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Fuse, OVO, Rystad, Jackdaw: this week's top energy stories. October 24, 2026 This week's top stories include Fuse's plug-in solar and storage system, OVO's executive reshuffle, the UK's approval of the Jackdaw gasfield and more Fuse Energy has made its new plug-in solar and storage system, Jules, available for pre-order, with potential savings for UK households of £330 per year Solar is currently the cheapest source of electricity in the UK, yet fewer than 10% of households across the country currently have solar panels. That is a huge missed opportunity not only for Britons struggling with the cost of energy but for the UK Government, whose ambitious net zero goals depend on nationwide decarbonisation. Fuse Energy, Europe's fastest growing energy company, has a solution that could put solar power in the hands of millions more UK citizens. The London-based firm has today announced that Jules, a first-of-its-kind plug-in solar and battery storage system, is now available for pre-order in the UK. OVO's senior leadership team has been restructured, with ex-E.ON executives Anthony Ainsworth named CEO, Christopher Shead as COO and Richard Brooks as CCO OVO is undergoing a significant executive reshuffle following the completion of its acquisition by E.ON, with three senior appointments signalling a new chapter for the UK energy supplier. Anthony Ainsworth, formerly Chief Operating Officer of E.ON UK's industrial and commercial business, will take over as OVO's CEO. Christopher Shead, previously Director of Customer Operations at E.ON UK, becomes Chief Operating Officer, while former E.ON UK Finance Director Richard Brooks takes on the role of Chief Commercial Officer. Anthony succeeds Chris Houghton, who returned to lead OVO's retail energy business in November 2025 following spells at the company between 2014-2018 and 2020-2021. The appointments follow the Competition and Markets Authority's clearance of E.ON's acquisition on 1 October 2026, with the transaction formally completed a week later. Rystad Energy's Global Energy Scenarios 2026 finds energy security, not just climate policy, now sets the pace of the transition, led by electrification In 2021, Russia supplied around 36% of Europe's gas imports. By 2025, that figure had fallen to around 7.5% as a direct result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Over the same period, Europe's imports of American LNG rose from 6% to around 21%. That shift helps to explain why the global energy system has coped with the Strait of Hormuz crisis better than many feared, according to a new report from Rystad Energy, one of Europe's foremost energy intelligence institutions. Jon Ødegård Hansen, Senior Vice President and Head of Energy Systems at Rystad Energy, says the report was built around the uncertainty that has dominated global energy markets throughout much of the 2020s. "Over the past five years, global energy markets have weathered two severe energy crises," he explains, referencing the Russia-Ukraine war and the US-Israel-Iran war. "Both had long been seen as major risks to the global energy system, yet so far they have played out quite differently than many expected." Shell and Equinor's Adura joint venture wins consent for Jackdaw, as the UK weighs energy security against net zero ambitions after a lengthy legal battle The UK Government has officially approved drilling in the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, ending years of legal and political wrangling. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh authorised the regulator to grant consent to Adura, the Shell and Equinor joint venture that operates the field, located 150 miles east of the Aberdeenshire coast. Adura expects production of gas to begin within a mere matter of weeks. The Energy Secretary said the decision would support the country's energy security with homegrown gas this winter, though several commentators have argued otherwise. The Conservative government first approved Jackdaw in 2022, but the courts later found that the emissions from burning the gas had to be assessed before production could begin. That Supreme Court ruling in the Finch case sent Jackdaw and the Rosebank oil field back through the regulatory process, which has taken years. Before taking office in the summer of 2024, the Labour government had pledged not to approve new drilling licences in the North Sea, though this decision by the Burnham administration reneges on that initial promise. Since succeeding Sir Keir Starmer this summer, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has repeatedly vowed to take a "pragmatic approach" to decisions over drilling in the North Sea, which has been a cause célèbre amongst environmentalists and energy insiders alike. The UK's onshore wind applications have hit a peak, with RenewableUK welcoming the revival but Caeli warning grid access and site quality decide delivery Developers are lodging plans for onshore wind farms in England at a rate not seen in ten years. About 45 applications were submitted in the year to March 2026, according to an analysis of government data done recently by The Guardian. That is the highest annual total since the Conservatives' de facto ban on new onshore projects took hold in 2015. Labour dropped the restrictions within days of taking power just over two years ago, with former Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling the Tory ban "absurd". Since then, the effect on the planning pipeline has been stark. Before the election in 2024, applications covered about 9MW of onshore wind a month in England, measured on a 12-month rolling average. By the start of this year, that figure had reached about 36MW a month. The low point came before September 2023, when Conservative ministers first began easing planning rules and applications averaged around 1MW a month. Executives. * Andy Burnham Prime Minister of the United Kingdom * Anthony Ainsworth Chief Executive Officer * Christopher Shead Chief Operating Officer * Richard Brooks Chief Commercial Officer Company Portals

