Since attending The University of Auckland from 2007-2010, Dan Munro has played an increasingly pivotal role in the success of Please Connect Me Ltd. Having been initially appointed in 2011 in New Zealand as Business Development Manager for Fast Connect (the brand from which Please Connect Me originated), Dan has now been CEO for Please Connect Me for over 8 years. The company has since achieved rapid growth due to its innovative business model, which simplifies the process of setting up essential services for those moving home by allowing them to get all their utility connections sorted in one place, for free, in just a few minutes… 

Q. As somebody who works closely with many of the top utility providers, we thought you could confidently provide us with an accurate prediction in relation to utility costs. With the UK having been in an energy crisis for so long, will our energy bills be going down? If so, when?

A. The UK has indeed been battling an energy crisis for more than 2 years, but I can confidently report that things are finally returning to something like ‘normal’. Some good news at last!

The UK updates its energy price cap (the maximum amount a supplier can charge for energy), every 3 months. After the biggest fall to date occurred from April 1st (a 12% decrease), Ofgem have confirmed that prices will fall again from July 1st.

The better news is that this price fall is giving suppliers the confidence to start offering more competitive plans, meaning we can now save you even more money by switching suppliers!

Q. It’s probably fair to say that most of us don’t like to deal with councils, water companies and utility providers. How do you make it easier?

A. Patience… and persistence!

Fortunately, we’ve been able to develop relationships and processes over a long period of time, meaning that negotiating these companies is a bit easier for us than for the average home mover.

We find that one of the most important things is making sure to use both accurate and complete information when notifying these providers, and if things don’t go to plan, knowing who to contact and how to speak with them to get the best result.

All our advisors are considered ‘Connections Experts’ for a reason!

Q. With the growing awareness of climate change, it seems that every energy company is promoting 100% renewable energy. Are energy companies as green as they say they are?

A. In short, no, not really. It’s great that energy companies are recognising the need to be more proactive in terms of their green initiatives. However, in most cases there is a lot more that they could be doing.

Many publicly available tariffs for consumers now promote ‘100% renewable energy’. The truth is that less than half of energy generated in the UK comes from renewable sources (around 40%).

They can make a 100% renewable claim by purchasing certificates of renewable energy generation. In reality, many will not generate any renewable energy themselves. Or even buy energy from renewable generators.

There are a lot of metrics to determine who are the ‘real’ green providers. We’ve found the best overall analysis comes from ‘Which’, who have summarised the calculations for us.

More info here.

Q. It hasn’t been a great period for the property market – less turnover in rentals and fewer buyers. With interest rates so high, how has that changed the perception of an extra service like yours?

A. The squeeze in the property market has meant that property professionals are looking for new ways to cut down on costs, stand out from their competitors and create new revenue channels.

We like to think that we can help with all three!

Transferring utilities for tenants and landlords is time-consuming, without being particularly rewarding. When partners utilise our service, we manage this process, completely, for free.

We also pride ourselves on being the highest-rated utility concierge service in the UK. Our goal here is to act as an extension of our partners, complimenting and (hopefully) improving the service they offer to their clients.

Finally, one of the main reasons that our partners align with us is that we pay commission for referrals. The fact that they can access new revenue without adding work to their existing process means there has been a great uptick in interest across a number of companies in the ‘moving-home’ space. Quite honestly, we’re just happy to help.

Q. AI is everywhere at the moment. Do you see AI having a significant impact on the utility space?

 A. Of course! It isn’t yet obvious what the best-case scenario will be, but I think it’s quite clear that there are massive inefficiencies in dealing with utility providers across the board.

As a starting point we recognise that there is a multitude of information out there. Having a coherent way to receive and answer questions about utilities would be a massive benefit to consumers.

The difficulty is that the information is changing all the time. In the past couple of years, we’ve seen councils merging and prices changing a lot more than usual. The energy crisis has created more confusion than anything. So, even with AI, the difficulty of navigating all of that is very high.

In any case, that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, when AI inevitably becomes the ‘norm’, I won’t be out of a job!

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