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‘Let’s run it through Independer’
EVERYONE’S DOING IT
Having come out of nowhere to become one of the market leaders, Independer’s explosive growth as an energy comparison platform is a success story with a disclaimer, says Jaap de Groot, business manager for Energy, Sustainability and Telecommunications. After all, while 2024 was an excellent year, recent events have shown how quickly major global developments can rain on Independer’s parade.
Jaap de Groot
(51), BUSINESS MANAGER FOR ENERGY, SUSTAINABILITY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Let’s go back in time a decade or so. How often did you talk about your energy contract at birthday parties back then? Probably never. And today? Chances are that you’ve spent many a party discussing the pros and cons of fixed and dynamic energy contracts, solar panels and home batteries. De Groot: “For a long time, consumers didn’t have to think about energy because there was always enough of it, and it was cheap to boot.”
After the energy crisis (2021) and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (2022), everything changed. Energy prices soared and Independer was temporarily left with ‘an empty display window’ as energy suppliers withdrew from comparison sites one by one. Customers no longer had a choice, let alone a range of options to compare. Most energy companies shifted to offering contracts exclusively through their own websites.
Independer’s energy comparator is experiencing good growth in 2024: more than 3.3 million consumers visited the energy site.
Still, the market pause turned out to be good for one thing: during that period of standstill, Independer Energy wrote a master plan for the period up to 2026. The goal: to go from an empty display window to market leader within three years. The moment the market picked up, Independer Energy was able to capitalise on the momentum, including with a broad radio and TV campaign. What also helped was signing new partnership agreements with major energy providers.
Equally important were the improvements ‘behind the scenes’ on independer.nl. Energy has become a complex product, with many novelties such as feed-in costs, dynamic energy contracts, the choice of green or grey electricity and uncertainty about falling and rising prices. Independer wants to offer customers peace of mind and make it much easier for them to compare energy contracts, save on fixed costs and switch suppliers.
FROM MAZE TO OVERVIEW
Today, if a consumer enters some consumption data on Independer, they will very quickly get the top three best choices for their specific situation. Even if you are looking for a dynamic energy contract, Independer simplifies the maze of options in a few mouse clicks.
That approach is paying off, as De Groot observed last year. After the market returned with a vengeance (on 1 June 2023), Independer Energy’s market share grew by 146% by the end of the year.
De Groot: “Of course it helped that media wrote a lot about energy issues, mainly because there simply was a lot of news to report.” After all, when Trump or Putin says something about energy, it often directly affects energy prices. “Energy is now top of mind with consumers, which helps us. And, needless to say, we also benefit from the strong brand that Independer is.”
“Energy is now top of mind for consumers”
Independeren
In 2024, many consumers took the advice contained in Independer’s campaign slogan, Even independeren (Let’s run it through Independer), discovering this practice also pays off when it comes to energy. The number of visitors completing the digital journey from making a comparison to signing a new energy contract – known as conversion – grew by a whopping 242% between June 2023 and December 2024.
The question of whether the big goal – to become market leader – has now been achieved cannot be answered unequivocally because competitive figures aren’t public. Joep de Groot “As a result, for the time being we can only make a good estimate of whether we’ve become the market leader or not. Based on what we know, we assume Independer is at the very least tied for first place amongst energy comparison platforms.”
In any case, it’s safe to say that Independer Energy is hot. And it promises to be an even hotter 2025. “Also because we have some great improvements and innovations in store this year. If it’s up to us, we’ll become the undisputed market leader in 2025!”
