Engie Enters UK Domestic Retail Energy

French energy company Engie has launched its UK domestic energy supply business, it said May 11 – the same day it announced the sale of its upstream assets, including UK North Sea production, to a private equity company.

Already active in the industrial and commercial retail sector, it said it was the largest company to enter the UK domestic energy market for over 15 years. Compatriot EDF, and German RWE and E.ON were among the first movers, taking advantage of liberalised gas and power markets and the vertically integrated businesses that were up for sale, such as Powergen and National Power.

However the margins are not what they were, and compounding the difficulty. the UK prime minister, Theresa May, has begun to talk of price caps – an idea put forward by former Labour leader Ed Miliband some years ago.

So Engie has not only said it is the first UK supplier to commit to rolling customers onto the cheapest available tariff at the end of their fixed term plan; but this summer it will launch Tracker, "an innovative product designed to align retail and wholesale prices like never before, reflecting the wholesale price changes in the price that customers pay. It will align customer bills with the real price of energy, bringing a new level of price fairness and transparency to UK customers."

For those who want it, Engie is also offering to supply them with renewable energy at no extra cost, following its French business practice.  

Engie CFO Judith Hartmann said: "The launch of Engie’s home energy business in the UK is a natural extension of our business-to-business energy and services activities in the country, reaffirming our long-term commitment to the UK. "

William Powell