Octopus Energy Group results for FY23 - delivered 1.6% profit margin, grew Kraken to 32m accounts, tripled non-UK energy revenues and grew employment from 2,800 to 4,700 in UK alone

Octopus Energy Group results for FY23 - delivered 1.6% profit margin, grew Kraken to 32m accounts, tripled non-UK energy revenues and grew employment from 2,800 to 4,700 in UK alone

• RESULTS FOR FY23 (ENDING APRIL 2023):
  • Global energy and tech group reports its first full-year profit, eight years after launching to the market (£203m net profit, 1.6% profit margin)
  • Group revenues tripled from £4bn to £13bn (+197%)
  • UK energy retail business absorbed another £69m of costs to keep customer bills lower during energy crisis
  • Non-UK retail customer base almost tripled to 420,000 (+161%)
  • Tech arm, Kraken, grew contracted annual recurring revenue from £80m to £127m (+59%)
• CURRENT UPDATE
  • Octopus Energy Group raised another $800m of investment
  • Stands at 7.7m global household customers (14m accounts)
  • Provided £100m of customer support through ‘Octo Assist’ and lower bills
  • Achieved Which? Recommended Provider status for the 7th year running
  • Octopus is now the largest electricity and the second largest gas provider to UK households

London, 27th January 2024 - Octopus Energy, the global energy and technology group, today announces its results for the financial year 2022-2023, which ended on 30th April 2023.

Prudent financial management enabled the Group to come out of the energy crisis stronger, with revenues tripling to £13bn. For the first time since its launch eight years ago, the company reported a full-year profit of £203m (1.6% profit margin). Cumulative losses in UK retail amount to £71m since launch in 2016.

The Group continued to sacrifice higher profits to keep customer bills lower. Its retail arm Octopus Energy absorbed £69m of rising energy costs, tripled its financial hardship fund ‘Octo Assist’ to £15m (since doubling again, now standing at £30m) and sent over 38,000 (50,000 as of today) free electric blankets to those households most in need.

Octopus Energy added 1.8m customers globally through its retail brand in FY 2023 - its highest ever annual gain. As part of that, the Group almost tripled (+161%) its international customer base to 420,000 customers, growing strong businesses in Germany, Japan and France (today Octopus has 7.7m customers globally, including 900,000 non-UK customers).

The Group’s tech arm, Kraken, continued to gain market share in the UK and Australia (today it is contracted to serve 54m accounts globally). The company migrated the first 2.2m Bulb accounts* (all accounts by June), and completed the remaining migrations of Origin Energy and E.ON (2.6m accounts combined), increasing its contracted annual recurring revenue from £80m to £127m (+59%).

Octopus Energy Group continued to create sustainable, green jobs across the globe, hiring almost 1,900 new employees in FY2023, with Kraken almost doubling its team in the UK in the same period (+88%). Just this year, Octopus Energy Group is aiming to hire over 3,000 staff in the UK alone.

Welcoming the results, Greg Jackson, Founder of Octopus Energy Group, said:

“Octopus Energy Group has continued to build momentum this year. By relentlessly focusing on customers, over 700,000 switched to us in 2023.

“250,000 people applied for almost 2,000 jobs enabling us to continue to grow our hugely talented team in the UK and across the globe – building world-class technology, looking after customers and innovating to drive a cheaper, cleaner energy system.

“Our Group spans a wide array of activities across many countries, but as a company which directly supplies millions of household and business customers, our commitment to caring for them and our staff has been more important than ever. I’m tremendously proud of the way our team has tirelessly supported customers and clients through the energy crisis.”

Co-founding CFO, Stuart Jackson (no relation), said:

“Our intense focus on prudent risk management and the cost savings delivered by Kraken allowed us to deliver a responsible 1.6% profit margin, whilst devoting significant financial and human resource to helping customers through the crisis.

“With the backing of major investors from the UK, Australia, Japan and Canada we have a strong balance sheet and not only manage a financially robust company, but can continue to invest in lower prices, international growth and critical innovation in sectors such as heat pumps, EVs and smart grid technologies.”

Octopus Energy Group in 2023:

The Group saw momentous growth all across the world in 2023, growing to 18 countries across 5 continents**, and sharing products and services across them.

In the UK, Octopus completed the acquisition of Bulb Energy’s 1.5m customers and migrated them to Kraken systems in under six months – beating its own industry record.

The retail arm continued to fight for fair treatment for customers too, aiming to reduce the payment penalty for careful customers as well as standing charges. It also achieved Which? Recommended Provider status for the sixth year running – the only energy company to ever do so (Octopus received the accolade for the seventh time in January 2024).

The year 2023 saw Octopus launch its own solar installation service in the UK and Spain and its heat pump installation service rollout in Germany and Italy. Its groundbreaking ‘Fan Club’ tariff made its debut in the US and Germany, offering cheaper power to customers local to its wind turbines.

Through the company’s ‘Intelligent Octopus’ tariff, Octopus now commands the world’s largest EV smart charging virtual power plant, standing at 1GW of car batteries that can charge up when renewable energy is abundant.

With Kraken licensed to E.ON and EDF in the UK, and following Octopus' continued organic growth and acquisitions, Kraken now serves half of UK households (50%) and a third (30%) of the Australian market through its licences with Origin Energy and Energy Queensland. It is contracted to serve 54m accounts globally, over half of the Group’s target of 100m by 2027.

2023 was also the year Kraken Technologies branched into other utilities, partnering with three water and one broadband client, bringing its super efficient tech and world-class customer service to even more industries.

FY 2022/23 financial highlights:

Octopus Energy Group:

• Group delivered its first year of profitability, reporting £203m (1.6%) net profits
• Revenues tripled (+197%) from £4bn to £13bn
• Net assets doubled (+106%) from £473m to £975m due to committed investor funds
• Added 1.8m new customers globally, up from 1.3m the year before (now serving 7.7m customers globally)
• Almost tripled (+161%) international Octopus Energy Retail customers to 420,000 (now 900,000)
• Hired 1,887 new colleagues, reaching a total workforce of 4,657 by April 2023 (now almost 6,800)

Octopus Energy Limited:

• Octopus Energy absorbed another £69m of costs on behalf of customers
• 60,000 customers supported by the £15m Octo Assist fund to date (now £30m)
• Achieved Which? Recommended status for the sixth year running (now 7th year)

Kraken Technologies:

• Grew contracted annual recurring revenue from £80m to £127m (+59%)
• Almost doubled (+88%) team from 192 to 361 UK colleagues in FY23 (now almost 700 globally)
• 19 successful large scale customer migrations to the Kraken platform
• Contracted to serve 32m accounts globally, up from 24m the year before (+33%) (now 54m)

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

Octopus Energy Group, Octopus Energy Limited and Kraken Technologies Limited full financial reports can be found here.

For an overview of Octopus Energy Group and its subsidiary companies, please visit octopusenergy.group

*Accounts are the number of electricity and gas meters serviced by Octopus Energy. Shortly after year end the migration of all 2.5 million Bulb accounts was completed, breaking our own industry record for migration speed.

**18 countries includes all countries where Octopus has retail operations, generation team offices and renewable generation assets in the pipeline

Press Contacts

Octopus Energy Group

press@octoenergy.com

+44 (0)20 4530 8369

About Octopus Energy

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 7.7 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 £6 billion portfolio of projects – one of Europe’s largest.

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.

For more information, check out our website.