Elon Musk is nothing if not booked and busy. You don’t get to be the world’s richest man by just sitting on your backside, and not content with running SpaceX, The Boring Company, X, and Neuralink, Tesla is one of his biggest companies.
Starting out as an electric vehicle company, Tesla has already branched out into robotics as Elon Musk continues to show off his Optimus robots.
He’s also working on concepts like the Robovan, and infamously opened the Tesla Diner.
In his latest move, Musk is apparently going to start offering electricity to households in the United Kingdom via Tesla.
Tesla Energy Ventures is a subsidiary of the main company, securing a license from the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets to muscle into the energy market.
With continued concerns about skyrocketing energy prices, it’s not just switching to a Tesla as your daily runaround that could save you money.
Telsa continues its expansion into the energy business (Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor / Getty)
According to The Wall Street Journal, Tesla is destined to butt heads with other providers, although it won’t also offer gas like rivals, including EON, already do. Even though Tesla Electric offers electricity to homes in Texas that can choose their provider, an expansion into the UK market is a big step.
As well as hoping to bring down prices for those who are charging their Teslas, the license looks set to help those who have the Powerwall compact battery system installed.
Tesla says that Powerwall is designed to help those who want to store energy for power outages or go off-grid.
Tesla Electric also offers the Tesla Virtual Power Plant system that lets Powerwall owners earn credits if they share their energy with the Texas grid.
Elsewhere, Tesla Motors (also incorporated in England and Wales) was granted an electricity generation license in 2020. Ofgem reiterated that the Tesla Motors permit is unrelated to Tesla Energy Ventures supplying electricity.
A spokesperson said that Tesla will have to comply with obligations like consumer protection, treating customers fairly, operational capability, billing, and providing accurate information in a timely manner: “Protecting consumers and maintaining a secure, fair energy market underpins every licensing decision we make. We monitor compliance continuously and will not hesitate to use our powers where standards are not met.”
The UK has been facing something of an energy crisis, with a number of smaller firms going under in the past few years. This was a knock-on effect of rising wholesale costs being in competition with the energy price gap.
Although most consumers are projected until July thanks to regulated tariffs, the government is under increased pressure to extend support if the war in Iran continues beyond this point and energy prices continue to rise.
Either way, it’s hoped that adding another provider into the mix could lead to more competitive tariffs across the board.
Given that Octopus has made a name for itself with a focus on renewable energy, it’ll be interesting how Tesla’s similar mantra will shake things up.
