Elon Musk’s Tesla has applied for an energy supply license from Ofgem, meaning it could potentially compete with giants like Octopus and British Gas.
Tesla is already licensed as a generator, but it could now be supplying homes directly as soon as next year. This could be potentially interesting for owners of Tesla cars and home storage batteries by offering cheap charging combined with the ability to sell energy back at peak times.
Hargreaves Lansdown’s head of markets and money, Susannah Streeter, said that there is sill a significant number of Tesla cars and home storage batteries in the UK despite a sharp dip in vehicle sales. She added:
“This could mean Tesla Electric has access to a willing customer base, especially if it follows the model of its business in Texas which allows owners of its EVs to charge their cars cheaply and pays them for feeding surplus electricity back to the grid.”
She added that it exemplified how Tesla was moving away from car manufacturing to become a prominent player in robotics and infrastructure.
Competition has been sorely missing for retail customers in recent years, so Tesla’s entry could offer fresh options for consumers. Nevertheless, like all energy suppliers, it will ultimately be subject to wholesale energy prices. Get in touch with Xgas to see how you can take control over bills by lowering your usage. This could involve sending heating engineers to Wrexham, Oswestry or Chester to service an existing boiler, replace an old, inefficient boiler or install thermostatic radiator valves.