Promising cleaner and cheaper energy, WattBuy, a personalized electricity startup is offering to set up solar panels and help lower energy bills of US residents.
CEO and co-founder of WattBuy, Naman Trivedi launched the energy startup with Ben Hood to make renewable energy more accessible and affordable. Founded in 2017, WattBuy simplifies the search for cleaner, cheaper energy and delivers custom recommendations for homes to service people as well as the environment.
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“It is impossibly confusing to figure out what is the right set of things that you should do for your home energy ecosystem to be a steward of the planet and make sure it doesn’t break the bank,” Trivedi said in an interview.
Turns out the inception of the energy startup took place because the founding team had been scammed by an energy provider offering a low teaser energy rate that doubled in the next few months. To prevent this from happening to others, Trivedi and Hood began WattBuy.
Being a “climate first” company, WattBuy is officially accredited by the United States Department of Energy. The startup is partnered with Redfin, Nextdoor, Rent.com, and State Farm among others to provide energy cost estimates for more than 85 million homes across the country so that home buyers know what to expect in terms of monthly electricity costs.
What sets WattBuy apart from its competitors is their ethos of building trust and transparency with their users. “Our data is now seen by north of 80 million people a year — everything from electricity cost estimates, solar estimates … we’re thrilled to be able to get that data out there,” Trivedi told The Cool Down.
According to WattBuy, if you live in any of the 13 states with deregulated electricity which include Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, you can choose your energy plan and save upwards of 40%.
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However, if not from these states then Wattbuy can still help you find clean energy options through your state-designated energy provider for the same or more cost.
“We serve every address in the US — renter, homeowner, doesn’t matter to us,” Trivedi said. “We think that everyone has a role and generally everyone has an ability to act.”
Trivedi, who has previously worked with Google, Box, and at the White House Office of Science and Technology under Obama, told Forbes, “I’ve come to believe that nudging citizens to make better decisions locally is a prerequisite to solving global problems like climate change.”
Trivedi is a Georgetown University graduate and has appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Energy in 2020.