This special episode introduces the team who recently launched Octopus Energy US in Texas, just days before the State was hit by one of the worst winter storms it had seen in 100 years.  
 
Host Russell Goldsmith was joined by Octopus Energy US CEO, Michael Lee, the US Head of Marketing, Natasha Crowe and Operations Lead, Kelly Rankine, who had only just moved to Texas a few months beforehand, having previously worked with Octopus Energy in the UK. 
 
Michael, Natasha and Kelly talked about how some of the team experienced the frightening impact of storm firsthand, how the marketing team pivoted to become the front line of customer service and what part renewables and companies like Octopus Energy can play to avoid such dire events in the future.

Inside Octopus

News Special:  Octopus Energy US launch & the Texas Energy Crisis

Host Russell Goldsmith welcomes Rachel Fletcher to Octopus Energy and chats about why she left her role as CEO of UK water regulator Ofwat to become our new Director of Regulation and Economics.  

Rachel also explains what her role will involve and what it means to the business.

Episode 4: Interview with Rachel Fletcher, Director of Regulation and Economics

In February 2021, Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy, explained on the BBC's CEO Secrets series why Octopus Energy decided against having an HR department despite its considerable size. The interview headlined 'My billion-pound company has no HR department' sparked an, in parts, heated debate on social media among HR and business professionals and on the day ranked at number two in the most read articles in the BBC news app.  

In this episode host Russell Goldsmith met up with Greg to talk about his approach to HR and answer some of the most frequently asked questions Octopus received following the interview, covering topics from conflict resolution to hiring and employee happiness. They were joined by best-selling author, keynote speaker and futurist Jacob Morgan, who is also the host of the Future of Work podcast and the founder of the Future of Work University, to dig deeper into the role of HR and the future of people management in modern businesses.

Episode 5: Why Octopus Energy doesn't have an HR department

In Episode 2, we already spoke about our technology platform Kraken - the giant robot that sits at the heart of Octopus Energy and the enabler of our rapid growth, innovative products, and outstanding customer service.

In this episode of Inside Octopus, we talk about the transformative power that Kraken can unleash in other energy companies, one of which is European energy giant E.ON, which began licensing Kraken for its UK business in March 2020 and since then has migrated more than 2.2m customers onto the new digital platform. 

Host Russell Goldsmith is joined by Dr. Karsten Wildberger, Chief Operating Officer at E.ON, and Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson to talk about the changes Kraken has brought about for E.ON UK.

Episode 6: The transformative power of Kraken

In this episode, our podcast host, Russell Goldsmith, makes a road trip to Octopus Energy’s multi-million pound commitment to the decarbonisation of heat, for a guided tour from some of the tentacled experts, old and new, working on the green heating revolution.

Following all the COVID guidelines to be there, Russell was joined by Clem Cowton, Director of External Affairs,  and John Szymik, CEO of Octopus Energy Services plus newer recruits, Aimee Clark, Head of Commercial an expert in bringing new, smart tech to the mass market, and Peter Konowalczyk a leading physicist and pioneer in the heat pump space.

Episode 7: A sneak peak inside Octopus Energy’s £10 million training and R&D centre

In a first for the Inside Octopus podcast, we throw out the rulebook and feature no representative from the eponymous company. Instead, we speak to the five-year-old winners of our fifth birthday competition, about what they did to win, how we can stop climate change, and why they're excited for the future.

COP26 Special: The Kids are all Bright

In just five years, Octopus Energy has gone from strength to strength and become a truly global company. In this episode, our host Russell Goldsmith tries to find out if Octopus's success in the UK can serve as a blueprint for other countries. He's joined by the people who head up Octopus Energy around the world: Michael Lee, CEO of Octopus Energy USA; Roberto Giner, CEO of Octopus Energy, Spain; Giorgio Tomassetti, CEO of Octopus Energy, Italy; Hajime Nakamura CEO in Octopus Energy Japan, Ari Sargent, Managing Director of Octopus Energy, New Zealand and finally Octopus Energy Germany’s CEO, Andrew Mack.

Episode 8: Going global, one country at a time

The UK currently faces a massive hike in energy bills as a result of global energy prices, which will force many more families into fuel poverty. The energy industry and the government are working hard to soften the blow of sky-high global gas prices on consumers. 

