SQE, formerly known as Squeaky Energy, has relaunched as an energy supply platform exclusively for large industrial and commercial (I&C) buyers. The platform enables direct access to wholesale power markets, integrated flexibility, and accurate data for carbon reporting—all in one platform.
Chris Bowden, founder and CEO, SQE, says: “The way energy is supplied – contracted, billed and controlled – hasn’t changed in decades, even though the system behind the scenes has become cleaner and more volatile. You can’t keep bolting new ideas onto broken infrastructure, so we built something new.”
Today’s I&C energy buyers face complex, high-stakes challenges—decarbonise, reduce costs, and gain control. “We built SQE as a platform so we could create the products energy buyers actually need. This marks a new era of energy supply,” said Bowden.
Infrastructure for the clean power era
As part of the company’s new business model, SQE has secured its own supply licence, built a multi-party marketplace, and engineered its own platform – SQEos – to give buyers ownership of how they procure, trace, and manage energy.
At the core of SQE’s model are three next-gen products that redefine how businesses buy, manage, and account for energy:
- Matched Clean Energy: Clean power matched to demand in real time, guaranteeing that up to 90% of supply comes from directly contracted clean generation assets.
- Integrated Demand Side Response (DSR): Reducing risk and turning flexibility into revenue by trading hedges back into the market.
- Modern billing: Half-hourly billing, digital reconciliation, and auditable carbon data to give buyers confidence in Scope 2 and RE100 claims.
Bowden explains the problem with legacy ‘clean’ tariffs and why MCE is important for today’s I&C buyers, “Most clean tariffs rely on REGOs–paper certificates that can be bought long after the electricity was used. They let suppliers claim ‘100% renewable’ even when they deliver fossil power at peak times,” says Bowden. “In reality, this is a loophole, and it’s closing. Our MCE at SQE guarantees a business that its electricity supply is matched in real time by directly contracted clean power.”
Although many businesses will already have flexibility in their energy usage – for example, cold stores can pre-cool and factories can shift loads – most energy suppliers don’t offer DSR as a built in service, and third-party ‘solutions’ often take a proportion of the margin.
“DSR isn’t new, but our approach at SQE is: fully hedged supply with the built-in option to resell at peak prices. That means lower risk, and upside revenue,” says Bowden.
“SQE’s DSR isn’t just about demand shifting, instead it’s an intelligent approach to risk. It enables buyers to hedge fully and lock in 100% of their demand, whilst giving them the option to re-sell that hedge back into the market at peak prices. The benefit to the business is that they are always protected, and they get paid for flexibility.”
Turning corporate power into a business advantage in the cold chain industry
Bowden says: “SQE modelling for a Cold Chain Federation (CCF) member showed a 34.8% saving on a volatile day, by shifting 50% of peak-time load–with no operational disruption. In practice, 5–10% a month is more realistic, but rising non-commodity charges make the case to act now.”
Bowden continues: “Cold stores aren’t just energy users, they’re flexibility assets in disguise. With SQE, that flexibility becomes a built-in source of savings. Our platform lets cold chain operators pre-cool, coast through peak periods, and shift usage without disrupting operations–and without relying on bolt-on schemes, third-party platforms, or opaque rebates. It’s fully integrated, fully auditable, and the value shows up directly on the businesses’ bill.”
