Ovo Energy’s planned acquisition of big six supplier SSE’s retail arm is an “amazing opportunity” for the challenger brand’s decarbonisation ambitions, the company’s retail chief executive has said, in his first interview following the announcement of the deal.
Speaking exclusively to Utility Week at Ovo’s Notting Hill offices on Thursday (7 November) Adrian Letts, who joined the company in January, spoke about the £500 million deal which is currently being assessed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Letts said he expected the timescale for the CMA’s decision to extend into the new year.
He said: “From our perspective, the SSE deal, the opportunity, is amazing. We see huge amounts of alignment in terms of the customers’ centricity and also the focus on sustainability.
“SSE has won numerous awards for their customer service and I think that’s hugely additive to us.
“I think together we have an even bigger opportunity of really impacting carbon.”
The proposed deal between Ovo and SSE would see Ovo jump forward several places and sit as the second largest supplier, second only to Centrica-owned British Gas.
SSE has 5.7 million energy customers which means if it is successfully sold to Ovo, the latter would have 7 million in total.
Letts joined Ovo as its retail chief executive after serving as the managing director of Tesco Online.
He added that the there were certain analogies between his career in the grocery sector and his new pathway in the energy sphere.
An example he used was that of a Tesco delivery driver and a smart meter engineer.
“Tesco’s slightly different, but for Ovo it’s the one and only time where a customer will meet a colleague from Ovo.
“I think people forget that that smart meter engineer is the manifestation of the company. That for me is incredibly exciting and incredibly powerful, it’s humanising.
“It’s all very well we talk about digital engagement but I think that starts with human engagement. We thought a lot about that at Tesco and I’m thinking a lot about it here at Ovo.”
The full, exclusive interview with Adrian Letts will be available to Utility Week members next week