In 2025 we worked closely across the membership and governments, parliamentarians, regulators, charities and consumer groups to support the industry, people and the country.

We have played a key role in numerous events in the year following a General Election, and continued to position Energy UK and the sector as a positive voice for change at the heart of the country’s economic transition.

Explore our work throughout the year in our 2025 Annual Report.

Download this report as a PDF

Welcome from our Chair

Introduction from our Chief Executive

Amplifying influence, making impact

Fit for the future

Delivery

Welcome from our Chair

This year was my third as Chair and I’m delighted to have seen the organisation achieve arguably greater impact than ever before.

Energy is always of huge importance for households, businesses, the media and policy makers, but now more than ever with high global energy prices and all of the complex policy challenges of transitioning to a Net Zero world.

Energy UK continues to speak clearly and compellingly for the sector and – with the strong backing of our members – is helping Government deliver on priorities relating to affordability, energy security and the green agenda.

This year marked the first as Chief Executive for Dhara Vyas, who took up the role in November 2024. Dhara has already proved to be an outstanding leader and has fully justified the confidence which the Board demonstrated in her in making the appointment a year ago.

Dhara is also brilliantly supported by her executive team of Adam, Juliette and Rich, and by the whole Energy UK team of highly motivated and talented individuals. I’m very optimistic about the year ahead, in spite of the various complex challenges we are facing here and across the globe.

The Association is underpinned by the support of our members. The range of businesses we are fortunate enough to represent makes us one of the strongest voices for the sector. Thank you to those who have supported us again this year and welcome to those many new members who have joined us. We look forward to working with you all in 2026.

David Laws, Chair, Energy UK

Introduction from our Chief Executive

2025 marks my first full year as CEO and I’m delighted to see the organisation continue to build on our strong foundations, increasing our reach, breadth and profile, representing more businesses operating across the energy industry, as well as improving and increasing the number of high-quality events, publications and training courses we offer.

I’m grateful to the wonderful Energy UK team, and to our Chairman David Laws for his unwavering commitment to the association and our members. I’m delighted that he has agreed to serve another term as Chair of the Energy UK Board, and that members supported his reappointment at our AGM in November.

Our success in 2025 would not be possible without our fantastic members. Thank you for supporting me and the Energy UK team this year. Every year it becomes a growing challenge to sum up the extensive work we’ve produced in one report, but you only need to glance through the following pages to get a flavour of our breadth of work and our impact.

2025 has seen the debate about the pace and direction of the sector’s transformation intensify even further. We no longer have political consensus on the action necessary to tackle climate change. Despite this, it remains crucial to deliver energy security, drive up electrification, and attract investment to modernise and upgrade our critical national infrastructure. There is also of course an important conversation to be had about cost, fairness, pace and delivery.

Energy UK plays an important role in this conversation. Given the breadth of businesses in our membership, the range of technologies we represent and the variety of stakeholders we work with, there has rarely been a more important time for businesses across the energy sector to speak with one voice, for the Association to present an industry-wide position.

Our strength lies in our commitment to reflect the breadth of the industry, taking a technology-neutral, outcomes-based view, actively communicating the trade-offs inherent in shaping and delivering all aspects of energy policy. In 2025, it’s been crucial that we focused on the need for action from Government to reduce the burden of high energy bills.

Our Bring Down Bills campaign shone a spotlight on the integrated nature of the sector. Every business in our membership is concerned about the cost of energy bills for households and businesses in Great Britain, and our work resulted in a welcome step toward policy cost rebalancing from the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget. There is more work to do, but it remains the case that when our industry speaks clearly, with one voice, decisionmakers listen.

We also continued to focus on investment in 2025, given the importance and impact of long-term, forward-looking policy when it comes to attracting inward investment and driving economic growth. Businesses in our sector are responsible for investing billions of pounds, employing hundreds of thousands of people across the country, building the infrastructure, delivering the products and services we need to power homes and businesses.

As a non-profit, we invest our returns in our team and our ability to deliver excellent value for members, and Energy UK remains in a healthy financial position. Recognising the external pressures being faced across the sector, I am pleased we are able to maintain member fees at their current level for 2026.

This year was the first full year in our new offices on Cannon Street, which resulted in a significant saving for the organisation in addition to opportunities to host our own events – which the team has taken full advantage of! We have doubled the number of Energy UK events and added even more training courses, offering more opportunities to learn and meet others across the sector than ever.