In this special episode, host Russell Goldsmith was joined by Octopus Energy Group’s CEO and founder, Greg Jackson, to talk about the causes of the crisis, the actions industry and government are taking to protect customers, and the changes we need to see to make sure we don’t end up in the same situation again.

News Special: The Energy Crisis

Green energy is already the cheapest way to generate electricity, but we need to build a lot more solar and wind farms to move the world to a fully green energy system. In this episode, our host Russell Goldsmith delves into the world of Octopus Energy's green generation arm. Joined by Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, Matt Setchell, Co-head of Octopus Renewables, Paul Loran, Head of Innovation, and Ashleigh Gray, Chief of Staff, they talk about how Octopus is disrupting the renewable generation space in favour of consumers.

Episode 9: How we're making energy greener

In Episode 8, we chatted to the people who head up Octopus Energy around the world. And so off the back of that discussion, we decided to invite each of those CEOs back onto the podcast for a deeper dive into Octopus Energy in their respective territories, but also with a view of meeting some more members of their teams to get a real understanding of what it's like to work for our company around the globe and find out a bit more about some of the projects they are working on. For the first in this special series of episodes, we're off to Octopus Energy Germany with Andrew Mack and his team.

Episode 10: Going Global and meeting the team in Germany

Octopus Energy is known for its breakthrough innovations - one of the most exciting ones is The Fan Club, the world’s first local tariff that provides customers living near wind turbines with cheaper energy when the wind is blowing, with a discount of up to 50%.

In this episode, we welcome back Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, who explains how the tariff has come about, how it works and what impact it has had so far. We also hear from the Fan Club’s first customer James Laing, sustainability pioneer and Fan Club fan Julia Hailes, and Dan Gowthorpe, who hosts one of Octopus’ Fan Club wind turbines.

Episode 11: The Fan Club - providing cheaper energy when the wind is blowing

The well regarded Energy Advice UK Facebook group, founded by Gemma Hatvani in 2020, now holds nearly 100,000 members.  Octopus's Chief Product Officer Rebecca Dibb-Simkin talks to Gemma and her colleague Ian about their rollercoaster journey, how their community supports each other and works with suppliers, and shares some energy efficiency advice from the group.

Bonus Episode: Energy Saving Tips with the Founder of the Energy Advice UK Facebook group

In this episode, our podcast host, Russell Goldsmith, chats with Alex Schoch, who heads up our global flexibility team, and Devrim Celal, the CEO of Octopus’ flexibility technology arm KrakenFlex about how to unlock the untapped resource of household flexibility.

It’s clear –  we’re entering a new era of energy in which households are moving from passive off-takers to active enablers of a smarter, greener and cheaper grid. For the first time ever, UK’s National Grid this winter is offering a new service to households, allowing them to reduce their usage during times of peak demand and get paid for it. 

Alex and Devrim explain how the scheme works and what other innovations we are working on to build the smart grid of the future.

Episode 12: A new energy era - how households can help balance the grid AND get paid for it

Today we're back across the pond to talk to the US team about the exciting growth they've seen over the last 18 months since launching in Texas. We chat again with Michael Lee, the CEO of Octopus Energy US, Lily Stein who is an Octopus veteran and moving to Texas from Australia to lead operations and Naja Cossey, the Director of Marketing for US.

We dive into some of the new programs and campaigns they've been running stateside to help customers through times of rising energy prices and grid uncertainty. We discuss the impact a brand that looks after its customers with such outrageously good service can have on the way customers use energy and how in turn, that can shift the way the market works.

Ep 13: How our US team is achieving rapid growth while helping customers through the energy crisis

The EV market has taken off in recent years, and we're right at the forefront of the transition. In this episode, we talk to Fiona Howarth, CEO of Octopus Electric Vehicles, and Claire Miller, Director of Tech and Innovation, about the growth story of Octopus' EV specialist business.

Ep 14: Electric dreams: The growth story of Octopus Electric Vehicles

Introducing Zero Bills: the first-of-its-kind smart tariff providing eligible households zero bills for five years, guaranteed. In this episode, we talk to Michael Cottrell, Product & Partnerships Director at Octopus Energy, and Holly Gavin, Product Manager at Kraken Technologies, about how we're partnering with housing developers to build the homes of the future.

