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Juliet Davenport

Green energy supplier launches corporate bond

Chippenham-based renewable gas and electricity supplier Good Energy has launched its first retail bond, offering 7.25 percent to investors who tie in for four years.

The group aims to raise £15m from the deal, enabling it to increase its own solar and wind generation capacity.

The proceeds will contribute to the group’s overall objective of developing 110MW of its own renewable energy generation capacity by 2016;  targeting 50% of its customer’s future electricity supplies. 

It will pay 7.25 percent in six month instalments to investors, plus an extra 0.25 percent to customers who invest until 2017.

The bond can be bought in multiples of £500 with no maximum but the bonds are unsecured debt and non-transferable, meaning they cannot be bought or sold on the secondary market. 

Good Energy has over 100,000 customers and generators, and has topped the Which? Customer Satisfaction Survey for electricity suppliers for three out of the last four years.

It operates a 9.2MW wind farm which provides 16 percent of its electricity supply, with a further 8.2MW of wind-generated power capacity under construction. The Group is also now has a wind and solar farm development portfolio in excess of 200MW.

In 2012 the Company reported annual revenue of £28.2m with profit before tax of £1.4m.

The company is also a founding member of the Social Stock Exchange, an exchange founded for connecting Social Impact Businesses with investors looking to generate social or environmental change as well as financial returns. 

Juliet Davenport, founder and CEO of Good Energy, said: “We are delighted to launch the Good Energy Bonds, the proceeds of which will be used to strengthen our balance sheet and to help us to accelerate the build-out of our pipeline of UK renewable energy projects. This is increasingly important as we look to meet our commitments to our rapidly expanding customer base.

“We believe this product provides investors and customers with the opportunity to be a part of the development of the UK’s green energy market and Good Energy’s expansion in particular, while also providing a yield backed by a Group which has a strong financial track record.”

Applications for the bond are due to close on 13th November 2013.