Women make up just 16% of the energy sector – OVO wants to change that

• Applications are open to apply for OVO’s Smart Meter Engineer apprenticeship 
• Encouraging female and non-binary uptake, OVO’s aiming to hire a total of 150 apprentices by June 2023
• Research shows that women make up just 16% of the energy sector, with OVO’s own research determining that ‘knowing where to start’ is the biggest barrier women interested in the energy sector face in entering the industry. 

London, 5th April 2023: OVO, one of the UK’s leading green energy suppliers, announces the return of its Smart Meter Engineer apprenticeships. Encouraging uptake from women and non-binary people in particular, OVO’s apprenticeship schemes aim to diversify the energy sector and help close the green skills gap.

Research conducted by the International Energy Agency concluded that women make up only 16% of the energy sector. OVO wants to change this, so the green energy supplier is calling on as many women and non-binary people as possible to apply to its apprenticeship scheme.

OVO is hopeful that this will increase uptake of female and non-binary roles following a survey it conducted among women interested in pursuing a career in the energy sector. Of these, the most significant barrier to breaking into the industry was ‘knowing where to start’ (61%), showing that women are likely to seek a non-traditional route into the sector, like the one made available by apprenticeships like OVO’s scheme. 

To date, over a quarter of OVO applicants have been women, exceeding the industry average.

Aiming to hire 150 new apprentices by June, candidates who complete the full 54 week course will qualify with a Level 2 Diploma in Smart Metering and will be enrolled in full time employment at OVO.

Every apprentice will receive a competitive salary with all training fully paid for by the apprenticeship levy, ensuring apprenticeships do not bear any costs associated with the programme. 

Common to all OVO apprenticeship programmes, candidates are not required to have any qualifications prior to enrolling (just a UK driving licence), giving everybody an equal chance. 

Smart home technologies play a vital role in the green energy transition. By enabling households greater control over their energy consumption, they help accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy grid as the UK heads towards net zero by 2035.

OVO aims to be the UK’s leading green employer, recognising that a strong workforce is a diverse and skilled one. Hoping to inspire more people to pursue a career related to tackling the climate crisis, it launched the OVO Tech Academy last year – an apprenticeship programme focused on supporting more people to kickstart a career in software engineering. 

Charlotte Eaton, Chief People Officer, said:

“Smart Meter Engineers play an increasingly significant role in both the UK and OVO’s pathway to decarbonising homes. Fair representation is a value OVO holds at its core, so we encourage as many women and non-binary people as possible who are passionate about fighting the climate crisis to enrol. I look forward to welcoming them onboard our journey to net zero.”

Find your region and apply on the OVO website now.

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Notes to Editors

For more information please contact:

[email protected]

About OVO:

OVO was founded in 2009 and redesigned the energy experience to be fair, effortless, green and simple for all customers. OVO was awarded Company of the Decade at the BusinessGreen Leaders’ Awards and has won multiple awards, including Innovation Project of the Year, for investing in the market leading technology, customer service operations and digital products to help customers cut their carbon emissions. OVO is on a mission through its sustainability strategy Plan Zero to tackle the most important issue of our time; the climate crisis, by bringing our customers with us on the journey towards zero carbon living. OVO Energy has committed to being a net zero carbon business and achieve bold science-based carbon reduction targets, while helping customers reduce their household emissions at the same time. 

About polling:

Strand Partners’ specialist research team conducted an online survey of 1,025 nationally representative members of the public, online between 6pm Sunday, 26th February and 7am Monday, 27th February 2022. Respondents were selected for representativeness using quotas by age and gender (interlocked) and NUTS 1 regions UK. All data was then weighted against the latest ONS census. Where appropriate, sub-samples of UK drivers and those currently not driving an electric vehicle were only asked questions as part of the survey.

Strand Partners’ online polling studies are accredited by the British Polling Council and conducted under their rules of disclosure. All data gathered is of a publishable quality and is produced within Market Research Society guidelines.

For full data tables and more detail of the methodology, please e-mail: [email protected].