Energy Giants launch Electrify Britain to drive down UK's bills and emissions

• Octopus Energy and EDF join forces to launch Electrify Britain, a new campaigning organisation dedicated to driving down bills and eliminating emissions from home heating, transport and local communities through widespread electrification 
• First call on new Government is to cut household electricity bills by reducing the burden of policy charges on domestic electricity bills
• Also calling for the end of gas boiler installations in new homes and to build well insulated homes with electricity at their core.

London, 16th July 2024 – EDF and Octopus Energy, two of the UK's largest energy providers, have joined forces to launch Electrify Britain, a pioneering campaign organisation dedicated to significantly reducing energy bills, reducing climate emissions and driving economic growth through replacing gas, diesel and petrol with widespread electrification.

Electrifying Britain’s home heating, transport and local communities presents a golden opportunity to cut energy bills. Electrified homes that use heat pumps can save hundreds of pounds compared to gas boilers and EVs are already £1,000 cheaper to run annually compared to petrol vehicles. 

Electrification is crucial to achieving net zero emissions. Currently, transport accounts for 23% of UK emissions, and domestic heating contributes 15%. 

Dependence on gas has cost the UK £75-£80bn* over the past two and a half years. Transitioning to green electricity reduces Britain’s vulnerability to fossil fuel price spikes and inflation.

Electrify Britain wants the UK to unlock growth and investment by removing policy bottlenecks and seize the opportunities of being at the forefront of the clean energy transition: attracting investment, reducing our carbon emissions, driving growth and creating jobs locally. 

Electrify Britain’s Key Priorities:

1. Make Electricity Pricing Fair:
   • Reduce the burden of policy costs from domestic electricity bills. Currently policy costs make up around 17% electricity bills compared to 6% on gas bills.
   • Create the right market signals for investment in electrification through reallocation of policy cost - this could include general taxation, moving some onto gas and ensuring targeted support for vulnerable customers unable to electrify.

1. Electrify Home Heat:
   • Promoting heat pumps and other clean heating technologies, which are more efficient and cost-effective than traditional gas boilers.
   • End the installation of gas boilers immediately in new home builds and rapidly increase the roll-out of cheaper heat pumps to replace gas boilers

1. Electrify Transport:
   • Supporting the expansion of EV infrastructure and providing innovative tariffs to make EV ownership more accessible and affordable.

1. Electrify Communities:
   • Implementing community energy projects to foster energy independence and resilience, including increasing the uptake of solar rooftop installations.
   • Encouraging local generation and consumption of low carbon energy to transform communities.

Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy said: “Our businesses deal with millions of customers, and we know that when households go electric, they never look back because it’s cheaper and better.

“There’s been so much focus on electrifying generation, but not enough on electrifying end use, where customers can make significant savings. Electric cars on a smart tariff cost 7 times less per mile than a petrol car. People with heat pumps usually pay less than those with gas boilers and they rate their heat pump higher. It’s time for us to seize the benefits of electrification for British customers.

Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF in the UK, added: "We are launching a joint campaign because there is no time to wait. Britain’s energy market is still fragile to external shocks and at the same time, we are seeing the impacts of climate change. We need more electricity but less CO2, we need to Electrify Britain.

“The first priority is to make electricity pricing fair by rebalancing policy costs, and the second is to ensure new homes are green and electric from day one. The future is electric, and we need to act now."

* Calculations undertaken by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU)

About EDF: EDF is helping Britain achieve Net Zero by leading the transition to a cleaner, low emission, electric future and tackling climate change. It is the UK’s largest producer of low-carbon electricity and supplies millions of customers with electricity and gas.

It generates low carbon electricity from five nuclear power stations and more than thirty onshore wind farms and two offshore wind farms. EDF is leading the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, and there are advanced plans for a replica at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes.

EDF is one of the UK’s largest investors in renewables, with more than 1.5GW of renewable generation in operation and almost 14GW in planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage. We are constructing our largest offshore wind farm in Britain – the 450 MW Neart na Gaoithe project in Scotland.

EDF is helping its customers, both in business and at home, take their first steps to sustainably powering their lives. Whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing a heat pump. EDF is one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, is one of the largest technical service providers in the UK and Ireland.

EDF is part of EDF Group, the world’s biggest electricity generator. In the UK, the company employs around 14,000 people at locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

About Octopus: Octopus Energy is a global clean energy tech business, driving the affordable, green energy system of the future. Under its own retail brand, Octopus delivers world-class customer service and cutting edge energy products to 7.8 million households globally. Its operations span 18 countries and the entire energy value chain. The group invests in, builds and flexibly manages renewable energy, operating a £7 billion portfolio of projects.

Octopus has licensed its advanced data and machine learning platform, Kraken, to support over 54 million customer accounts worldwide through licensing deals with companies such as EDF, E.ON and Origin Energy. Kraken enables Octopus to drive the electrification of heat and transport through smart tariffs and innovative cleantech. Backed by pension funds, investors and energy giants, Octopus Energy Group businesses deliver cheaper, greener energy and cutting-edge tech to countries and customers worldwide. 

ENDS