I remain intensely proud of the work we do on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and also with our Young Energy Professionals Forum. It was inspiring to celebrate rising talent at the annual awards, and I’m grateful to NESO for sponsoring the forum in 2025.

This year I’ve also had the privilege of visiting so many member sites across the country, and one thing that always strikes me is the immense pride that people feel about where they work, the jobs they do and the importance of the energy sector to the country. I’m pleased that this sentiment is shared by my team, and I hope you get a flavour of this as you look back over 2025 in this report.

Dhara Vyas, CEO, Energy UK

Amplifying influence, making impact

Government

2025 has seen the political profile of Energy UK continue to go from strength to strength. As the energy sector faces growing political interest, we continue to be a trusted voice on energy across all political parties an across Parliament. We’ve had a record year of select committee appearances, mentions in parliament, staffer briefings and MP meetings.

This profile was reflected clearly at our 2025 Annual Conference where the Secretary of State, Shadow Secretary of State and the leader of the Liberal Democrats all delivered keynote speeches – resulting in several media headlines.

We will always be politically neutral and engage with all political parties. During 2025, we had excellent conversations with every major party – from the Green Party to Reform and SNP to Plaid Cymru – and will continue to do so through 2026. The best energy policy has deep cross-party consensus and Energy UK plays a unique role in representing the sector to help deliver views to policy-makers.

We delivered significant programmes of activity across Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences, where we held events with the respective energy spokespeople and even had the Chancellor address an event we sponsored.

Part of Energy UK’s role is engaging with the wider economy, and we were pleased to continue to work with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and its trade association network to talk about energy to industries from heavy manufacturing to retail. We have also quite often been the energy sector representative at roundtables and events organised by the Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). We worked closely with the DBT and wider economy to ensure the Industrial Strategy was right for the energy sector, and were pleased to see many positive announcements for the energy sector by the Treasury over the year.

Energy UK is a respected industry voice with excellent engagement with government and the media. It was great to hear from all three major political parties at your annual conference

Energy UK member

This year we also held two new sets of events: Power Talks and the Government Affairs Network. In our two Power Talks sessions, Dhara first sat down with Chris Stark CBE as the then-recently appointed head of the Clean Power Mission, and later with Kwasi Kwarteng, former Chancellor and long-serving energy minister.

The Government Affairs Network is a quarterly panel discussion for our corporate and government affairs members, held under Chatham House rules. Kindly sponsored by PLMR, the event series has so far featured contributions from ex-No.10 special advisors, political influencers, MPs, journalists and think tanks. This is in-person only and open to relevant members – get in touch to learn more.

More widely, we had a big year for activity across Whitehall and in Parliament, with some of the highest levels of engagement we’ve seen for some time.

We were pleased to see many of our asks going into the various fiscal events come true, including the Treasury taking the first step to rebalancing on energy bills and significant funding for Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) projects. We were also present at some of the Government’s biggest moments for the year and often one of the first on the list to be briefed.

Going into next year, there will be several key moments for Energy UK to be working closely with members on. We’re expecting a King’s Speech which may outline more planning legislation, an energy independence bill and new rules around a closer EU relationship. We’ll also see many key elections across Great Britain.

Alexander Gray, Deputy Director, External Affairs

We played an important role in influencing the successful passing of various pieces of legislation, including the Great British Energy Act, the Planning and Infrastructure Act, and The Crown Estate Act. We regularly briefed parliamentarians in both Houses on what responses Energy UK members wanted to see from the bills, engaged with organisations outside of Parliament, like The Crown Estate, and appeared before several committees to give evidence on the potential impacts of the pieces of legislation – much of which is explained in later pages.

At the end of the year, we conducted a survey of external stakeholders asking for views on Energy UK’s activity over 2025. These questions went to the regulator, government, think tanks, charities, trade unions, and many more. We were delighted to see an overwhelming majority of eight out of 10 respondents strongly agreeing or agreeing that Energy UK demonstrated an effective level of influence within energy policy in 2025. The same number answered that “Energy UK is a professional and trusted body for the sector.”

Some 2025 Energy UK mentions in Parliament

There has been a resolution to the risk of divergency in our carbon emissions trading schemes, which would have been a death knell for the British steel industry. Energy UK estimates that will mean around £800 million per year of payments going to our Treasury rather than to the EU.

