SHEARWATER ENERGY IS THE NEW FIRM VYING TO TAKE A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT TO NORTH WALES, DESPITE ANGRY OPPOSITION FROM LOCAL PEOPLE AND ANTI-NUCLEAR CAMPAIGNERS
TOM PARKS, FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY, HAS ALREADY BECOME A PAYDAY LOANS TYCOON THROUGH HIS OTHER TWO SUCCESSFUL LENDING COMPANIES
VOICE.WALES HAS FOUND THAT SHEARWATER ENERGY SHARES ITS OFFICES WITH TWO OF PARKS’ PAYDAY FIRMS, ONE OF WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN ATTACKED OVER TARGETING VULNERABLE STUDENTS
WELSH GOVERNMENT IS DETERMINED TO PRESS AHEAD WITH NUCLEAR POWER ON THE NORTH COAST, DESPITE WARNINGS FROM DISASTER-HIT FUKUSHIMA RESIDENTS.
Shearwater Energy is the company hoping to profit off a controversial nuclear power plant in North Wales, according to reports on a new planning application for the site.
The Wylfa B site had been slated as a launchpad for Japanese megacompany Hitachi in their bid to develop the dangerous nuclear energy industry in Wales, but they were recently forced to pull out after a series of embarrassing attempts to secure permission to set up shop.
Shearwater Energy has now entered the arena with the added selling point of having some of the energy generated there through a bolt-on wind farm.
It’s clear that the Welsh Government aren’t giving up on their vision of a nuclear North Wales, despite warnings from people who lived through a nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Welsh Government are instead “exploring all available options” to “support a developer to make Wylfa a reality”, according to BBC sources.
Shearwater Energy and “Morally Bankrupt” Payday Loans.
So who runs Shearwater Energy, the latest bidder on the market?
The founder of the company is Tom Parks, a 32-year-old Civil Engineering graduate from the University of Warwick who has had several burgeoning firms.
After a summer in 2010 working as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, one of the companies at the heart of the 2008 financial crash, Parks got to work starting his own business.
Parks made his fortune through the notoriously predatory payday loans industry, with one of his companies specifically targeting hard-up university students.
Based in Leamington Spa, Smart-Pig.com was founded by Parks and Shreiff Benaziza in 2012 “by students for students” as a noble cause, the company blog says, because the idea was apparently “a spin-off from a protest against short-term lending” to go “head-to-head with the big, ugly giants.”
The company’s heart-warming origin story – repeated in press coverage as they were shortlisted for industry awards – was that one of the founders had once had a bad experience with an overbearing payday lender which spurred him to found the company.
But the lender was singled out by Labour MP Stella Creasy alongside campaigners seeking tougher regulation in the industry.
The unique selling point for Smart-Pig.com, and why it is a fantastic business opportunity that made its owners rich, is that a student loan is a much more reliable source of income to borrow against than a wage – but means that the company is in effect “double lending” and just compounding more debt on broke students.
In response, Parks told the press back in 2014 that they were doing students a favour: “Without a champion in this niche students would continue to borrow from mainstream lenders with strong brands and dubious ethics.”
But Parks has an interesting idea of what constitutes a favour. The annual percentage rate (APR) interest tacked on to loans was a staggering 1089%, later reduced to 781% after being contacted by the press. The reduction was a coincidence, says the company, because rates are “recalculated regularly”.
At time of writing customers expect to face an eye-watering 1017% APR interest.
Smart-Pig.com was also referred to the Advertising Standards Authority for a promotional competition giving the chance for hard-up students to win “a term’s rent” worth up to £3500.
Financial journalist Martin Lewis called the firm “morally bankrupt” in response to the campus adverts.
Shearwater Energy founder Tom Parks also set up Buffa, another payday loan company which has a wider customer base than just desperate students and boasts that it will take applications from even those struggling with bad credit.
Those unfortunate enough to take out a £750 Buffa loan for 6 months will have to face repaying £1,438.
Legal loan-sharking has made Parks a fortune large enough to set his eyes on adding nuclear power operator to his CV, but what do these enterprises have in common?
Shearwater Energy, Buffa, and Smart-Pig.com (registered as FCL Consumer Finance Ltd) are all run out of the same offices in Leamington Spa.
The unfortunate truth is that Tom Parks is no anomaly in our economic system, which rewards grotesque levels of exploitation and those who prey on the most vulnerable.
Nuclear Energy: “The Wrong Choice”
Local campaigners and environmentalists say the new nuclear plans for Anglesey should be scrapped entirely, and should not be considered at all by a business sharing the same premises as notorious payday lenders preying on vulnerable customers.
Robat Idris, spokesman for People Against Wylfa B, told voice.wales: “The revelations about Shearwater Energy demonstrate yet again how companies with poor or no track record gain widespread coverage by the conventional media on the basis of what appears to be pure speculation.”
“The public and politicians of all parties owe a debt of gratitude for the uncovering of the background of this company.”
Local anti-nuclear campaigners highlight that there is “no satisfactory solution” to the waste produced by nuclear power plants, and the by-products of energy production will be a problem for generations to come at facilities like Shearwater is proposing.
The dangers of nuclear waste was brought to attention recently by the dumping of waste from Hinkley Point into the sea off Cardiff. People are also worried that Welsh Government would accept the Trident nuclear missile programme in the event of Scotland voting for independence.
The threat of nuclear catastrophe was highlighted when the ex-Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, visited Wales to warn Anglesey residents of the Fukushima disaster that has blighted Japan’s Pacific coast with dangerous radiation for centuries to come.
In 2015, one Fukushima evacuee cautioned the people of Wales: “Please learn from our mistake. You do not want to apologise to your own children, to your grandchildren for making the wrong choice before they were even born.” The Fukushima disaster was so bad it was classed along with Chernobyl as Level 7 – the highest level – on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
Campaigners will continue to fight against a nuclear plant in North Wales, especially one with Shearwater’s track-record in business.
PAWB’s Robat Idris continued: “Welsh Government in particular should be expected to carry out due diligence on any company seeking to exploit nuclear for commercial gain.”
“It is high time for Welsh Government’s obsession with nuclear to be consigned to the waste bin of history.”
Shearwater Energy has been contacted for comment.
