EDF Energy is trialling a new digital home services platform called Hoppy, Utility Week has learned.
Using “trusted partners” the platform offers to connect customers with local trades for a range of household jobs. It will also provide information about the best available deals for energy and broadband supply, as well as TV packages.
Sharing news of the new venture, Beatrice Bigois, managing director of EDF Energy’s Customers business, said: “We know that customers are looking for digital services that make their lives easier, particularly in the growing home services market, and we are trialling Hoppy in response to this.”
Bigois added that the trial reflected the “constantly changing” competitive dynamic of the energy market in which suppliers and third parties are scrambling to “differentiate their offerings to stay ahead”.
“By supporting the creation of new ideas and testing new business models like Hoppy we have a great opportunity to provide customers with much more choice and services that will make their lives easier.”
The trial of Hoppy makes EDF energy the third major supplier in the UK to launch an online platform to help customers identify trusted and accredited trades.
In June this year British Gas formally launched its Local Heroes business and in April, First Utility announced that it had acquired an equity stake in Bizzby, an established online tool for identifying trusted local suppliers for the completion of household jobs like boiler repair and plumbing and electrical tasks.
At the time of the Bizzby deal, Ed Kamm, managing director of First Utility described the move as an “important step for our growth and diversification”.
The deal was struck shortly after the firm launched a new bundled offer combining broadband and energy services. The broadband element is supplied via a partnership with Talk Talk.
EDF’s Hoppy will be established as an independent subsidiary brand by the supplier who hope to formally launch the tool in early 2018.