Stella Creasy MP, Chair Labour Movement for Europe, May 2025

We know that this winter has been difficult for many people who are struggling with high energy bills. We agreed the winter support package with industry and Energy UK to get support to the people who need it, and £500 million is being provided through industry.

Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, Former Minister for Energy Consumers, February 2025

Although we are tackling this issue for global reasons, it is clear that there will be benefits at home. Clean energy is the route to faster and more resilient growth. Analysis by Oxford Economics for Energy UK shows that we can add up to £240 billion in value to our economy by 2050 if we increase our ambition. The faster we move now, the more our economy will work for working people and the more good, secure jobs we will create.

Tom Hayes MP, Energy Mission Champion, November 2025

Media

Once again, energy has been rarely out of the headlines in 2025, and Energy UK’s staff have appeared regularly across the broadcast, national, local and specialist media speaking on behalf of the industry in relation to a wide range of stories and issues – as well as to promote Energy UK publications such as our How to Cut Bills and Clean Heat reports.

We’ve also been hitting the airwaves and talking more generally about the sector in a growing number of podcast appearances. In addition to numerous background discussions with journalists about ongoing, complex stories, we’ve been interviewed frequently for national BBC and ITV News – both TV and radio – along with the likes of LBC, Times Radio and Talk TV, as well as news and consumer programmes such as Today, BBC Breakfast, The World at One, You & Yours and Money Box.

The subject matter ranged widely from responding swiftly to political announcements, and sector issues such as backtracking on Net Zero and the Climate Change Act, cuts to energy efficiency funding, energy costs, investment, pylons and infrastructure, through to a stream of retail stories around back billing, standing charges, debt and, of course, price cap announcements.

“It’s an exciting, but challenging time in energy communications. The team has done a stellar job in handling thousands of media enquiries, and speaking on behalf of the sector – both to welcome progress and represent the sector across a broad range of challenges. Next year we’ll continue expanding our reach to new audiences, and equipping members with opportunities, information and messaging and tools so the sector can speak with one aligned voice.”

Juliette Sanders, Chief Communications Officer, Energy UK

The Radio Teleswitch Service switch-off has featured heavily throughout the year with Energy UK taking a leading role in repeating the appeal to customers across the national and regional media – in particularly Scotland – supported by paid-for slots across local newspapers and radio. We’ve also maintained a focus beyond these shores with our calls for closer ties with the EU in relation to Emissions Trading Scheme linkage and the impending Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

Towards the end of the year, a stellar line-up at our Annual Conference ensured widespread coverage of our flagship event and our paper on the future of Ofgem made a major impact, thanks in part to Dhara’s punchy op-ed in the Telegraph.

We also introduced a programme of masterclasses for our members’ communications professionals: Wired for Impact. This brought in leading experts across polling, academia, behavioural insights, and campaigns, to present learnings and good practice. The sessions included the latest information from polling and focus groups on which messages work when talking to decision-makers or the public, to insights from behavioural experts on what works with mass public campaigns. This series will continue into 2026.

Digital Communications

In 2025, Energy UK continued to grow its digital presence to reach an even wider audiences for promotion of its advocacy, commercial activities and the work of its membership.

Through increased production of engaging content including video and animation, we have grown our audience on LinkedIn by almost a quarter, with a total of 27,170 followers of our page by the end of the year.

In autumn, we launched a WhatsApp broadcast channel so our key stakeholders can be the first to receive Energy UK’s news, event dates and briefings.

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Our work

Investing in energy

Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA)

In 2025, a major milestone of the REMA programme was met and a decision reached on the future of wholesale pricing. The Government decided in favour of reformed national pricing – the subject of a lengthy debate between industry and successive governments.

Energy UK held numerous briefing sessions for both Government and industry, including engagement with senior officials at DESNZ ahead of the decision and participation in an expert panel group at the beginning of the year.

Our broad membership meant we were party to the positions of all types of companies, from storage providers to retailers and developers to investors, and throughout the process we sought to maintain a balanced view of the various interests within the sector.

We were pleased for a decision to finally be made on next steps as the lack of certainty was offputting for many developers and investors, particularly being so close to the start of the window for Allocation Round 7 (AR7) – a key auction for the Government’s clean power targets.

Energy UK’s ability to articulate clear, evidence-based positions on behalf of the industry – particularly in relation to the energy transition, system resilience, and investment frameworks – has helped ensure that policy development remains both pragmatic and delivery-focused.

