{"id":33614,"date":"2026-05-11T11:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/33614\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T11:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:00:11","slug":"e-on-to-buy-rival-ovo-to-create-uk-energy-supply-giant-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/33614\/","title":{"rendered":"E.On to buy rival Ovo to create UK energy supply giant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ovo Ovo has insisted it is \u201ccommitted\u201d to meeting financial resilience rules set by the industry watchdog after its accounts warned about a \u201cmaterial uncertainty\u201d over its future following its failure to meet the targets. (Alamy\/PA) <\/p>\n

German energy firm E.On has agreed to buy rival Ovo in a deal which would create Britain\u2019s largest supplier.<\/p>\n

The combined business will serve about 9.6 million customers, surpassing current top supplier Octopus.<\/p>\n

The firms did not disclose the value of the deal, although previous reports indicated that it could be as much as \u00a3600 million.<\/p>\n

\"The The boss of E.On UK has urged the Government to target any forthcoming energy bills support to those most in need (Alamy\/PA) (Alamy\/PA) <\/p>\n

The takeover is subject to regulatory hurdles, including potential scrutiny from the UK\u2019s competition watchdog, and is expected to complete in the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n

Both firms said there would be no change for customers while regulators review the deal and that tariffs would be \u201chonoured in full\u201d.<\/p>\n

E.On and Ovo will continue to operate separately until the deal is approved.<\/p>\n

Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder of Ovo, said: \u201cEnergy<\/a> retail is now more regulated, more capital intensive and increasingly dependent on long-term investment and scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that context, bringing Ovo together with E.On is the right next step for customers, for colleagues, and for the long-term commitment that decarbonisation requires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovo has also agreed to sell its home services division, which provides boiler servicing and insurance, to Hometree.<\/p>\n

The brand was founded in Mr Fitzpatrick in 2009 and has since expanded to become on the country\u2019s largest household supplier, while also developing technology to allow for greener energy usage.<\/p>\n

Bosses at Ovo said the business has \u201cremained resilient\u201d despite a current period of \u201cunprecedented volatility in global energy markets\u201d, including pressure from the current conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The company said changes to expectations regarding financial resilience and increased regulation have \u201caltered the economics of the sector\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group launched a review into its strategic options as a result, ultimately deciding to move forward with a sale process.<\/p>\n

Marc Spieker, chief operating officer commercial at E.On, said: \u201cThe United Kingdom is an important growth market for E.On, particularly for flexibility and customer\u2011focused energy solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe planned acquisition of Ovo strengthens our retail business and underlines our commitment to be the trusted partner of choice for our customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy flexibility and electrification are becoming increasingly important and are critical to the success of the energy transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt E.On, we are passionate about developing solutions that enable customers across Europe<\/a> to play an active role in making our energy systems both reliable and affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ovo has insisted it is \u201ccommitted\u201d to meeting financial resilience rules set by the industry watchdog after its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3351,15650,15624,15623,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-33614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-customers","9":"tag-e-on-uk","10":"tag-ovo","11":"tag-stephen-fitzpatrick","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116555600543009387","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}