Two friends in Luxembourg have created a start-up to enable people to cut their energy bills by connecting solar power owners with electricity users.
The start-up, called WattSwap, was created because normally when solar panels produce more electricity than is needed for a household, the excess is sold to the electricity grid operator “for peanuts”, according to founders Tom Bosseler and Pierre Pirotte.
“We make it possible to share electricity, from north to south,” said Bosseler.
Their business concept is based on energy communities – associations of stakeholders who jointly generate, consume or sell electricity.
The WattSwap platform features like a traditional marketplace, connecting members of the public seeking to buy cheaper electricity and people who operate solar panels but who do not want to sell their surplus electricity too cheaply.
“The owners of the solar power plants are not happy about how cheaply they have to sell their surplus electricity compared to how expensive it is on the electricity market,” the entrepreneurs said.
The idea is that through the platform, the producer receives a higher selling price than they would selling the electricity surplus to grid operators and the consumer can reduce their electricity bill slightly.
“We connect buyers and sellers directly within the energy community, which is why prices are lower,” said Pirotte.
To ensure price advantages from both electricity sellers and buyers the company bases their prices on market rates.
“Our price is always above the market price the producer receives, and for the consumer it is always below,” Pirotte explained.
The pair have been friends since primary school, went to the same university and even share a flat. They know each other “inside out” according to Bosseler.
“Our friendship has already weathered a lot, so we can also overcome hurdles in day-to-day business,” Pirotte added.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort, translated using AI and edited by Kate Oglesby.)