Energy UK member

Allocation Round 7

AR7, which concludes in February 2026, is a crucial auction round for the industry and the Government’s objective to deliver energy security. Throughout the year, Energy UK

published explainers on the importance of the round and what specific announcements, such as the offshore budget, might mean for the sector and Government targets, and planned media and stakeholder briefings ahead of the results in early January.

We collaborated with other trade associations on a letter to the Secretary of State, and in addition Energy UK wrote separately to the Chancellor to emphasise the importance of a successful and cost-effective auction to consumers and industry. Having worked with companies across Energy UK’s membership on the future of the
Renewables Obligation scheme, we continue to advocate for regulatory and policy stability to promote a positive investment landscape.

Enabling investment

In 2025, we provided opportunities for major investors in the energy industry to speak to energy policy-makers. As well as speaking at major investment-focused conferences, we organised several events with significant investors in the room.

New for 2025, two roundtables were held where some of the world’s largest banks, pensions funds and other types of funds could discuss the challenges and opportunities of investing in the energy sector in an open forum. Both were kindly sponsored by LCP Delta.

The first roundtable was with Energy Minister Michael Shanks MP to discuss how the financial sector can support the Government’s wider clean energy and growth missions and to hear about the blockers they faced. The second was held with Dan McGrail, CEO of GB Energy, to discuss how private capital can be unlocked through the newly formed organisation.

In addition to these events, we organised sessions for the Energy UK team to hear from representatives of the finance trade body UKSIF and bank UBS, joined two CFO dinners in part organised by Deloitte, and Juliette Sanders, Chief Communications Officer, also spoke at the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF)’s conference to an audience of investors and finance representatives.

For 2026 we will be looking to build on this roundtable series and continue to work closely with the financial sector, ensuring companies see the benefit of investing in energy.

In 2026, Energy UK will continue to advocate for policy and regulatory frameworks, and market reforms, that provide certainty, remove barriers, and attract the significant investment needed to deliver a clean, operable, and resilient power system. International cooperation and alignment with the EU will also be a key focus this year, with UK-EU negotiations progressing on ETS linkage and market coupling.

Sophie Lethier, Interim Deputy Director (Investments), Energy UK

The role of nuclear power

2025 was a crucial year for the future of the UK’s civil nuclear sector. With lifetime extensions announced for some of the existing power stations, and the outcome of the Small Modular Reactor competition, the Nuclear Regulatory Review and final investment decision for Sizewell C, Energy UK was keen to highlight the importance of the UK’s nuclear sector.

In April 2025 we explored the economic opportunities of nuclear energy in our Powering Growth report, kindly sponsored by EDF. The report was launched in the House of Commons with speeches from Clean Power Champion Tom Hayes MP and EDF UK’s Chief Executive Simone Rossi. The report website page was visited more than 1200 times in that year.

More than 100 event attendees represented numerous corners of the economy – highlighting not just the importance of nuclear to the power sector, but also its crucial role in future growth areas such as data centres, hydrogen and heavy industry.

The role of gas in the energy transition

Produced with the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), Energy UK’s ‘Fuelling the Future’ report series continued through 2025 with new reports on the role of gas in heating homes and the role of gas storage in ensuring energy security.

We have continued to highlight the crucial role of gas in the energy transition and will do so over the coming years as the debate around cost, use, and the amount of infrastructure needed continues. We were also involved with the National Energy System Operator (NESO)’s Gas Advisory Council.

In October, we brought together a roundtable of senior executives from gas generator members to discuss the future of the fleet and Government direction with a senior member of the Clean Power Unit. This was an important part of ensuring that Government remains focused on the important role of gas in its mission to achieve a clean power system by 2030.

In November, Energy UK held a parliamentary reception to bring together parliamentarians, industry and key policy-makers to discuss the present challenges and future for the industry. Kindly sponsored by RWE with a speech delivered by its UK Country Chair Tom Glover, the even also featured speeches on the importance of gas in the transition from Martin Vickers MP, Climate Minister Katie White MP, and RWE apprentices Emma Vizzino and Connor Silom.

With many energy-sector bodies focusing on specific technologies across the system, Energy UK remains one of the only voices able to credibly speak about the changing role of gas, and its strategic importance to the UK. As the energy transition progresses, Energy UK will continue having honest conversations with both the public and parliamentarians to explore the benefits and trade-offs of different technology mixes on the system.

