Engie, which is one-third owned by the French government, is reported to be in talks with British local authorities about setting up joint ventures in major cities to provide power and gas to domestic consumers. It could also offer district heating, energy efficiency measures and small scale generation.
Engie chief executive Wilfrid Petrie told The Times: “The challenge for councils is to reduce costs. There is a need for them to transform the way they do things, and by having this national presence we are able to help them optimise things.”
Speaking to Utility Week before the re-brand just over one year ago, GDF Suez UK head of retail Guus Weiss hinted that the company was already interested in taking on the UK domestic market in late 2014.
“We watch the market carefully. We would like to be in any chain of the energy business where it is possible and when it is profitable,” Weiss said.
“If you do a proper job, household supply can be more profitable than the business supply side. And that is something that is the next step for us. You see us doing that in mainland Europe so I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t – sooner or later, at some time – be here,” he said at the time.
Engie is already a major player in the UK retail market with a 5-7 per cent share of the highly competitive B2B energy supply market, and a 30 per cent share of independent energy company Opus Energy. At the same time the firm operates a portfolio of 7GW of power generation.
The firm announced its rebrand in April 2015 to “better” reflect its move towards low carbon energy solutions.