BHESCo stands for Brighton and Hove Energy Services Co-operative.

It is a not-for-profit social enterprise that works with homes and businesses in Sussex to make energy more financially and environmentally sustainable.

A social enterprise is a business with a purpose beyond just making money – it’s a business that does good things to make the world a better place.  BHESCo’s social purpose is to reduce the high costs of energy for people in Sussex, increase the amount of green electricity generated in the region, and reduce our carbon emissions by making its customer’s homes more energy efficient

As a not-for-profit business, any profits it does make are re-invested into new clean energy projects or used to help alleviate the crisis of fuel poverty in our community.

Being a co-operative means that BHESCo is jointly owned by its members, who share in the benefits and profits of the business.

Its members are made up of its shareholders and its customers, who are invited to participate in the election of board members, the distribution of interest, and other business decisions during its Annual General Meeting.

As a co-operative its members have an equal say in how the business is run, meaning members have one vote each at meetings, regardless of how many shares they own.

BHESCo was founded in 2013 by our CEO Kayla Ente.

It completed its first four energy projects in 2015 following a successful launch of its initial community share offer.

Read more about BHESCo’s history here > https://bhesco.co.uk/who-we-are/kayla-ente

BHESCo works with residents, businesses and community organisations to help them address the financial and environmental cost of their energy needs with clean, affordable, community-owned energy.

We offer services at no upfront cost by using ‘Pay As You Save’ financing. This enables property owners to make their buildings more sustainable and cheaper to run without needing to worry about burdensome costs.

We make our service available at zero upfront cost, with repayments being made using our ‘Pay As You Save’ initiative.

This means that our customers will start to see savings immediately without having to spend any money.

By analysing a property’s energy usage, BHESCo can predict how much energy (and money) will be saved by installing certain energy saving or generating measures.

Using funds invested by shareholders, BHESCo installs the energy equipment at no upfront cost on behalf of the customer.

Over a number of years, a portion of the savings achieved from customers’ monthly energy bills is used to repay the initial cost of the installation.

Once repaid, customers own and enjoy the full financial benefit of their energy saving equipment.

All of our projects begin with an energy survey.

To understand how much energy a property uses and how it is used, we need to analyse energy bills in addition to making an on-site inspection.

If a customer chooses to engage BHESCo to project manage energy improvements, we can waive the initial fee for the survey.

For more information about the costs of our energy surveys, please visit our Book a Survey page > https://bhesco.co.uk/book-energy-survey.

We meet the cost of our energy projects by raising funds through a community share offer.

Investors are invited to become members of our co-operative in return for an annual interest payment of 5% of the value of their investment.

As of 01 July 2023, BHESCo has 409 shareholding members.

There are 400+ community energy groups across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

BHESCo does not install energy technologies. It is a trusted consultancy and project management service.

Our team will investigate and propose the most cost-effective solutions for a property and tender the work to a local installer who can deliver the best value for money.

We meet the upfront cost of a project on behalf of our customers and will maintain equipment for the duration of the Pay As You Save finance period.

Furthermore, as a co-operative which is owned by its customers, we remain accountable for our work and take responsibility for the ongoing performance of equipment long after the initial installation is completed.

This embeds trust and responsibility into all of our work and gives customers the reassurance that we will deliver the best results for their needs.

Anyone in the UK and EU is welcome to become a shareholding member of BHESCo.

You can find out more about our current share offer here > https://bhesco.co.uk/investment

No.  We’re great friends with the Energy Co-op and have partnered with them on several fuel poverty alleviation programmes across the region.

As a community energy co-operative we are driven by a commitment to help the UK reduce its carbon emissions. Any initiative or business that is contributing to that goal has our complete and unwavering support.

BHESCo’s over-arching mission is to collectively own enough energy generating assets to be able to offer a low-cost, 100% local and renewably sourced tariff to residents of Brighton and Hove.

Whilst our team is making great progress towards this goal, we are not yet in a position to offer a tariff of our own.

We do however offer free, expert, and completely impartial switching advice to residents, helping to identify the cheapest energy tariff for their needs.

Please contact us if you need any help with your bills