A secure and flexible energy system

Energy UK has continued to work with members on policy frameworks to support investment in flexibility and the technologies that help to keep the lights on and the grid balanced – both now and in the future.

The publication of the Government’s Clean Flexibility Roadmap was a major milestone and Energy UK engaged closely throughout its development. The Roadmap outlines how clean flexibility needs to be scaled to support our future power system. As part of this work, Energy UK is involved with NESO’s Technology Advisory Council and other expert industry groups to address barriers to market access for storage and consumer-led flexibility.

Energy UK participates in expert groups working on the development of the hydrogen economy and wrote to then-Minster of State for Industry Sarah Jones about the importance of timely decisions on Hydrogen Allocation Round 2 and publication of the Hydrogen Strategy. We have since seen the Government move forward on hydrogen decisions, with the expected strategy being published in early 2026.

More broadly, the resilience of the system continued to be a major theme throughout the year as a number of incidents reaffirmed that the security of the energy system is a matter of national and economic security.

Energy UK continued its involvement with the Energy Resilience Group and Dhara Vyas was appointed to the CEO level Ministerial Energy Infrastructure Security and Resilience Taskforce.

Closer UK-EU cooperation on energy and climate

The UK-EU Summit in May 2025 sought to reset relations and lay essential groundwork for alignment of both parties’ emissions trading schemes (ETS), market re-coupling and an effective Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanish (CBAM) exemption.

Ahead of the discussions and then following the subsequent agreements, our Director of Policy and Advocacy Adam Berman set out Energy UK’s position across a series of conferences, roundtables, panel discussions and media comments. Isabell Poppelbaum, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the UK, also addressed Energy UK’s Annual Conference.

Adam also hosted our June Breakfast Briefing, in which Silke Goldberg of ESG, Herbert Smith of Freehills, Rebecca Sedler of National Grid and John Springford of the Centre for European Reform (CER) joined him to explore the finer detail on what the discussions and subsequent agreements meant for the energy industry and the wider economy.

Energy UK also organised a roundtable dinner – kindly sponsored by SSE – with Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, to discuss the importance of greater alignment on energy between the UK and EU.

These appearances were supplemented with the publication of ‘Energy UK Explains – Linking the UK-EU emissions trading schemes’ and position papers on both ETS and market coupling. We also explored the implications for Northern Ireland in ’Borderline Confusion: carbon adjustment mechanisms in Northern Ireland’ – which was covered by BBC NI.

We highlighted closer UK-EU cooperation on energy and climate in May with the publication of an open letter signed by Prime Minister Kier Starmer, Secretary of State Ed Miliband, and Paymaster General and Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds. Just before Christmas, we were pleased to see a Memorandum of Understanding from the UK and EU on the importance of continuing to work more closely between electricity sectors.

The Council of the EU has now given the mandate to the European Commission to begin negotiations on ETS linkage, and is set to approve the mandate for Britain’s reintegration into the internal energy market (IEM) in the near future. The mandate indicates that negotiations on ETS linking should be completed by the 2026 UK-EU Summit, expected in early 2026. This work will continue with energy security high on the agenda at January 2026’s North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) Summit in January in Hamburg.

International representation

In addition to working towards a more integrated ETS with the EU, Energy UK represented the sector when meeting with a number of embassies and delegations.

Our organisation often serves as the ‘gateway’ to understanding the UK energy sector for many international visitors. This year we visited Oslo to present on the UK energy sector, hosted representatives from the Japanese energy sector in our offices, spoke at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce and briefed members of the Danish and Netherlands embassies in London.

Infrastructure

Planning and Infrastructure Act

The Planning and Infrastructure Act was one of the key pieces of legislation that Energy UK actively shaped over 2025.

In January, Deputy Director (Systems) Charles Wood gave evidence to the ESNZ Committee on national planning for energy infrastructure on the legislation’s potential implications for the sector, highlighting the importance of expedited planning decisions, enhanced coordination between permitting bodies, and the need for flexibility in community benefit frameworks.

We spent the subsequent months engaging across the industry to align on positions and with policy-makers to ensure they were aware of the potential impacts the legislation may have. The Act was the first major piece of planning legislation in some time and contained several important changes for the sector, from speeding up network delivery to community benefits for residents close to infrastructure. We were pleased to see the bill pass with significant measures to improve processes and governance, removing barriers to investment.

The Planning and Infrastructure Act was broadly welcomed and a positive first step to addressing the challenges for the energy sector caused by the planning and infrastructure system. We hope the next proposed planning bill, expected in 2026, will continue on this path and help make the delivery of infrastructure easier for all involved.