Ep 15: Zero Bills homes: Getting rid of energy bills for good

How Kraken – the world’s first next-gen energy operating system – is powering a transformation at Octopus and beyondAt the heart of everything the Octopus group does is Kraken – a world-leading operating system for utilities. In this episode, Octopus CEO Greg Jackson and Kraken Chairman Gavin Patterson shine a light on the unique potential that Kraken unlocks, from green tech innovation and optimization to lightning fast migrations.

Ep 16: How Kraken is powering a transformation at Octopus and beyond

Lots of people want to know what happens inside Octopus Energy. Most importantly, our ever-expanding team. When we started, we all sat within earshot of every conversation, every phone call. We could see each other’s screens and learn what Octopus was from each other, as we built it. Now our team is spread across locations (including a lot of remote working), across time zones and continents, we need ever more ways to share what Octopus is.

That's why we've launched this podcast series, and in Episode 1, our podcast hosts, Russell & Trudy, were joined online by Founder and CEO, Greg Jackson, and Marketing and Product Director, Rebecca Dibb-Simkin to talk about the culture of our business.

Of course, this podcast series will also be great if you're thinking of joining Octopus, and want to know if it’s right for you - it should be more insightful than a typical salesy web page. Similarly for the dozens, maybe hundreds of organisations who partner with us.

Beyond that, there are many people who think about company organisation and culture. Octopus is hot on decentralisation, devolved authority, upside-down management, trust, freedom and responsibility. Blue chip strategy consultants, Boston Consulting Group immersed themselves in our way of working and we’d like to open this up to others. Even competitors :)

Inside Octopus Energy

Episode 1: Culture

Following on from our previous episode's discussion around our company culture, we decided to take a step back and record what feels like a bit of a prequel - hence why we called it Episode 0!  Hosts Trudy & Russell welcome back our CEO, Greg Jackson, to find out more about why he set up the business in 2015, his plans moving forward, and how on track we are to realising his vision.

Greg talks us through how he scoped the business, why the name Octopus, his expectations for growth, the kind of business he wanted to build from the start, in terms of service expectation from customers, as well as his plans for the future.

Episode 0: Launch

This special episode was recorded after the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, visited Octopus Energy's London offices to talk about the future of renewable energy, hear our announcement of 1,000 jobs and a new technology centre in Manchester, England.
 
Russell Goldsmith was joined by Octopus Energy Founder & CEO, Greg Jackson and Clem Cowton, the company’s Director of External Affairs to discuss the background to the visit, how and why we made it happen, what was discussed, what it means for the business and what changes it could bring.

News Special: PM & Chancellor Visit Octopus Energy

In this episode of Inside Octopus Energy, the topic of conversation was the unique technology that sits behind our products and services that is helping us to deliver Cheaper Greener Energy.

Hosts Trudy & Russell were joined by three of the team responsible for shaping and developing Kraken, our technology platform: Gilly Ames, one of our Front-End Developers working on Kraken’s API; Ruby Mitchell, a Senior Operations Manager who supports a wide range of partners who have licensed the Kraken technology to use for themselves; and James Eddison, CTO and one of the company’s co-founders.

Episode 2: Technology

In this episode of Inside Octopus Energy, we focus on growth and what it takes to go from zero to over 1.8 million customers in just four years.
 
Hosts Russell & Trudy were joined by our Chief Financial Officer and Co-Founder, Stuart Jackson, who talked through everything from bringing on board our first customers, through managing the rapid scaling of the business, to future plans on how to continue the successful growth of the company.
 
We also hear from Claire Osborne, energy consultant & Founder of The Mindset Society, who focuses on Start-up to Scale-up coaching. Claire is currently working with Octopus but her background includes two years leading the energy business for the comparison site, uSwitch, just around the time of Octopus Energy’s launch, so we were keen to hear her perspectives on the market at the time and the impact we’ve had in the market.

Episode 3: Growth

We believe energy should be better. A better experience for customers, better for the planet, and better value for money.  Our aim of this podcast series is to give you real insight into our company’s DNA – the way we work, the way we think, our values, and our people. We’ll be chatting to various members of the Octopus Energy team over the coming series, exploring everything from our products and services, to the technology that sits behind them and the culture that is driving us to deliver Cheaper Greener Energy.

Octopus Energy

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