In ancient Greece, Helios was regarded as the god of the sun. Further, Greeks also believed he was traveling across the sky in a chariot from east to west on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Beatles George Harrison’s classic hit “Here Comes the Sun” hailed the sun as a sign of hope. As people continue to confront daily challenges in their lives, the song from the Abbey Road album describes that stage as the “long, cold, lonely winter” will eventually change when the sun comes in.
Here comes Helios
The entry of startup Helios in the local market is a big relief to many Filipinos who have to regularly reckon with the continuous increase in power rates. According to PowerPhilippines.com, Filipinos are paying one of the highest electricity prices per kilowatt hour (kWh) in Southeast Asia, second only to Singapore, according to information presented by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).
Based on information from its January 2022 research, the PCIJ said Singapore has the highest rate P10.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWH) while the country’s electricity prices stood at P 9.86 kWH while Malaysia has the lowest price in the region at P 1.42/kWh.
In November last year, Filipino-American Alex Aronson and Singaporean Hsin Yao Cheng realized they have a good opportunity to provide a solution to this problem. During their meeting, Aronson and Hsin Yao agreed that providing solar technology to residential homes would be a good business opportunity and also enable them to pursue their passion of serving customers.
“We settled on solar because we want to solve consumer problems. We started talking in November last year,” Aronson told the BusinessMirror in an interview in Makati City.
“Power consumption is one of the pain points of Filipinos and so Helios saw the opportunity to help Filipino consumers to reduce their monthly power bills,” Aronson added.
Aronson, co-founder and chief commercial officer (CCO) of Helios, said this is also giving back to his Filipino heritage with the mission of making solar power a default option for the Filipino family. Meanwhile, founder and partner Hsin Yao Cheng, a former investment banker now based in Singapore, wants to explore the business opportunity in the region focusing on the consumer sector.
Furthermore, Helios wanted a solar program that is affordable and that’s easy to adopt and Aronson pointed out that using solar energy should be accessed by as many people as possible.
Helios is currently engaged in installing solar in residential homes, which actually can be easily installed with the assistance of a technical crew from Helios.
Aronson said every Helios customer will get a free consultation that comes with a free design to determine their ideal design based on their consumption. After finalizing the design, Helios will match the client with the best financing option available from its partner bank—the Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Moreover, Helios expects to onboard other leading banks in the country to give clients the option to choose their prefeered bank.
Aronson assured all the materials in the solar equipment will be made from quality materials. Customer care services are given a premium as Helios offers a 24×7 support system. “We offer a 25-year service guarantee for their clients.
Right now, Helios has completed seven solar mortgages and is currently finishing 100 solar installation projects.
According to its website, Helios cited three homeowners who benefitted from using Helios’ solar system. A Quezon City using a 12 kilowatt system is generating P13,000 monthly savings. In Makati City, a Helios client is saving P10,000 a month using a 9 kilowatt system.
The partnership with BPI
The partnership with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) offers competitive interest rates on the solar loans. Through its bank partnership, Helios has been able to unlock favorable bank interest rates for the customers, providing more accessible and cost-effective financing options compared to in-house financing from other solar companies, which might have significantly higher rates. It plans to sign up the other banks in the country.
“Solar basically has a simple design. Through satellite imagery, we match them with the client.We’re happy with BPI,” he said.
Typically, the average payback period for a solar energy system is around 4-5 years. However, with Helios, customers can potentially achieve an immediate payback if they zero out their electricity bills through the system’s performance.
Aronson said installing solar panels increases the value of the house. “Our bank partnerships enable us to unlock favorable bank interest rates for our customers, providing more accessible and cost-effective financing options compared to in-house financing from other solar companies, which might have significantly higher rates.
The next wave will be composed of developers, real estate brokers and contractors,” said Aronson.