Charles Wood, Deputy Director (Systems), Energy UK

Spatial Energy Planning

Spatial Energy Planning is developing under two key workstreams. At the national level, the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) will define the pathway to delivery for 2030 and beyond, targeting significant network upgrade and strategic connections across the country.

At a regional level, the Regional Energy System Plans (RESPs) will enable combined authorities, local authorities, businesses and communities to input into the design of their local energy system.

Energy UK has engaged with both processes via industry working groups convened by NESO, feeding industry insights and expertise into the design of spatial plans that reflect the needs of both the consumers and the energy system.

We have championed an open and transparent process, leading industry letters and calling for open access to datasets and the use of a wider range of energy sector experts. This will enable the most up-to-date information to be used in underlying assumptions ahead of the delivery of a range of options to the Secretary of State. This work has resulted in NESO committing to various steps to improve transparency, mostly in line with industry demands, as set out by NESO in the first SSEP Transparency Update.

Regional delivery

As the wider economy decarbonises, the introduction of a Clean Industries Sector Plan and the transitional framework for Regional Energy System Planning are underway. Combined with GB Energy Local Power Plans, these could usher in a new era for regional, local, and community energy projects. Energy UK has increased its focus on heat networks, distributed and demand-side technologies, and the barriers to delivery at all levels of the energy system.

The National Infrastructure Commission review into Electricity Distribution Networks and the subsequent End-to-End Review of Network Connections from Ofgem have set out many positive recommendations aligned with proposals presented by Energy UK in consultation responses and direct engagement.

A reformed connections process and more routes to finance for local, regional, and community bodies will enable the best possible outcomes for developers and consumers, and clear investment signals for international private finance.

Energy UK has engaged throughout the year with devolved governments and the regional and local authorities that will be charged with delivering under these frameworks.

As the complexity within this area increases, we will continue to engage with a range of organisations, including UK100 and the Local Government Association, to ensure the increasing complexity of local, regional, and national energy planning can be delivered through partnerships between officials and industry expertise.

Network reforms

Throughout 2025, Energy UK has been wholly engaged in the process to reform the connections process, holding a role in the Connections Delivery Board and various working groups, and engaging bilaterally and through our member committees with the officials and organisations responsible for delivery. As the process is implemented, Energy UK coordinated significant industry engagement around the NESO connections application window, with accelerated connection offers now emerging for those most-needed projects.

Charles Wood gave evidence to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee regarding the challenges facing the energy grid and those investing in energy generation across the UK.

Energy UK has worked with NESO, Ofgem, and DESNZ throughout the process, speaking at all levels to ensure the important investment in the energy system and streamlined process for connection is delivered at pace. This includes engaging with the developing End-to-End Review of Connections Processes, which is set to implement further reforms for distribution networks.

This crucial investment must be paid for, but Energy UK has been vocal in its position on network charging and the impact of network investment on energy bills, asking for further consideration of the impacts on consumers and for reforms to network charges.

Connections reform

The grid has undergone a significant increase in demand for connections over recent years; Energy UK has been engaging with the development of crucial reforms to the connections process, looking to address the significant number of projects in the queue to connect.

This work is intricately linked to the wider work of NESO, DESNZ and industry in developing National and Regional Strategic Spatial Energy Planning frameworks and pathways.

The energy system of the future is being designed now, with the reformed connections queue and spatial plans directed at delivering a cost-effective and secure system fit for the future. Representing the industry across the Connections Delivery Board, Electricity Network Delivery Forum, the Spatial Energy Planning Industry Working Group, and in Select Committee appearances, Energy UK has pushed for transparent processes, coordinated across departments and institutions, to deliver effective outcomes for industry, consumers, and the UK economy.

Looking ahead to 2026, attention is turning to the challenge of strategically planning, locating and operating supply and demand in a modernising energy system with an electrifying economy. Spatial planning at the national and regional level will enable investment in generation and network assets to be aligned with where and when our homes and businesses need it. With a surge in connection applications for demand seen in 2025, Energy UK has been emphasising the challenges facing non-domestic demand in detail, publishing reports on ‘How data centres can deliver sustainable growth’ and ‘Driving electrification in the road freight sector’. Both reports emphasise the importance of clear, coordinated price signals and regulatory frameworks to facilitate the strategic delivery of infrastructure.

