Greg Jackson
@g__j
Founder http://octopus.energy Customer issues: email greg at http://octopus.energy for best response Blog at http://octopus.energy/blog
I worked at British Gas. I'm now Octopus' CMO (from early days). BG want us banned from taking new customers, yet we meet Ofgem financial rules, saved taxpayers £bns rescuing Bulb & built huge value. Grateful for our customers. BG should look after theirs, not throw rocks at us
And: -96% of hydrogen is filthy, made from unabated carbon -Green hydrogen uses 5x more electricity than a heat pump for the same amount of heating -Hydrogen is 1/3 the energy density of gas, so requires 3x the volume - It's the leakiest molecule in the universe
An apparently necessary reminder that the Tory government rightly cancelled a bunch of hydrogen heating trials, mostly because the local residents reacted unfavourably to the prospect of this happening in their kitchens.
China’s new hydroelectric dam will have roughly the same electricity generating capacity as the whole of Britain
China has started building the world's largest hydroelectric power station on the Yarlung-Tsangpo river, costing $167 billion. The station's design capacity will be 60 million kilowatts, enough to power 54 million people. It will have 3 times the capacity of the Three Gorges.
I’m meant to be talking about energy and technology but just spotted the conference I should be at in a different hall…
This is the reality… “astonishing misdirection”… regulators and govt playing cat and mouse with firms whose core strength is expertise at gaming the system, all the time loading up bills. More rules just make more loopholes which is why competition is key.
I worked for a regulated energy co for over 10yrs. Subsidy farming, margin being hidden across multiple bus units, astonishing misdirection over DNO/Trans profits. At the same time some of the best tech and engineers who sacrificed lots to deal with storms and supply loss.
Quick thoughts on this mornings zonal announcement… big question is what’s the plan to get costs down. It’s urgent and families and businesses need costs to fall.
How broken is UK electricity market? You've paid for 8,000 and received less than 3,000. At a cost - to you - of hundreds of millions. And the more we build, the worse it gets, for years. (zonal pricing helps sort this)
Here's an updated plot for Seagreen Wind Farm. What a waste.
Zonal pricing would see prices fall everywhere. Unlike today's postcode lottery which punishes Wales, Northern England, Scotland - the home to so much generation. (*one scenario saw prices rising £1-5/yr in the SE. Which policy would easily eliminate)
"There are reports zonal might have been canned in case Welsh bills going up." I live in North Wales and can confirm that we already pay the most for electricity than any region in the country 🫠
Bizarrely, they make money when they're not making electricity... this should be cheap power, especially for the communities nearby - but instead pushes costs up for everyone.
We live in South west Scotland and there is nothing more frustrating than driving past the Whitelee Wind Farm and seeing so many turbines not running! Government need to work on storage and get them all running
Britain's broken energy system. Companies built windfarms where there's no grid and you pay them to not generate Soaring costs, locked in for years to come, & more on the way It's not good enough to sigh- something must change It's brutal for families and crippling for growth
Wind curtailment and gas turn-up costs in 2025 are up ~50% compared to this time last year
This appears to be a huge mistake. The arguments for zonal pricing appear to make sense. If those against it have a case, they need to explain it much better as it appears to make no sense. @g__j and @OctopusEnergy make a far more compelling case.
BREAKING: Govt has now ruled out plans for regional electricity pricing. As per BBG story by @PronouncedAlva and others. But new details: - Decision has gone to cabinet - Officials are sorting through alternatives - Announcement by early Aug theguardian.com/business/2025/…
4 days ago we announced Wasted Wind ticker on our homepage, adding transparency to energy costs. Already, over 100,000 people have clicked to find more- there's real interest. Less positively, £650m had been wasted so far this year - and it's already reached £690m :(
There's a lot more to come... there's so many billions wasted in energy and it all ends up on bills...
I love that @OctoEnergy and @g__j are pulling the data on this and making it publicly visible! Thank you! This needs fixing asap!
Highlight of my first @iccwbo meeting was chatting with William Kenneth Gardener - he's 98 and a former finance director and negotiator at ICI, Dunlop, Centrica and more. I learned a lot- the world of business is so different now- and yet so similar.
very rare proud dad post... having done his A Levels, eldest is now grafting.
