Category: email

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

Our AGM took place on 25th February 2026. The meeting was well attended and quorate. Thank you to everyone who attended.

We were pleased to announce the results of the recent election and welcome Nigel Cooper to the board as the newest director.

Other highlights from the meeting included a quick overview of accounts, preparations for the legal case and the creditors committee.

The slides from the AGM and the video of the AGM are available at ​https://coop4.uk/agm2026​

We will add answers to the questions raised via the FAQ (Frequently Added Questions) list at ​Frequently Asked Questions – Ripple Coop 4 Limited​ as time permits.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena Nigel and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

As previously announced, our AGM will take place on 25th February 2026 starting at 7:30pm. Please click on this link to access the AGM – ​coop4.uk/agm2026​

Agenda

The agenda for the meeting is:

1. Update on the status of the Coop
2. Announce the results of the election.

Microsoft Teams

Please note the AGM will use Microsoft Teams. Once again, we will be using a corporate version with access kindly donated for free by a friend of the Coop. This enables us to provide access to the AGM for all of our members.

We suggest that you have the Teams application downloaded onto your device and set up ahead of the meeting. MS Teams can be downloaded for free at this link ​https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/download-app​

If you already have Teams and use it for work, you should log out of your work version and your work security rules may prevent you from accessing the meeting.

Questions at the AGM

We will answer some questions at the meeting that have been submitted ahead of time. Please check the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page – ​coop4.uk/faq​ to see if your question has already been answered and if not, please use the form at the bottom of the page to submit your question. The deadline for questions is Tuesday at 8pm.

Are members who have received refunds, still members?

There have been questions on WhatsApp, the FAQ form as well as email concerning the membership status of those members who have received refunds of their membership dues via chargeback or Section 75 claims.

The rules concerning terminal of membership are specified under Clause 14 of the coop rules. These are available at ​https://files.coop4.uk/ripple_coop4_rules.pdf​. Withdrawal of share capital is described in section 17.

It is the view of the board that members who have received refunds of their membership dues via chargeback or Section 75 remain members of the Coop until otherwise notified.

All Members have the right to participate in general meetings (Clause 12). We encourage you to attend the meeting as we do need to achieve a quorum at the meeting.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

An update on the plans for holding an AGM.

Our AGM will take place on 25th February 2026 starting at 7:30pm. We will send out the details of how to attend closer to the time.

In preparation for the AGM, we planned to hold elections for Directors to be part of the Coop’s Board. On 22 December 2025, we announced via email that our website was to accept nominations for those wishing to stand for election to the board. The system closed for nominations at 23:59 on 10 January 2026.

Elections are not necessary

We have received an insufficient number of nominations to require an election but sufficient number to have a quorate board. Therefore, we will not be holding the elections that we had planned to hold before the AGM. We will announce the new board at the AGM and the new board will take office at the end of the AGM.

Are members who have received refunds, still members?

There have been questions on WhatsApp, the FAQ form as well as email concerning the membership status of those members who have received refunds of their membership dues via chargeback or Section 75 claims.

The rules concerning terminal of membership are specified under Clause 14 of the coop rules. These are available at ​https://files.coop4.uk/ripple_coop4_rules.pdf​. Withdrawal of share capital is described in section 17.

It is the view of the board that members who have received refunds of their membership dues via chargeback or Section 75 remain members of the Coop until otherwise notified.

All Members have the right to participate in general meetings (Clause 12). We encourage you to attend the meeting as we do need to achieve a quorum at the meeting.

Court Hearing

You may recall that Begbies Traynor, the administrator of Ripple Energy, stated in their progress report that have been advised to apply for Court directions regarding the status of £6.8m held in a Ripple Energy account. They anticipate a court hearing to be held in “early 2026”. The board is continuing to prepare to attend the hearing. Thanks to the generous response to our fundraising appeal via ​GoFundMe​, the preparation work includes working with external legal advisors. We cannot share any more detail at this stage, but we are acting in the best interests of the Coop and its members, and we believe our case has strong merit.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

An update on the plans for holding an AGM.

