Octopus Energy made the deal in partnership with global energy technology specialist Schneider Electric, which will remain a minority partner. Uplight will continue to operate as an independent platform focused on customer-centric flexibility management. The company manages over 8.5 gigawatts of flexible load across the US.
The investment gives utilities the tools to modernise their grid operations and strengthen resilience as AI-driven data centres, electrification and distributed energy sharply increase electricity demand across North America. By connecting customer participation more directly to grid operations, utilities can unlock flexible capacity faster and more affordably than traditional infrastructure buildouts.
Meeting this surge in demand while maintaining reliability, affordability and energy security is one of the defining energy challenges of the decade. Utilities are increasingly seeking solutions that engage customers directly in managing energy use.
Uplight enables households and businesses to actively participate in flexibility programmes, turning distributed energy resources into reliable capacity that utilities can deploy when and where the grid needs it.
Octopus Energy Group is a global leader in managing flexible energy systems, operating the world’s largest virtual power plant, with more than 350,000 electric vehicles enrolled worldwide and enabling millions of customers to lower their energy bills through demand-side flexibility tariffs. The investment in Uplight means Octopus Energy will bring this expertise into the US market at scale by working directly with utilities to unlock flexible capacity and support more resilient power systems.
Kraken, the operating system for utilities originally developed by Octopus Energy Group and now operating as an independent global technology business, will begin exploring collaboration with Uplight, encompassing customer operations capabilities, and flexibility orchestration to combine the companies’ respective best-in-class expertise.
“As energy demand surges in the US, utilities need the tools to deliver reliable and affordable power for their customers” said Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus Energy US. “This partnership brings together Octopus’s world-leading expertise in flexibility, Schneider Electric’s grid intelligence and Uplight’s deep relationships with leading US utilities to turn customer participation into dependable grid capacity. Together, we can help accelerate the shift to a smarter, more resilient and more affordable energy system.”
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