Blog Post
Is Elon Musk’s Tesla coming to challenge the UK’s Big Six Energy Suppliers?
Matt Olney • May 04, 2020
According to the media, Elon Musk’s company Tesla has applied for a licence to generate electricity in the UK to disrupt the market and force energy prices lower.
Licence application
The company most famous for its electric cars also operates in the battery storage and solar panel sectors as well as manufactures state of the art solar roof tiles.
According to the media rumours and a source speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, the purpose of applying for the licence could be to roll out its ‘Autobidder’ platform into the UK market.
Tesla’s energy product sales director, Evan Rice, made an application on April 28th to the UK’s energy regulator- the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority- for a license to generate electricity. However, the application did not specify the reasons for the application.
Elon Musk hasn’t hidden the fact that he wants Tesla Energy, a division of the carmaker focused on battery storage, to become a global utility that he envisages could surpass the car side of the business.
The idea is that Tesla would keep deploying more solar and energy storage systems, big and small, at the residential level and on utility-scale, and manage those distributed systems to act as a giant electric utility.
What is Autobidder?
According to Tesla’s website, ‘Autobidder provides independent power producers, utilities and capital partners the ability to autonomously monetise battery assets.
Autobidder is a real-time trading and control platform that provides value-based asset management and portfolio optimization, enabling owners and operators to configure operational strategies that maximize revenue according to their business objectives and risk preferences.
Autobidder claims that, through market bidding, it has 'added competition to drive down energy prices'
The technology is currently in use in South Australia at the Hornsdale Power Reserve.
More Competition?
The introduction of Tesla into the UK energy market is likely to be of concern to the Big Six suppliers who are already struggling in the face of a sharp rise in competition.
Challenger brands are often undercutting their prices and taking slices out of their customer bases.
Just last week two challenger brands broke into the Bix Six further highlighting the fierce competition in the market.
Want to enter the UK electricity market?
If you’re looking to set up an electricity supply company of your own, then understanding how the Ofgem
electricity supply licence relates to independent energy suppliers is crucial. Read our guide on the process and on how to attain a licence HERE
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software and CRM system, then get in touch
with our team today.
Further Reading
Challenger Energy Suppliers enter the Big Six
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