Free electricity? The smart meter schemes paying households to use electricity. July 02, 2026 With the recent OFGEM price cap rise, energy markets remaining volatile and household bills still painfully high, you are probably looking for any realistic way to reduce your energy costs. Now, some households are finding an unexpected solution and getting paid to use electricity. Across the UK, energy suppliers are expanding schemes that offer free electricity, cashback and discounted rates when renewable energy production is high. In some cases, you can effectively be rewarded for running appliances, charging your electric car or heating water during periods when the grid has surplus power. Discover more electricity prices It is one of the few genuinely positive developments in the energy market right now. The shift is being driven by Britain's growing reliance on renewable energy, particularly wind power. When conditions are especially windy, the UK can generate more electricity than consumers actually need. Traditionally, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) would pay wind farms to reduce output to prevent oversupply. Now, suppliers are increasingly trying to solve that problem by encouraging you to use the excess electricity instead. The result is a growing number of "flexibility schemes" designed to reward you for shifting when you use power. How the schemes work. Most energy suppliers already run programmes that notify you when electricity is free or significantly cheaper for a short period. You can then use that window to charge an electric vehicle, run your washing machine, use the dishwasher or heat your water tank. The offers are usually linked to periods of high renewable generation and lower overall demand. Other schemes work slightly differently and reward you for reducing electricity use during busy periods, helping suppliers ease pressure on the grid. In both cases, the principle is the same: if you can use electricity more flexibly, you may be able to reduce your bills. How you can access the schemes. In most cases, you will need a smart meter with half-hourly readings enabled. You should then check whether your supplier offers agile tariffs, EV charging tariffs or flexibility reward programmes. Major suppliers including Octopus Energy, Ovo, EDF and British Gas have all launched versions of these schemes. Discover more Dictionaries & Encyclopedias But you do not necessarily need to switch supplier, or even change tariff to take part. Platforms such as uSwitch now allow you to join certain flexibility programmes regardless of who currently supplies your energy. In some cases, you can connect your smart meter and receive alerts about upcoming energy-saving or cashback events while staying on your existing tariff. That makes these schemes far more accessible than many consumers realise, particularly if you want to test the potential savings without committing to a completely new energy deal. Are there any drawbacks? If you want to maximise the benefits from flexibility schemes, you will usually save more if you can shift larger amounts of electricity use to cheaper periods. That means households with electric vehicles, smart plugs, home batteries or automated heating systems often see the biggest rewards because they can more easily charge devices or run appliances when electricity prices fall. However, buying that technology can be expensive, and you may not save enough immediately to justify major upgrades purely for the schemes themselves. Most flexibility programmes also rely on smart meters and half-hourly usage data. You will usually need to agree to more detailed energy monitoring so suppliers can track when you use electricity and calculate rewards accurately. While suppliers say the data is only used to manage discounts and payments, you may still feel uncomfortable sharing more detailed information about your household energy patterns. Some tariffs also carry more risk than traditional fixed-rate deals. Agile and tracker tariffs can offer extremely cheap electricity during periods of high renewable generation, but prices can also rise sharply when wholesale markets become volatile, particularly during periods of geopolitical tension or energy supply disruption. That means you should understand exactly how the tariff works before moving away from the stability of a fixed-rate deal. There is also a practical consideration, in that, flexibility schemes work best if you can adapt when you use electricity. If your household relies heavily on energy during busy evening periods or you have less flexibility around your daily routine, your savings may be smaller. Why this still matters. Despite the drawbacks, these schemes highlight a major shift in how your energy bills may work in future. As more renewable power is added to the grid, suppliers increasingly need consumers to help balance supply and demand more efficiently. That means electricity pricing is likely to become far more dynamic, with costs changing depending on demand, weather conditions and renewable generation. If you are willing to adapt, that could create genuine opportunities to reduce your bills at a time when many households need savings wherever they can find them, and unlike many recent stories about rising energy costs, this is one area where you may finally be able to turn market volatility to your advantage. If you have any thoughts on this topic, or any consumer issues you would like Resolver Consumer Online Limited to cover, feel free to get in touch at [email protected].