Octopus Energy Acquires Majority Stake in Uplight to Accelerate Flexible Grid Development in North America
Octopus Energy Group is strengthening its presence in the United States energy market through a strategic investment in Uplight, a leading technology company that helps utilities engage customers and manage energy flexibility. The company has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Uplight in partnership with Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and automation technologies that serves utilities around the world. Following the transaction, Schneider Electric will retain a significant minority stake in the company.
The deal represents a major step forward for Octopus Energy as it expands its footprint in North America and works to accelerate the development of smarter, more flexible electricity systems. The transaction remains subject to standard regulatory approvals and is expected to close later this year.
Expanding Flexible Energy Solutions in North America
Uplight plays a critical role in helping utilities modernize their energy systems by connecting customer behavior with grid operations. The company currently serves more than 85 utility providers across North America, including eight of the ten largest utilities in the United States. Through its software and customer engagement platforms, Uplight manages more than 8.5 gigawatts of flexible energy load, allowing utilities to implement demand response programs, coordinate distributed energy resources, and encourage consumers to participate actively in energy management initiatives.
Despite the new ownership structure, Uplight will continue operating as an independent platform dedicated to customer-centric energy flexibility solutions. Maintaining this independence will allow the company to continue working with a broad range of utilities while expanding its technology capabilities and market reach.
The investment comes at a time when electricity demand across North America is rising rapidly. Several forces are driving this growth, including the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers, the electrification of transportation and buildings, and the increasing deployment of distributed energy technologies such as rooftop solar panels, battery storage systems, and electric vehicles.
These trends are placing new pressures on power grids that were originally designed for centralized power generation rather than a distributed and highly digital energy landscape. Utilities are therefore seeking innovative solutions that can deliver additional grid capacity quickly and cost-effectively without relying solely on expensive infrastructure expansion.
Turning Customer Participation into Grid Capacity
One of the central challenges facing utilities today is maintaining reliability and affordability while accommodating rapidly rising demand for electricity. Traditional infrastructure solutions, such as building new power plants or transmission lines, often require years of development and billions of dollars in investment.
Flexible energy programs provide an alternative approach by enabling utilities to leverage existing energy resources more efficiently. By encouraging households and businesses to adjust their energy consumption patterns or contribute power from distributed assets, utilities can unlock additional capacity during times of peak demand.
Uplight’s technology platform plays a key role in enabling this shift. The company’s software connects consumers directly with utility demand response programs and distributed energy resource management systems. Through these programs, customers can participate in initiatives that reduce energy consumption during peak periods, shift electricity use to off-peak hours, or provide power back to the grid using technologies such as battery storage and electric vehicles.
By aggregating thousands or even millions of small customer contributions, Uplight enables utilities to create dependable grid capacity that can be deployed when and where it is needed. This approach transforms distributed energy resources into a powerful tool for maintaining grid stability while reducing the need for additional infrastructure.
Octopus Energy Brings Global Flexibility Expertise
For Octopus Energy Group, the investment in Uplight represents a strategic opportunity to bring its global expertise in energy flexibility to the United States market. The company has built a strong reputation for developing innovative energy solutions that empower consumers while helping utilities manage increasingly complex power systems.
Octopus Energy operates the world’s largest virtual power plant, connecting hundreds of thousands of energy assets and enabling them to function collectively as a single flexible energy resource. Globally, more than 350,000 electric vehicles are currently enrolled in Octopus-managed flexibility programs, allowing drivers to charge their vehicles at optimal times while supporting grid stability.
Through innovative tariffs and smart energy management technologies, the company has already helped millions of customers reduce their electricity bills while contributing to a more efficient and sustainable energy system.
By partnering with Uplight and Schneider Electric, Octopus Energy aims to apply this expertise to the rapidly evolving U.S. energy landscape. The collaboration will help utilities unlock new sources of flexible capacity and integrate customer-driven energy resources more effectively into grid operations.
Combining Technology, Utility Relationships, and Grid Intelligence
The partnership brings together complementary strengths from all three companies involved in the transaction.
