FIRST UTILITY
In eight short years First Utility has gone from a handful of customers to competing with the Big Six energy providers in the UK . Business Review Europe discovers how technology has made this possible
When Bill Wilkins took on the joint roles of CIO and CTO at First Utility back in 2010 , he was faced with two challenges : making the IT fit for purpose and also capable of scaling up as the business grew . The pilot platform First Utility originally deployed wasn ’ t performing as required , Wilkins explains , and he was asked to advise on the correct route to take . “ The platform wasn ’ t scaling and the company was looking at re-engineering it , so I presented the founders with a plan and was asked to implement it . And it ’ s been a very exciting few years watching a concept with a small number of customers growing to the very large business is today with close to a million customers and £ 1billion in revenue ,” Wilkins adds .
First Utility was started by a group of smart investors back in 2008 , looking to replicate the success they had already achieved in the telco industry , building an independent company and offering customers a different proposition . Initially , the company was all about smart meters and accurate billing – relatively new concepts at the time – and it is still , primarily , a technology company , although the product it sells is energy .
As CIO and CTO , Wilkins says , he has two distinct roles . The CTO part of his role is about designing digital solutions around First Utility ’ s core energy proposition , and his
52 September 2016