Our AGM will take place on 25th February 2026 starting at 7:30pm.

In preparation for the AGM, we will be holding elections for five Directors to be part of the Coop’s Board.

Four members of the board have terms that expire at the AGM and a fifth board membership is vacant due to the resignation of Thomas Prior for personal reasons earlier this year. Two other board members will continue until later next year – see ​https://coop4.uk/board-of-directors/​ for the details of the directors and their term limits.

At the time of writing, all four Directors whose terms expire will be seeking re-election to the board. However, there is still the opportunity for members to stand for election to be on the board instead of, or in addition to, the current directors.

Nominations are now open for those who wish to put themselves forward as Directors.

Please note that being a director is a significant time commitment on your part. Board meetings are an hour or two every other week, other work is also required. The minimum you should plan on committing is 4 hours per week and often more. This is not to discourage you, but to be realistic about the commitment you will be making. Directors are not paid for their work on the Board.

A full guide to acting as a Director can be found at here. By submitting a nomination, you confirm that you have read and agree to the expectations set out in this document. You are also confirming that you are eligible to be a director. If you are elected, you will be required to sign a Non Disclosure Statement within 7 days of the election. A copy of the NDA is included in the Director’s Manual. Some employers restrict their employees from becoming directors of other companies and organisations while some allow only certain types of organisations and others may want to review the NDA. We ask that you review your employment agreement(s) for any constraints prior to nomination.

Should you wish to put yourself forward as a Director, you will need to submit a statement of up to 200 words and a photograph, using our online elections platform. Nominations will be accepted through the system until 23:59 on 10 January 2026.

Platform Login: ​https://coop4.uk/election/​

Registered Email Address: The email that you used to sign up to Ripple Energy

Membership Number: You can find this on your email from us. It is the same as other ex-Ripple Coops you may be part of

Voting will open later in January and the results will be announced at the AGM.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

An update on the plans for holding an AGM.

We plan to hold the AGM online on 25th February 2026 starting at 7:30pm. There are three main agenda items planned:

1. The election of board members. Some members of the board have terms that expire at the AGM, while two other board members will continue until later next year. — see ​https://coop4.uk/board-of-directors/​ for the details of the directors and their term limits.
   
   At the time of writing, all the directors, whose terms expire, will be seeking re-election to the board. However, there is still the opportunity for members to stand for election to be on the board instead of, or in addition to, the current members.
   
   We will be using an online voting system to vote for the candidates. While we firm up the details, now is the time to consider if you wish to stand for election to the board and to start working on a candidate statement. This should be a short summary of what you offer and why you would be a good choice for members.
   
   Please note that being a director is a significant time commitment on your part. Board meetings are an hour or two every other week, other work is also required. The minimum you should plan on committing is 4 hours per week and often more. This is not to discourage you, but to be realistic about the commitment you will be making. Directors are not paid for their work on the Board.
2. A general update on the Coop and the work of the Board, including any available updates on our legal case.
3. Update on the position of the financial accounts.

As always, every member of the Board appreciates your continued support, assistance and constructive feedback.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

The crisp morning air confirms that autumn is here and for some it’s even half-term break soon. Meanwhile, here’s what we’ve been up to at Coop4…

Begbies Traynor, the administrators for Ripple Energy published their first progress report on time on the 16th October 2025 – see ​https://coop4.uk/documents/​

• The Board has met and discussed the progress report.
• There are a number of things in the report that we don’t agree with, and we have responded to them via our legal representatives. We are particularly confused by the Administrators’ assertion that they have provided support to the Coop under the Management Services Agreement (MSA). They have not.
• The main news item in the report is that Begbies state that they have received “specialist legal counsel” advice regarding the status of the £6.8m that they placed into a separate ‘ring-fenced’ account. They also state that they were advised to apply for Court directions regarding the status of the funds. They anticipate a Court hearing to be held in “early 2026”. Begbies did not give us any prior notice about this step being taken and representations have been made to them about that.