Octopus Energy contributes its global experience in consumer energy innovation and demand-side flexibility programs. The company has developed advanced technologies and business models that enable households and businesses to play an active role in energy markets while benefiting from lower energy costs.
Uplight contributes its deep relationships with leading U.S. utilities and its proven software platforms for customer engagement and distributed energy resource management. Its systems are already integrated with numerous utility operations, providing a foundation for expanding flexibility programs across the region.
Schneider Electric adds its global leadership in grid management technology, particularly through advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) and its OneDERMS platform. These technologies help utilities monitor and control increasingly complex electricity networks that must integrate renewable energy sources, distributed generation, and dynamic customer demand.
Together, these capabilities create a powerful ecosystem capable of connecting customer-level energy resources directly to utility operations. This integration will allow utilities to manage power systems more dynamically while maximizing the value of distributed energy resources.
Exploring Collaboration with Kraken
Another important element of the partnership involves potential collaboration between Uplight and Kraken Technologies, the advanced utility operating system originally developed by Octopus Energy. Kraken has evolved into an independent global technology platform that helps utilities manage billing, customer service, smart energy devices, and demand-side flexibility.
Kraken already supports energy providers serving tens of millions of customers worldwide. Through advanced data analytics and machine learning capabilities, the platform enables utilities to optimize energy usage, manage distributed assets, and deliver more personalized services to customers.
As part of the new partnership, Kraken will begin exploring ways to collaborate with Uplight. Potential areas of cooperation include improving customer operations, enhancing flexibility orchestration, and combining the best features of both platforms to create more powerful tools for utilities.
Such collaboration could significantly expand the capabilities available to utilities seeking to deploy large-scale flexibility programs and integrate distributed energy resources into their networks.
Industry Leaders Highlight Strategic Importance
Nick Chaset, Chief Executive Officer of Octopus Energy US, emphasized the importance of the partnership in addressing rising electricity demand in the United States.
“As energy demand surges in the U.S., utilities need the tools to deliver reliable and affordable power for their customers,” Chaset said. “This partnership brings together Octopus’s world-leading expertise in flexibility, Schneider Electric’s grid intelligence and Uplight’s deep relationships with leading U.S. utilities to turn customer participation into dependable grid capacity.”
He added that the collaboration could significantly accelerate the transition toward a more resilient and affordable energy system.
Frédéric Godemel, Executive Vice President of Energy Management at Schneider Electric, highlighted the company’s continued commitment to developing technologies that connect distributed energy resources directly with grid operations.
“Our continued commitment to Uplight reflects a shared focus on connecting customer programs more directly to grid operations,” Godemel said. “Uplight’s platform will help transform distributed energy resources into reliable, market-ready capacity, and we will support their mission to make energy more flexible, clean and affordable.”
Luis D’Acosta, Chief Executive Officer of Uplight, said the partnership strengthens the company’s mission to empower consumers while supporting utilities in managing increasingly complex energy systems.
“Uplight has always been committed to unlocking grid capacity by empowering the energy consumer,” D’Acosta said. “With the strategic backing of Octopus Energy and Schneider Electric, Uplight is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between customer participation and grid operations.”
He added that the collaboration demonstrates how distributed energy resources, when managed effectively at scale, can function as reliable utility-scale capacity that supports a resilient and affordable energy future.
A New Model for the Future Energy System
The investment highlights a broader shift occurring across the global energy sector. Instead of relying solely on centralized power generation, utilities are increasingly integrating distributed resources such as rooftop solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles, and smart appliances into grid operations.
Customer engagement platforms like Uplight play a critical role in this transformation by connecting individual consumers with utility programs and enabling them to participate directly in energy markets.
With rising electricity demand driven by electrification, digitalization, and economic growth, flexible energy systems are becoming essential for maintaining grid reliability and affordability.
By combining Octopus Energy’s innovation in energy flexibility, Schneider Electric’s advanced grid management technology, and Uplight’s deep relationships with utilities and consumers, the partnership aims to accelerate the development of next-generation power systems across North America.
As the energy transition continues to reshape electricity markets, collaborations like this one may help establish a new model for how utilities and consumers work together to build resilient, efficient, and sustainable energy systems for the future.
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