps us build momentum.

Pre-register here

POP is crowdfunding so the people who believe in people-owned power, can own a part of this journey. Pre-register now for priority access when we launch for investment.

How does the crowdfund work?

We recently published a blog on why we’re crowdfunding and how it works HERE.

Why is the community-first approach more effective than a standard solar installer?

Most installers reach customers one by one through paid advertising (spending an average of £200-800 per household). Each installation is then a standalone project with separate surveys, orders, logistics and timelines. POP cuts marketing costs through connecting, community-building, and working with trusted messengers like Street Power Champions. Our street-by-street approach is also more efficient from the consultation to surveying through to installation. We pass these savings on to our customers.

How does installing in clusters or street-by-street save money?

Every home is unique, but often homes on the same street have a lot in common (materials, age, direction they face, etc). This means a lot of the questions households have are similar, so by working with neighbours as a group we can give a greater number of people hands-on, tailored support. We then cut our travel costs and logistics by surveying streets at the same time, and coordinating installation to get trades in the same place, at the same time. We pass these savings on in our pricing, with discounts of 1% per household (up to 5%) that joins a street. (note: being in the same area but not the exact same street is also fine and still qualifies!).

There’s more on our street-by-street approach in THIS POST.

What are Street Power Champions and how do they work?

Street Power Champions are community-minded people who help their neighbours start their renewables journey together. It’s POP’s way to support people who want to get their neighbours on the journey to install renewables - together.

We have a blog diving into what a Street Power Champion is HERE.

Is POP a community energy company?

Community energy organisations generally focus on large shared assets (think solar panels on buildings like schools, community centres or places of worship, or even bigger: wind turbines, solar farms, and more) that can generate income for a co-operative that invests in these projects through share offers. POP develops renewable projects with homes, street by street, so the benefits are immediate and personal: lower bills, increased energy security and building community wealth. We do work with community energy partners, like our Preston Park project with BHESCo, where a community-funded share offer gave households low-to-no-upfront cost solar, or installing projects on community centres.

Is POP only for homeowners?

Our current focus is owner-occupied homes. Our agile and experienced team has developed projects across all manner of scales so we are open to discussing other projects - community buildings, schools, flat blocks, and so on. But we think homes are the most impactful place to start, whilst waiting for policy to catch up.

How does POP support households who can’t afford solar upfront?

One of the goals of our crowdfund is to develop a financing vehicle that makes no-or-low-upfront cost solar a possibility. We have piloted this approach in our Preston Park project with BHESCo, where a community-funded share offer funded solar panels, which BHESCo owns whilst the household pays for the electricity at a much reduced rate.

What does peer-to-peer energy trading or future-ready grid mean? Why does it matter?

Peer-to-peer energy trading is selling surplus energy directly to neighbours, instead of exporting it back to the national grid, for neighbours to then buy: cutting the middle layer to keep more money in the pockets of neighbours. The technology and the model exist; the policy in the UK hasn’t caught up. By normalising energy as a community, we are building the social infrastructure that will make this work once we have the greenlight. Communities as their own power stations (microgrids) help to decentralise our struggling national grid, so we’re building a more resilient energy system that can withstand the shocks and strains of an unpredictable future.

What are flexible energy tariffs? How do they work?

On a flexible energy tariff, the price of electricity changes throughout the day. This means it’s cheaper when there’s a lot of renewable energy on the grid, but costs rise during peak times. Households with batteries can charge during cheap periods, and use that (or even export it back to the grid for a profit!) during expensive peak periods. Our tariff guide goes into more depth on how this works. The money we are raising in this crowdfund will go towards building digital tools that automate this process, so households earn more from their systems, without having to think about it.

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