Thanks to the generous response to our fundraising appeal via ​GoFundMe​, we are pleased to tell you that we have also been able to obtain legal advice from a specialist barrister. As a result of this advice, we have sent legal communications to Begbies regarding Ripple Energy and the funds they collected from Coop 4 members. We cannot share any more detail at this stage, but we are acting in the best interests of the Coop and its members, and we believe our case has strong merit.

However, legal advice is expensive and, with the prospect of a court case in 2026, there is the possibility that we may need to seek more support.

Thank you to Tom Prior

Tom Prior has resigned from the Coop 4 Board with immediate effect for personal reasons. Tom has been involved with our campaign from the earliest days of Ripple’s administration. He co-formed the Friends of Whitelaw Braw group and organised the petition that initiated our first members’ meeting and put in place the steps to bring the Board together.

Tom will be known to many members due to his (often unglamorous) role of moderating WhatsApp groups and answering emails from members and maintaining our website. He has been a strong voice for members on the Board and will be missed. We wish Tom all the best for his future endeavours.

Support from our community

The ​community chat area​ continues to be very active.

• Some members report that they have been successful in recovering their funds using chargeback and section 75 claims from their credit card issuers. For an outline of the process see ​https://coop4.uk/chargeback-process-outline/​
• Others are struggling with their banks, notably Starling and Revolut.

In some cases, members have complained to the Financial Ombudsman. It is encouraging to see the community spirit of a co-operative society alive in the forums where members actively help each other with their claims. Board members spend time managing the forums and assisting as well, but we also want to acknowledge three volunteers in particular: Maria Sale, Hannah C and Kerry Fletcher (‘KF’). All actively republish guidance many times a day when new members join. They refine guidance when needed, researching and writing new guidance where there’s a gap as well as patiently answering questions. Thank you to the three of you and also to everyone else who helps! We appreciate the support.

A reminder to look at our website for information:

• For an outline of the charge-back and section 75 process see ​https://coop4.uk/chargeback-process-outline/​
• Many of the documents you will need are under ​https://coop4.uk/documents/​
• Answers to many frequently asked questions are here – ​https://coop4.uk/faq/​

Many of the answers to questions are there and, while we all like to help, we’d all prefer you to have looked there before asking.

AGM

The last item of news is that we plan to hold the AGM online soon. We will have more details in the next update and, in the meantime, please think about whether you would be interested in joining the Board…

As always, every member of the Board appreciates your continued support, assistance and constructive feedback.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

We hope you have enjoyed the summer. We’ve continued work on the items mentioned in the previous update:

• A bank account has been opened for the Coop.

• Security checks with ​GoFundMe​ have been completed and the transfer of the funds that were raised to the bank account has been initiated. Once again, thank you to all of you who contributed!

• We’ve completed the production of detailed instruction to Counsel

• Counsel has been selected and we are beginning that interaction. We will have to complete further ID checks for compliance.

• Data collection and investigation regarding member payments made via bank transfer continues, but no new information has been found

• Governance related items such as insurance for Coop directors and membership of Co-ops UK

• Media engagement continues to help ensure fair and accurate representation of the situation facing members

• Many members are reporting in the ​community chat​ that they have been successful in recovering their funds using chargeback and section 75 claims.

As always, every member of the Board appreciates your continued support, assistance and constructive feedback. We would again like to state our thanks to members of this community for engaging with each other in such a remarkably helpful manner in our ​community chat​.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Tom, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

Here is the latest update for Ripple Coop 4 Limited.

It may appear at times that not much is happening, but we continue to work on multiple streams of investigation and preparation for further engagement with Begbies Traynor, namely:

• The production of detailed instruction to Counsel

• Shortlisting and final selection of Counsel

• Data collection and investigation regarding member payments made via bank transfer

• Governance related items such as insurance for Coop directors and membership of Co-ops UK

• Set up of a bank account for Coop 4

• Completing the necessary checks that will allow us to draw down funds donated to Coop 4 via GoFundMe

• Media engagement to help ensure fair and accurate representation of the situation facing members

Begbies Traynor report that the creditors committee did not receive sufficient nominations. We coordinated with other Coops to ensure that other nominations were made and have asked Begbies Traynor for clarification.

