According to a new job posting, Tesla Electric, Tesla’s new electric utility division, is preparing to expand in the United Kingdom.
Late last year, after gaining experience through its virtual power plants (VPPs), Tesla took things a step further with the launch of “Tesla Electric.”
Instead of reacting to specific “events” and providing services to your local electric utilities, as Tesla Powerwall owners have done in VPPs in California, Tesla Electric is actively and automatically buying and selling electricity for Tesla Powerwall owners – providing a buffer against peak prices.
The company is essentially becoming an energy retailer.
Tesla Electric is currently only available to Powerwall owners in Texas, but the company has plans to expand its products through this new division.
We recently reported on Tesla Electric customers in Texas making as much as $150 a day selling electricity to the grid.
Now Tesla is looking to expand Tesla Electric to the UK.
The company has listed a new job posting for a role called “Head of Operations, Tesla Electric – Retail Energy.”
Tesla writes in the job description:
As part of Tesla’s mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy we have launched Tesla Electric. Tesla Electric is Tesla’s retail electricity offering, currently available to Tesla product owners in selected markets globally, such as Texas. We believe strongly that simplifying and improving the customer experience around retail electricity and virtual power plants is necessary to drive significant adoption amongst consumers. Delivering a seamless, simple customer experience will ensure that small scale residential flexibility can be fully utilized to support the transition of the entire electricity grid to 100% renewables.
This has been in the works for a while now. Tesla used to have a partnership with Octopus Energy in the UK for special electricity rates for its owners, but it seemed to be a stepping stone before it would itself become an energy provider in the market.
In 2020, Tesla was officially approved as an electricity retailer in the UK. Now it looks like Tesla is going to use this approval with the launch of Tesla Electric.