Fairer, greener, smarter: putting consumers at the heart of the energy transition

“If you put as much focus on the electrification of consumption as you do on the electrification and decarbonisation of production, then actually what you will deliver is a system which has a lower overall system cost and works better for everybody.”

Speaking at Utility Week Live, E.ON UK Chief Executive Chris Norbury was clear the energy transition must not be a purely technical or upstream exercise. Yes, cleaner generation is critical, but if the UK is to build a truly sustainable and equitable energy future, that needs a focus on the consumer end of the spectrum – to the homes and small businesses, communities and whole cities where real lives and real bills intersect with climate goals.

The UK’s commitment to Clean Power by 2030 sends a strong – and welcomed – investment signal, Chris Norbury added, which has made the country “a more attractive place to invest than it has been previously.” The challenge now is to translate it into a system that not only decarbonises but decentralises, digitises, and – crucially – democratises energy by delivering meaningful savings to those people who need it most.

“Flexibility provides an opportunity but for us it’s not just an opportunity, it’s also an imperative,” he said. There is 12GW of consumer-side flexibility waiting to be unlocked – a transformation that, if done right, can bring down energy bills for the vast majority of people. That’s the vision: a system that is “cheaper, simpler, and greener” for households across the country.

Getting there requires serious policy support to enable the investment that unlocks that flexibility, but the UK is on a path to attracting that investment:

“To give the Government credit, there is a clarity of mission, there is a clarity of purpose around clean power,” said Chris Norbury. “I wouldn’t underestimate what that means in terms of an investment signal into the UK.”

Flexibility: the real frontier

A recurring theme in the remarks is equity. Direct participation in the energy market – through time-of-use tariffs, smart controls, and home energy assets – should not be the preserve of tech-savvy or affluent consumers.

Right now, the system is skewed. Levies and other social costs that are applied to electricity bills act as “an implicit subsidy for gas”, making it harder for families to switch to more efficient electric heating or adopt technologies such as heat pumps. A fairer system, Chris Norbury argues, would move those levies into general taxation, enabling a level playing field for low-carbon technologies to compete and empowering more people to choose greener and more cost-effective energy solutions.

That’s why E.ON is trialling innovations designed to open up access – such as the UK’s first mass-market time-of-use tariff. The company’s partnership with Australian firm Amber gives households with solar panels and batteries an option to engage directly with energy markets. Whether customers want to actively manage their use or automate everything through tech, the system works in their favour. As Chris Norbury puts it, “It meets those three things: Is it simple, is it cheaper, are you decarbonising?”

Lessons from abroad: consumer power in action

In countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia, regulatory choices have already shifted value towards consumers. In the Netherlands, E.ON subsidiary Essent operates in a market where the penetration of solar is among the highest in Europe – driven by policy choices which enable consumers to benefit.

In Australia, residential solar is so prevalent that “energy is an income, not a cost” for many households. Here, too, the focus has not just been on clean generation, but on the electrification of consumption – homes, transport, appliances. It’s a model that proves energy transition can work for people, not just infrastructure.

There is a tremendous opportunity. A cleaner grid is just the beginning. If the UK aligns its energy strategy to focus on consumers – on flexibility, fairness, simplicity, and choice – we can deliver a system that is not only greener, but better and fairer.