As always, every member of the Board appreciates your continued support, assistance and constructive feedback. We would again like to state our thanks to members of this community for engaging with each other in such a remarkably helpful manner in our ​community chat​.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Tom, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

Here is the latest update for Ripple Coop 4 Limited.

The short version:

• We have a new member of the Board of Directors – Sheena Tay Schyma
• Legal: The steps to get legal advice are underway
• BTG: Some members of the Board met with BTG; formal legal opinion on the status of members’ money is at least several months away.
• Following the money
• FAQ – The answers to many questions have been published at ​coop4.uk/faq​

New Board Member – Sheena Tay-Schyma

We are pleased to be able to announce that Sheena Tay-Schyma has joined the Board. Sheena responded to our call for directors earlier in the year. The confirmation and announcement of her board appointment was delayed until her employer approved her becoming a volunteer director and signing our NDA. Sheena is an ESG investment specialist, chartered accountant and was previously a tax advisor. Details of all our board members backgrounds are available at ​https://coop4.uk/board-of-directors/​.

Thank you to everyone else that volunteered, we truly appreciate it.

Legal Advice

The steps to obtain advice continue. Board members Sonya Leydecker and Jetinder Shergill have had a meeting with one legal firm for a preliminary discussion of relevant issues and how most effectively to use our funds to obtain early, formal, opinions on them. Discussions continue, but the likely route is to instruct a barrister to advise on threshold issues. We are currently taking the necessary steps to do that, including considering which barristers to instruct.

BTG Meeting

Several members of the board met online with Craig Purvey and Josh Lloyd from BTG, Ripple Energy’s administrators for an update on Ripple’s administration and to understand how we can help. The offer to help was welcomed.

• BTG updated us that formal legal opinion on the state of the members fees is not expected for several more months. Until this is received, the administration cannot proceed.
• The Creditors committee has not been formed yet as while member nomination forms were received from Coop 4 and others, the required quorum was not met and they will be recirculating nomination forms. (Now completed).

Following the Money…

We are working on building an understanding of where the money that we paid for wattage fees and administration fees actually went as part of the preparation for obtaining legal opinions. The starting point is which bank accounts money was paid to. Many members paid by credit or debit card, but some paid by bank transfer to 09-02-22, 10899940. Please check your invoice/receipts and if you paid by bank transfer to another account, please let us know by email at ​[email protected]​

We’ve also asked the other coops for information and placed requests on facebook and WhatsApp.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Tom, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited

Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,

Here is the latest update for Ripple Coop 4 Limited.

The TL;DR version:

• Fundraising: Thank you to everyone who donated! – we exceeded the £35k goal
• Directors Insurance: We have extended insurance until 28th September 2025
• Legal: The initial steps to get legal advice is underway
• FAQ – The answers to many questions have been published at ​coop4.uk/faq​

Fundraising

Thank you so much for helping us exceed our goal of £35,000! Your support means the world to us and ensures we can continue our work for everyone. We couldn’t have done it without you. We quickly exceeded the target using GoFundMe – see ​coop4.uk/fundraising​.

We are now preparing to use the money raised for the purposes stated. We are opening a bank account to hold the money once it has been transferred from GoFundMe.

Directors Insurance

We have extended the director’s insurance coverage to 28th September. The insurance company is using this time to work pricing for an annual renewal.

Legal

The steps to obtain advice are underway with the help of our new board members Sonya Leydecker and Jetinder Shergill, both have legal backgrounds.

FAQ

The answers to many questions have been published at ​coop4.uk/faq​ and you can request clarification if the answer isn’t clear or submit questions using a form.

With best wishes,

Sam, Sonya, Tom, Klaus, Jetinder, and David

Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited