A home management site which was trialed by EDF Energy and developed to meet customer demand for a “comprehensive home management tool” has been launched.
The site, called “Hoppy”, has been developed by Blue Lab, EDF’s innovation accelerator.
It has been described as a one stop shop which aims to simplify running a home.
Research commissioned by the website found British people spend an average of 10 hours per week on household tasks, while 68 per cent have up to 20 DIY tasks to complete in their home.
Hoppy says its aim to is solve this and does so by encompassing switching services, a tradesperson booking portal, an online community and a home management digital logbook.
Richard Longmore, managing partner of Hoppy, said: “Hoppy originated in response to consumers looking for digital services to make their lives easier – in particular, to better manage their homes. We saw a gap in the market for a platform that brings a number of home-related services together.
“Customers and service are at the core of the business; Hoppy aims to make running households easy and efficient, simplifying the lives of our customers by taking care of the household bills and general home maintenance that often become a chore.”
The site, which is working with trusted and accredited service providers across the industry, enables consumers to easily switch utilities by providing access to the “widest range” of the cheapest utility, broadband/tv and mobile deals in the country.
This it says, saves consumers up to £537 per year on utilities and up to £325 a year respectively on broadband/tv and mobile deals.
EDF became the third major supplier in the UK to launch an online platform to help customers identify trusted and accredited trades following the trial of Hoppy last year.
In June 2017 British Gas formally launched its Local Heroes business while in April last year, 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.
Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, added new trades to its Local Heroes service in April this year.
The digital service now also includes painters, decorators, locksmiths, tilers and handymen and women.
In July, Centrica expanded Local Heroes into the Republic of Ireland.
Katie Bickerstaffe, the chief executive of the proposed new energy retailer, which will be established if the SSE-Npower merger goes ahead, has already hinted the company will have home services ambitions.
Hoppy has been created as an independent subsidiary to EDF Energy and is being launched nationwide.