Here comes Elon: Tesla wins licence to supply electricity in Britain
Tesla has been granted approval to supply electricity to homes and businesses across the UK, opening the door for the electric vehicle giant to enter the country’s retail energy market.
Energy regulator Ofgem confirmed on Thursday that Tesla Energy Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Musk’s company, has been granted an electricity supply licence by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority under the Electricity Act 1989.
The licence allows the company to supply electricity to both domestic and non-domestic customers in England, Scotland and Wales.
Ofgem said the approval followed a seven-month application and assessment process that ran from July 2025 to March 2026.
The licence formally took effect on Wednesday evening, after Tesla was informed of the decision and the instrument was entered into Ofgem’s electronic public register.
As a licensed supplier, Tesla Energy Ventures has to comply with the sector’s standard licence conditions.
These include requirements covering consumer protection, fair treatment of customers, financial responsibility, billing transparency and operational capability.
Ofgem said it will monitor the company’s compliance and can use enforcement powers under the electricity act if necessary, including issuing direction or fines.
Tesla eyes UK household energy
The approval clears a key regulatory hurdle for Tesla as Musk pushes to expand the company’s energy business alongside its EVs.
Tesla Energy Ventures, the company’s Manchester-based energy subsidiary, first applied for the licence last summer.
The application was signed by Andrew Payne, who leads Tesla’s energy business in Europe.
The business is expected to launch an electricity supply service in Britain similar to Tesla Electric, the power offering Musk’s company introduced in Texas in 2022.
This service allows customers to power homes, charge electric vehicles and sell surplus solar energy back to the grid using Tesla’s energy.
Tesla already sells home batteries known as powerwalls, solar technology and electric vehicle chargers in the UK, meaning it already has a base of customers using its energy products.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown at the time, had said: “Although its EV sales have dipped sharply this year, Tesla still boasts significant car ownership in the UK and has sold thousands of home storage batteries here,” she said.
“This could mean Tesla Electric has access to a willing customer base, especially if it follows the model of its business in Texas which allows owners of its EVs to charge their cars cheaply and pays them for feeding surplus electricity back to the grid.”
Adam Bell, former head of energy at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and now director of policy at consultancy Stonehaven, said the sector remains heavily regulated and competitive.
“Tesla is entering a heavily regulated market in which margins have been squeezed to the narrowest possible extent and in which it faces competitors who have already invested in novel tariff offers,” he said.
“Even with access to an ecosystem of Tesla EV and Powerwall owners, it will find making headway challenging.”
The company has only applied for an electricity licence rather than a dual-fuel licence, meaning it will not initially supply gas alongside electricity, which is a common bundle offered by many UK suppliers.
Tesla already has a foothold in Britain’s energy system. In 2020, a separate company, Tesla Motors Limited, was granted a licence to generate electricity in Great Britain, although that licence was not part of the regulator’s assessment of the supply application.