Even before the cost-of-living crisis hit, households had a big problem.
Bills. You either have to spend way too much time renegotiating or switching each provider, or you forget and end up paying more than you should. It's unfair at best—at worst, it’s daylight robbery.
We started Nous to make life simpler and fairer for everyone. Our free service helps households get wise and stay vigilant against rising costs. And by managing household bills and providers for Nous members, we're freeing them from a lifetime of admin while saving them money and time.
After founding and scaling rental marketplace onefinestay Greg sold out to Accor in 2016. So what does a successful entrepreneur do next? He was waiting on hold with British Gas.
With time on his hands at last, he noticed he’d been ‘accidentally’ moved onto the wrong tariff. Now on track to pay thousands more than he should, Greg saw red. How many others had fallen prey to something similar?
Turns out, it’s happening to almost everybody. Miss a single email, and you get screwed over. The Citizens Advice Bureau found that 8 out of 10 UK households overpay for their utilities: energy, broadband, mobile. When you include TV, insurance, credit cards and mortgages, the typical UK household busy with children is being done out of more than £1,000 a year. With a cost-of-living crisis mounting, is it really fair that households bear the brunt?
In 2020, Greg caught Covid. While he was lying in bed shivering, his wife went into early labour with their second child. On his own in the darkness, he waited anxiously for news from the hospital. Then, finally, the phone rang. It was British Gas.
That’s when it hit him: none of us should be left to deal with the rising cost of living or fighting with the British Gases of the world all alone in the dark. When we’re isolated as individuals, big companies take advantage. But if as householders we had tech to help us club together, get smart and stay vigilant – it would change a game that's been rigged against us.
A few days later, reunited with his family, Greg got to hold his baby daughter for the first time. And in between the naps and the nappies, he started speaking to people he knew – people who could build things, people who could change things...
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You have more power than you think. Start with what you can control and soon you’ll see the difference we can make.
We’re on the side of people, tackling problems households can’t or don’t have time to fix alone.
We’re impatient for progress, we take purposeful action each day, and resist inertia with every step.
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