Shell has taken over the British independent energy provider First Utility for an undisclosed amount (estimated at £200-300m, i.e. €225-340m) and will consequently enter the British energy market, selling electricity and gas directly to 825,000 households.
First Utility was launched in 2008 and has become the largest independent energy supplier in the United Kingdom. In 2015, it partnered with Shell to create Shell Privatenergie, a new energy (gas and electricity) supplier focused on households on the German retail markets. First Utility expects the merger with Shell to develop new products for customers, including electric car charging (Shell acquired two electric car infrastructure companies in 2017).
This transaction, expected to be completed in late February 2018, will contribute to the upheaval of the UK energy market dominated by the "Big Six", and already changing due to proposed merger of SSE and Npower and the introduction of price caps on default tariffs in early 2019. This measure will have few impact on First Utility, since only 23% of its customers will be concerned by the price cap.