TESLA is planning to supply energy to UK households as early as 2026.
Elon Musk’s firm has applied for a licence in order to take on energy companies including British Gas owner Centrica and Octopus Energy.
The company hopes to start supplying energy to homes and businesses across England, Scotland and Wales as soon as next year.
Tesla Energy Ventures applied for the licence last month, according to a new filing published by regulator Ofgem.
The electric car manufacturer also has a solar energy and battery storage business.
The news comes around two years after Tesla had first started hiring for a head of operations who would run its proposed energy supply business.
Tesla has been involved in the UK energy market since 2020, when it was granted a licence to be an electricity generator.
In the US, the group has been an electricity supplier in Texas for the past three years.
The development comes amid a backdrop of waning demand for Tesla’s electric vehicles across Europe in recent months.
Industry figures showed an almost 60 per cent plunge in the number of new Tesla registrations in the UK last month, compared with last year.
Data showed that 987 new vehicles were registered in July, compared with 2,462 in the same month in 2024.
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TOY WORKER BONANZA
THE founder of Britain’s biggest toy chain is handing control of the business to his 1,900 employees.
Gary Grant, 66, is stepping down after 44 years at The Entertainer and future profits will be shared by the workers under the new structure.
Amersham, Bucks, and built an empire of 160 shops and 1,000 concessions in retailers like Tesco and Marks & Spencer.
He said: “This is a significant decision and one we haven’t taken lightly.”
M&S CLICKING
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MARKS AND SPENCER has restored its full online services almost four months after it was crippled by a cyber attack.
Its click and collect service, which stopped functioning in April, is now working.
Customers can now also return items bought via the web to stores, M&S said yesterday.
Click and collect is the last major area to have been reinstated following the computer blitz over Easter.
ICELAND HIKE
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ICELAND says it will be forced to raise food prices over the next six months following the Government’s tax raid on businesses.
It blamed Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ National Insurance and minimum wage hikes on rising supplier costs.
It comes just months after Iceland’s boss Richard Walker said companies should stop “wallowing” and complaining about the measures in the Autumn Budget.