Portsmouth expats and co-founders of Australia’s largest residential solar provider Smart Energy are bringing their business back home

Long-term friends Beau Savage and Elliot Hayes are the co-founders of Australia’s largest residential solar provider Smart Energy.

The duo are now bringing their successful Australian solar business back home to the United Kingdom.

The company, which originally opened its doors in Australia in 2016, will be extending its solar energy offering to Portsmouth residents exclusively before expanding more widely across the UK.

Beau said: ‘Both Elliot and myself have always had a goal to one day bring our solar offering back home to Portsmouth. The council area has always been a major advocate for renewable energy so it seemed natural for us to expand Smart Energy to Portsmouth first.’

Beau said that one of the biggest barriers to residential solar energy is not knowing whether the solar provider will be there for years to come, which can cost thousands in the long run.

He said that Smart Energy was created to combat this, and has successfully brought trust in solar back into the Australian community by providing quality, local engineering services with a focus on customer service.

He also said that one of the main reasons for their business success was the fact that they operate whether there's a rebate or not.

Beau said: ‘Dodgy solar providers aren’t just found in Australia, in fact there are plenty in the UK as well. We started this business with a goal of selling premium, affordable solar to Australian home-owners and this remains the same here in Portsmouth.’

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As well as its stability, the firm has also grown rapidly due to its popular plan that lets customers pay for their solar systems out of the energy that's generated.

The expansion will be spearheaded by Beau who will be taking the reins as CEO of Smart Energy UK. Meanwhile, Elliot will remain based in Australia’s Byron Bay, taking the lead as CEO of Smart Energy Australia.

Beau said: ‘We’ve seen a fantastic uptake in Australia over the last five years, so much that after three years of planning we were recently able to unveil an official energy retail offering that is 100 per cent carbon neutral. We are looking forward to seeing the same level of success back here in the UK.’

Smart Energy’s Portsmouth office is officially open, providing local residents with access to an affordable, more reliable solar service.

For more information, visit smartenergy.co/uk/