Ripple Energy Reviews

Could not make my final payment. Just checked their reviews and have found out they have gone bust. Thanks for telling us no doubt I would have lost my investment. The Directors would be well cared for got scam written all over it. Have had no return on my investment.

Following on from my prior review, where I had concerns. (ID: 672e1bee07cb7884c1d275fd) It appears these concerns were well founded. Ripple Energy has gone into administration. Though our investments/savings put into the cooperative projects should be safe, due to how they are structured (thankfully), it does bring a lot more chaos to something that really seemed like it would be simple. Thus of course I can't recommend Ripple Energy to anyone anymore. What sucks the most, is I feel liable for the friends I advised to invest, which is a horrible feeling.

Email came in today. I am sorry to inform you that it has been necessary to cause Ripple to cease to trade. The directors have been required to seek the appointment of insolvency practitioners from Begbies Traynor as administrators. The cooperatives Ripple managed will continue to operate under the direction of their respective boards. It is important to remember that the wind farms and solar parks are owned by the respective cooperatives, not Ripple. Generation at Graig Fatha and Kirk Hill wind farms will continue as normal. Operations and maintenance is carried out by third parties, under contract to the wind farms, not Ripple. Derril Water solar park is currently under construction. Construction is led and managed by an experienced third party contractor, they will continue to manage the project’s build on behalf of the cooperative and its members. The administrators are in discussions with the Boards of the cooperatives to try and secure a smooth transition to other parties to manage the projects on behalf of the coops. The administrator will also be in contact with Ripple’s creditors in due course. We will update you further when possible. Sarah

Further to my recent review headed "an uncertain future" we have just been informed that Ripple itself is entering administration. Supposedly the co-ops which own the assets are ok for now (although still deliquent in filing accounts). Hopefully in time we will find out what went wrong.

They have literally just gone into administration this morning. No further information as of now

Ripple have appointed administrators and are going through an insolvency process

I am an investor in two Ripple Energy projects. There have been significant delays in submitting accounts leading to enforcement action by Companies House and the departure in March 2025 of Ripple’s Finance Director. Today I received an email announcing that the company has ceased trading and has appointed administrators. I’m left wondering whether I ever will see my money again. UPDATE- the administrators have published information and FAQs for Ripple’s creditors. You can find this on Begbies Traynor Group’s website.

Very poor communications from management. Now it seems they have applied to appoint an administrator.

Disappointed in the level of communication regarding the problems with filing accounts, HMRC intervention, and auditing, which is all being done behind closed doors. Doesn't feel like we're investors at all. Community forum has been shut down, which is a poor way to engage with the community, who have put their savings on the line. Generally happy with everything else, despite delays to construction (these things happen). Payback is a bit slower than expected, again that's part of the risk you take on and is outside their control. No big deal. My issue is with management and communication, which has left me with a very uneasy feeling as to the safety of my investment in their hands, purely down to its management. They have at least allowed a member's meeting on 27th March, which is going to be eye-opening as it's the only chance members have to ask questions.

Serious issues with Kirk Hill have lead to the whole thing nearly being shut down by HMRC and resignations on the coop board of directors. Now they've shut the community forum to hide.

There have been a number of negative and uninformed comments on here recently about the various Ripple projects. Honestly, it’s all fine and a few people commenting really haven’t understood what they were investing in. I have investments in two of the projects and see them as a very long term investment and as part of my overall portfolio. I certainly don’t expect it to pay for all my electricity use, as some do.

I'm so disappointed that I invested in this company, and wouldn't recommend it to anyone,delay after delay, they give out next to no information on projects so you put your money in then when they do announce it it's a 40 year one , I need to live to 110 years old now to get what I paid in to and it still is running, and now they have blocked people posting in the forum that want answers.

Extremely poor communication - not confident in the security of my money. Steer clear.

