How OVO Energy scaled their solar & heat pump operations with Payaca

About OVO Solar and Heating: OVO Solar and Heating is a new venture within the OVO Energy Group, launched in early 2025 to bring renewable energy installations to UK households at scale. Rather than operating in-house installation teams, they pioneered a franchise model partnering with the UK's best regional installers.

The challenge

When launching OVO Solar and Heating, CTO Andy Sellick faced a critical technology decision: build their own installer management platform in-house, or partner with an existing solution.

With his experience scaling Love Holidays from 8 engineers to a £1 billion valuation, Andy understood the true cost of building technology teams. He also knew from his time at Kantan (a similar field service platform) just how complex this space could be.

The requirements were clear:

• Support a rapidly scaling franchise network (targeting 25+ franchises within 18 months)
• Keep technical costs and overheads low
• Deliver a complete solution quickly without massive upfront investment
• Maintain startup agility within a corporate environment
• Specialised for renewable energy workflows (solar, heat pumps, battery storage)

Why Payaca

"There was nobody we could see in the market that offered a tenth of what Payaca did within the renewable energy space."

— Andy Sellick, CTO, OVO Solar and Heating

Andy evaluated major CRM platforms and field service tools, but Payaca stood out for three critical reasons:

1. Out-of-the-box strength for renewable energy

"Payaca came out the box with a really strong base level package. Whereas a lot of big CRM tools out there don't improve your operational efficiency anywhere near as Payaca does."

Unlike generic CRM systems that require months of customisation, Payaca delivered renewable energy-specific functionality immediately:

• DNO application workflows
• MCS compliance tracking
• Solar and heat pump project management
• Installer-specific customer journey tools

2. Partnership, not just a vendor

"You and your team have been just a joy to work with. Really honest conversations about 'we could do things this way', but you guys also calling out and saying 'actually a better approach would be to do it this way'. That's exactly the kind of relationship that I want."

Rather than forcing OVO into a rigid platform, Payaca worked collaboratively to deepen integrations and build custom API connections that aligned with OVO's specific needs.

3. Quality at speed

"I can't really even think of more than one or two bugs that we've seen within the system at all, full stop. Within the eight months we've been working together... that is testament to a team that is moving that quickly, that is delivering such quality."

For an enterprise operation managing customer installations worth millions, reliability isn't optional. Payaca delivered continuous improvements without compromising quality.

The solution

Single source of truth for franchise operations

Payaca became the central platform powering OVO Solar and Heating's entire franchise network:

Customer experience layer:

• OVO owns the customer-facing journey and experience
• Payaca handles all installer operations and project management
• Seamless integration between OVO's customer portal and installer workflows

Franchise enablement:

• 12 franchises at time of writing and growing fast, all operating on a single unified platform
• Consistent data across all regional installers
• Centralised visibility for OVO operations team
• Local flexibility for installer teams

Integration architecture:

• API connections built rapidly to support OVO's needs
• Telephony integration with call recording and transcripts
• Quality management tools (Safety Culture) integration
• Future: WhatsApp messaging, OVO tariff integration, AI sentiment analysis

Lower technical costs:

• Avoided the "multiple millions" required to build in-house
• Smaller OVO technical team focused solely on customer experience
• Faster time to market than building internally
• No ongoing maintenance burden of custom-built platform

The results

"We really understood the complexities of that space and quite what is involved... what was really clear to me was that was not an area that we wanted to invest our money in because you'd never win in that competition. There are dedicated companies like Payaca who are going to own that market."

— Andy Sellick, CTO, OVO Solar and Heating

Key outcomes:

• ✅ 12 franchises onboarded and growing fast - rapid expansion within first 8 months
• ✅ Single source of truth for customer data across entire franchise network
• ✅ Lower technical costs compared to building in-house platform
• ✅ Faster time to market – launched and scaled rapidly without building custom software
• ✅ Exceptional reliability – minimal bugs in production despite rapid deployment
• ✅ Continuous evolution – regular API and feature enhancements without disruption

Looking ahead

"I can see where this product is going to be in the next year, two years and it is going to be game-changing for the market."

— Andy Sellick, CTO, OVO Solar and Heating

OVO Solar and Heating continues to deepen their Payaca integration with planned enhancements:

• OVO tariff integration for customer propositions
• WhatsApp customer communications
• AI-powered call transcription and sentiment analysis
• Quality assurance workflow automation
• Expanded API capabilities for custom OVO workflows

Andy's excitement about Payaca's roadmap reflects his rare perspective as a technology leader who has scaled both startups and enterprise operations:

"It's very rare that I get excited about a product that I don't actually build myself. The reason I'm so excited is I can see where it's come from and where it is today, but I can also see where it's going."

About Andy Sellick

CTO, OVO Solar and Heating

Andy brings unique experience scaling technology from startup to enterprise. Before OVO, he was CTO at Love Holidays, where he led growth from 8 engineers and a £30 million valuation to a £1 billion company. He applies this startup mindset to OVO's corporate environment, focusing on speed, customer experience, and smart technology partnerships over building everything in-house.

Watch the full interview

Hear Andy Sellick discuss the full OVO Solar and Heating journey, their franchise model, and why they chose Payaca as their technology partner.

"Payaca is really the biggest enabler for us to be able to create that big package for our customers. The innovation we're building on top of Payaca is super exciting over the next few years."

— Andy Sellick, CTO, OVO Solar and Heating