physics

Our Power

Our Power is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Our Power rather than just read about it. In short: Our Power was an energy supply company backed by the Scottish government, one of the first in the UK to operate on a non-profit distribution basis. Our Power was entirely asset-locked, being owned by social housing providers, community organisations and local authorities.

Key takeaways

Our Power belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Our Power to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Our Power from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Our Power was an energy supply company backed by the Scottish government, one of the first in the UK to operate on a non-profit distribution basis. Our Power was entirely asset-locked, being owned by social housing providers, community organisations and local authorities. The company failed to make a profit and ceased to trade on 25 January 2019. Subsequently, industry regulator Ofgem arranged for Utilita Energy to take over its 31,000 customers.

History Established in 2016 with 53 housing associations and local authorities as members, the company broadened its investor-base in late 2017 after raising £4.4 million from 301 investors via a social purpose bond. By the time it ceased trading, the company had received funds of £16.6m (including £9.8m from the Scottish government) via Our Power Community Benefit Society Limited. At first the company relied on the member organisations switching the supply at their vacant properties to Our Power, in the hope that the incoming tenants would remain with the company. The company began to supply the wider market in Scotland in October 2017 and expanded to England and Wales in early 2018. In early 2019, around 80% of customers were in Scotland. Trading losses were £1.9m in 2016 and almost £5m in 2017. In 2018 the directors of the community benefit society considered that further funding in the region of £7m was required.

Operations

Personnel and members Our Power was based in Edinburgh and had 68 employees when it entered administration. By 2018 it worked with 67 social housing providers, community organisations and local authorities.

Expansion and diversification The company partnered with the charity Money Advice Scotland in late 2017 to launch a variable tariff for customers on restricted meters, who are unable to switch providers or access tariffs available to single-rate meter customers. With the aim of turning a profit by 2020, its fourth year of operation, Our Power extended their membership to include a Welsh housing association.

+IMPACT tariff In February 2018, Our Power introduced its first UK-wide tariff called +IMPACT, which the company defined as "100% green". It aimed to be competitively priced, with the ultimate goal being to "secure thousands of ethically-minded energy customers" by the end of the year. Our Power developed the tariff to bring energy costs down for families living in or at risk of fuel poverty.

Renewable energy investment In 2018, Our Power partnered with Mongoose Energy for the purpose of creating 'Our Community Energy', a renewable energy investment scheme, which directly linked renewable generation and not-for-profit ownership. The community organisation was launched in response to a survey which had found that more than a third of Scots (36%) admitted to living in fuel poverty, suggesting that this was particularly acute in the case of millennials, with over half of those aged 18–34 (56%) directly impacted. The scheme intended to take supplies from two Scottish community-owned wind-power projects, so that the companies could offer less expensive electricity to those most in need of cheaper energy. The wind farms in Pogbie, East Lothian, and Brockholes, Berwickshire aspired to raise £2.9 million through bond and equity offers.

Failure Our Power Energy Supply Limited entered administration on 31 January 2019 with net debt of £29.9 million, including £4.9m owed to its parent community benefit society, and £3.3m owed to Utilita. The community benefit society also entered administration.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Our Power

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Our Power claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Our Power before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Our Power ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Our Power

In research: Our Power appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Our Power in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Our Power is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2016 establishments in Scotland, 2019 disestablishments in Scotland, British companies disestablished in 2019, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Our Power outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Our Power in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Our Power means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Our Power out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Our Power in simple terms?

Why does Our Power matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Our Power?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Our Power.