Retail power faces reconsolidation challenge
The market share of challengers hits a landmark figure, but M&A could remake a hegemony, simply with different actors
The UK’s retail energy sector achieved an unenviable reputation for being a broken market over the last two decades. This was true for both electricity and gas, which were dominated by a so-called ‘Big Six’. At the start of the 2010s, these companies had a 100pc share of the residential power market, according to figures from regulator Ofgem. The Big Six was made up of UK utilities Centrica, born out of the old British Gas monopoly, and SSE, in addition to units of France’s EdF, Germany’s RWE and Eon and Spain’s Iberdrola. They were vertically integrated businesses and owned the vast majority of conventional UK generation assets, which was a significant barrier to entry. Their dominance beca
Also in this section
21 February 2025
While large-scale planned LNG schemes in sub-Saharan Africa have faced fresh problems, FLNG projects are stepping into that space
20 February 2025
Greater social mobility means increased global demand for refined fuels and petrochemical products, with Asia leading the way in the expansion of refining capacity
19 February 2025
The EU would do well to ease its gas storage requirements to avoid heavy purchase costs this summer, with the targets having created market distortion while giving sellers a significant advantage over buyers
18 February 2025
Deliveries to China decline by around 1m b/d from move to curb crude exports to Shandong port, putting Iran under further economic pressure
