Tesla wins approval to supply power to U.K. households and businesses

March 12 (UPI) -- The United Kingdom's energy regulator on Thursday granted Elon Musk's Tesla a license to supply British domestic and business customers with electricity.

The license permits Tesla to supply electricity in England, Scotland and Wales with the company expected to offer a version of its "virtual power plant" operation in Texas where Tesla owners get low rates to charge their vehicles and "Powerwall" batteries and can return any surplus to the grid for bill credits.

Tesla currently partners with London-headquartered Octopus Energy, one of the country's big six utilities, to make the Powerwall system available to the more than 250,000 Britons who own a Tesla vehicle.

Most households are on a so-called "dual-fuel" contract where their energy supplier provides them with both electricity and gas at a discounted rate for buying both fuels and it was unclear how Tesla would replicate this business model as an electricity-only supplier.

Related

• European countries sign deal for shared 100GW North Sea wind project
• Tesla applies to provide electricity to British households
• Tesla signs deal for $556M grid-scale battery storage station in China
• Tesla's solar panel program misses goal, analysis finds

Ofgem issued the license to Tesla Energy Ventures Limited seven months after Tesla filed an application in August amid a slump in sales of its vehicles which plunged almost 60% in the previous month compared with the same period in 2024.

The application met with determined resistance from some lawmakers -- including from the government minister in charge of energy -- driven by Musk's close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, perceived interference in U.K. domestic politics and a provocative virtual address at a rally organized by far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

"We have a message for Elon Musk. Get the hell out of our politics and our country," Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told the Labour Party conference in September:

He said Musk "incites violence on our streets."

Another Labour MP said Musk 'shouldn't be allowed anywhere near our critical infrastructure."

However, on Thursday a spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the decision was a matter for the independent regulator [Ofgem].

Tesla Energy's entry into the United Kingdom comes at a torrid time for the country's energy market with surging oil and natural gas prices due to the war in the Middle East exacerbating long-running structural problems and a cost-of-living crisis.

In February, industry body Energy UK warned of a "massive crisis" from a doubling of household energy debt over the past three years to $7.4 billion, most of it arrears, putting up the bills of all consumers and making it "increasingly difficult for energy firms to cover their costs," threatening their finances and ability to innovate to lower bills.