Tesla Inc. is hiring a leader for its new retail electricity business as it looks to expand into the UK energy market.
The company plans to launch a “retail electricity product in the UK” as part of Tesla Electric, which currently sells power to consumers in select markets such as Texas. The company plans to register with the UK industry regulator as a household electricity provider, according to a job advertisement on its website.
Tesla’s entrance to the market would follow the collapse of a swathe of suppliers as the energy crisis squeezed the ability of small firms to pass on costs. About 30 UK-based firms went bust after they were unable to manage their trading strategy when prices shot up in summer 2021.
The listing, for a UK head of operations at Tesla Electric, seeks applicants that are “comfortable with ambiguity” and have “a healthy skepticism of the status quo.” The role is based in London and Manchester.
As well as electric cars, Tesla produces the Powerwall — a home battery that stores solar energy. The company partnered with Octopus Energy Ltd. in 2020 to offer an electricity tariff that allowed British homeowners to create, store and return solar power to the grid. Tesla’s new business will “support the transition of the entire electricity grid to 100% renewables,” the listing says.
Adam Bell, previously head of energy strategy at the UK’s former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, questioned whether Tesla’s service would comply with the universal service obligation.
“If you are retailer in the UK, you have to offer everyone a tariff,” he said. “You can’t just do business with a select group of people who have a Powerwall.”
Bell suggested Tesla avoid the retail market by aggregating Powerwall output and selling it to the grid. “There’s already a rich market, and it’s a far more efficient way of using the assets they have,” he said. “They might want to build up a consumer profile by doing this, but if I wanted to make money that’s what I would do.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
--With assistance from Todd Gillespie.
(Updates with Adam Bell quotes from sixth paragraph.)
