Octopus Energy’s chief executive Greg Jackson has told Utility Week there is “no end in sight” for acquisitions as the challenger brand made its sixth in two years.
The company announced this morning (20 January) that it would be acquiring the 70,000 domestic customers of Engie as the French firm exits the UK domestic energy market. Engie meanwhile insisted that it remained “deeply committed” to the UK market.
Engie will instead shift its focus to working with businesses and local authorities, helping them to improve the efficiency of their operations and reduce carbon emissions.
Nicola Lovett, chief executive of Engie in the UK and Ireland, said: “Our decision to exit the UK residential energy supply market is driven by our focus on activities closely aligned to our UK strategy of making zero carbon happen for businesses and local authorities.
“Octopus is a strong, well established business and a good fit for our UK residential retail customers. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved in a short space of time and believe we have influenced the market for the benefit of customers.
“Engie remains deeply committed to the UK and we will continue to invest and play a leading role in the UK’s journey to a net zero future.”
Speaking to Utility Week, Jackson hailed the firm’s Kraken platform as giving it the “competitive edge”.
He said: “Our platform enables us to migrate more customers more easily than rivals can. The tech process of making acquisitions and integrating is pretty painless for us.”
When asked about further acquisitions, he said there was “definitely no end in sight”.
As a result of this acquisition, Octopus now supplies 1.4 million UK customers, with a 5 per cent share of the domestic market, an increase from 500,000 at the end of 2018.
Last summer it announced it had acquired 300,000 customers from Co-op Energy, while last week it began supplying customers via the council-backed London Power. Octopus also supplies customers via M and S Energy and Affect Energy.
Octopus Energy for Business meanwhile manages more than 10,000 customers.
The supplier has also made moves internationally, with a partnership with Hanwha group in Australia and acquisition of 4Hundred in Germany.
Speaking during a recent interview with Utility Week Jackson confirmed talks are underway with foreign investors over the challenger brand’s global expansion but insisted there is plenty of scope for growth under its existing backer, Octopus Group.
In addition to the company’s international expansion, Jackson added that there is also the capacity to expand the UK business up to 5 million customers.