Be careful investing with Ripple Energy. They say all the right buzz words for environment, climate and energy saving. However, my subsequent experience with reality and the actual is different. They are selective as to what they answer, quite often don't. I joined them on their third project, Derril Water solar park in early 2023. Their second project Kirk Hill wind turbine farm was under construction. KH came online late, and has had issues since. Many KH members on the Ripple forum not happy, accounts failed to be filed, Companies House put Ripple on report. Same happened with Derril but this month, March 2025, that has been resolved for Derril. There have been sweeping changes of CoOp Board Directors, including Derrill, and independent auditors instructed. As things became more concerned, members expressed concern via the Ripple Community Forum, some expressing concern that direct emails to Ripple being ignored or part answered. I must admit I too have the same experience. They say we, the investors are the owners, Ripple being the management company but I do not feel like an owner, just a money provider. I was still happy with Ripple early 2024 so I invested in Whitelaw Brae, project 4. Within months it deteriorated. Whitelaw Brae was not a sole Ripple project like Derril, it had an owner and that owner sold out to another. All contact frooze with Ripple, all they would say is commercially they cannot comment while negotiating a partnership agreement. That was last September. By early 2025 they assured construction work was ongoing, members are OK but still cannot discuss! This week they have closed the Ripple Community for posting by members saying they are concerned by member comments. I felt member comments were correct bearing in mind Ripple were still keeping us, the owners shut out. We still do not know where we stand with Whitelaw Brae 1 year on. Kirk Hill still has issues, Derril accounts are filed, new directors appointed, new auditor address, I know that as I have registered myself with Companies House to monitor announcements about Derril. From Ripple it is silence on matters that are concerning, then snippets of what they want to say monthly. As owners we are treated like dirt. The following day of closing the Community they then added that due to new impending laws regarding online forums they need to close it to ensure it is ready to conform. Interesting, other forums have not closed! Another reason why since late 2024 I have become none loyal of Ripple is Derril should have come online in Autumn 2024. It is now summer 2025 and summer has a 3 month period, so when in summer. Basically it will be a year late and no explanation. We are given monthly updates on Derril and the early January one said all panels will be completed by end of January, sub stations being built. Yet the February update, coming in early March said only 70% of the panels are up. Yes a video showed a sub station with a roof on. Ripple is still active. There are brief monthly updates. Are they a scam, well Kirk Hill indicates not. Are they business quality minded, from my experience no. I am in Derril and Whitelaw Brae. Cannot request to come out until 2 years after switch on. By then I will stay with them. However I will not invest in another project with them. You are not an owner, just an investor. You are kept in the dark on serious matters. I do not think they are a competent company. Once the project is completed, it is a separate legal entity so hopefully if the end of Ripple comes, we investors can lobby the board of Directors with regards independence. Sad really, the idea is sound. I just think the industry is beyond the current board of directors of Ripple Energy or at the very least Ripple Management are simply aloof to those they need.

Delayed projects and now the back blocked people from commenting or asking questions on the public forum. Sarah and co are very good and greenwashing but avoiding any questions their poor management or lies that have been told

As a long time advocate for sustainable living I really liked the idea of the energy coop and still believe that this is something we should all explore - but definitely not with Ripple. Overall I have found Ripple to be woefully inadequate on virtually every front - apart from signing up and taking money. They were good at that bit. I began to get a bad feeling quite early on when it seemed communication was slow, poor and little more than self congratulating pats on the back. I understand making people feel good .... but you also have to tell us the truth about what we have invested in - like delays when they happen and the need for additional funding. Then goal posts seemed to always move, before being told that everything would be way more expensive due to mistakes, time slippages etc. and you begin to wonder if the management is competent. Have a look at the Derril Water project that is radically different now to when first presented (and after lots of investors had put money in!) Something else that worried me was pre-selling opportunities to be on the waiting list to interested people for £25 when there was absolutely no information about what the next project was (much to the dismay of lots of people who wanted project 3 to be a windfarm but was instead a solar park). Why ask for this money up front when there is enough time for people sign up to these projects when the details are released .... unless you needed a cash injection? Still I kept quiet and hoped for the best. Then the Kirk Hill coop gets a strike off notice towards the end of 2024 from the Financial Conduct Authority due to not filing accounts for 2 years. Seriously worried at this point but Ripple seem to scrabble around and claim to have sorted it (we still have no independent proof of this). Then we find out in February 2025 that Companies House is going to strike off the holding company (which owns all of the assets of the wind farm) due to not filing accounts. If the company is struck off these assets revert to the crown and it would seem we all lose everything. During this latest fiasco we have not been communicated with properly and we are having to find the facts out for ourselves through other institutions. When we do get emails they are basically holding emails with no useful information (or information we found out ourselves several days earlier). In fact the latest email also appears to misrepresent the situation with with Companies House. As an investor in Kirk Hill, I am dismayed to find out this morning that it looks like the same issues affect their first project but the authorities have potentially not issued strike off notices yet (last accounts for the GF coop is from 2022!) and they also received a strike off notice from companies house in 2023 for the ltd company that holds the GF assets - which they managed to sort out. So it seems that they are endlessly repeating the same errors again and again and causing mayhem for those that invested. Currently Ripple appear to have sacked their chief financial officer (who has also left or is leaving all of the individual projects), have had to get an independent accounting firm in to start sorting out some sort of mess (that may well have been years in the making and they are not telling us what this mess is) and it also looks like one of the large institutional investors understandably has stepped in to take a lot more control of the limited company that owns all the assets. As for their score and feedback on here. I see lots of positive posts from people that have paid but not actually got to a finished project that is paying out. As I say, they are good at taking the money. For the negative posts, I am shocked at the manner in which you choose to speak to some of your customers that are unhappy and raised 100% valid concerns and are factually correct. I will be monitoring any responses to this review - so I hope you take the opportunity to explain why the issues above should be forgiven .... as I really want this project to work for everyone but I cannot see how that is going to be case with Ripple.

Their sales blurb is very slick and if you accept their premises lead to glowing opinions. The problems start when you are tied in to a project. There are unforeseen problems that could easily be foreseen. There seems to be very little parallel working so every minor delay has an impact along the entire project. Once a project is functioning there are communication problems, both technical and interpersonal that cause misunderstandings and delays in getting things fixed or payments made to investors/members. The finance/accounting department are not on top of the ever evolving situation to the extent that they miss mandatory deadlines. Not just miss by a day or two but a year or two. As a result of all this Ripple have become a legal and administrative liability. I love the idea of community owned generation but this is not the correct model.