Institutions and sector governance

As the sector modernises, so must its institutions, regulations, and governing frameworks. Across 2025, the energy sector contributed to the shape and remit of these many strands that define the sector. The now fully operational and licenced NESO and the first implementation stages for Energy Code Reform will have significant ramifications for the sector in the coming decades. NESO’s first actions in delivering a pathway for Clean Power by 2030 and developing options for a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan for the Secretary of State are fundamental steps in delivery for the immediate future.

Critical to an efficient energy system and a robust clean energy economy, regulation must be agile, outcomes-driven, and well-resourced. In 2024, as part of a wider regulatory review, Energy UK called for an end to inefficiency and overextended resources seen in energy regulation, and for the development of a better-resourced, more efficient and streamlined industry regulator.

Energy UK’s strong relationships with government, Ofgem, and other regulatory bodies allow it to effectively translate industry insight into credible policy positions that shape real-world outcomes.

Energy UK member

Alongside the Government’s own proposed reforms to modernise environmental permitting and streamline infrastructure planning, these proposals could reduce regulatory burden and improve the efficiency of regulators across the system. Read more about our response.

Through 2025, Energy UK has also hosted meetings with other major sector trade associations to ensure closer day-to-day working relationships around the sector. This has included regular CEO-level meetings, as well as direct working-level engagement across communications and advocacy representatives. Moving into 2026, more detailed work will continue on ways to ensure that the energy trade bodies are working closely together in the best interests of the sector.

Industrial Strategy

This year, Energy UK continued to build its work programme on industrial strategy and business decarbonisation. Ahead of the Spending Review, Energy UK attended ministerial roundtables and worked with other business trade associations to push for the Industrial Strategy to tackle electricity prices and provide more support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Rachel Cary, Energy UK’s newly appointed Head of Industrial Strategy, spoke at a number of events on business energy costs and decarbonisation, including the New Statesman Energy and Climate Change Conference, the Energy Storage summit, Solar and Storage Live, a Greater London Authority and C40 Cities event on London’s Green Transition, showcasing good practice across the sector and promoting policy asks. We represented the sector at business trade association events and meetings, including those run by UK Hospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association, CBI, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and BEAMA and spoke at several member events, including Bryt Energy, Schneider Electric and EY.

We worked with Ofgem, DESNZ, GB Energy and Ynni Cymru to explore the role of corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) as a route to market for community projects, and issues with local tariffs as GB energy drafts the Local Power Plan expected in 2026.

We also attended regional industry and energy events around the country, meeting with local, combined and mayoral authorities to feed into the development of Regional Energy Spatial Plans. These plans will impact energy investment but will also shape the economies of our regions going forward, establishing routes to decarbonise local businesses and communities.

Decarbonising freight

Throughout 2025, Energy UK worked closely with the freight sector to consider how to improve the economic case for Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) electrification, publishing a report, ‘Driving electrification in the road freight sector’, in September.

The report set out policy solutions to key barriers such as regulatory uncertainty, high upfront investment costs, and grid connection challenges. The report built on our earlier work on non-domestic electricity costs, showing that if Energy UK’s recommended measures to lower electricity prices were implemented, and fleet operators encouraged to use off-peak depot charging, HGV electrification could deliver annual savings of £2.3 billion for operators.

To facilitate a cross-sector discussion on the policies needed to decarbonise road freight, Energy UK held a joint industry roundtable with Logistics UK, the DBT and the Department for Transport (DfT). We also hosted an online Breakfast Briefing and presented the findings from this work at several industry events, including Logistics UK’s Delivering Decarbonisation conference and BEAMA’s Market Developments in Electric Transport Infrastructure event.

Following Energy UK’s report, the Government has now launched a consultation on the phase out of non-zero-emission HGVs and has provided £18 million in funding for zero-emission HGVs – two key asks to encourage early market growth in clean freight transport.

Data centres

In April, we examined how data centres can deliver sustainable growth in our report ‘Powering the Cloud”. Data centres will be a significant driver of the need for electricity and will power many parts of the economy, and are facing significant barriers in the form of planning, network connections, and energy costs. For the UK to draw investment in data centres, these barriers must be addressed.

Following the publication of our report, we held a Breakfast Briefing with a high-profile panel that included the Government’s new AI energy champion Lucy Yu from the Centre for Net Zero, Sue Daley OBE from TechUK, Michael Jenner from Last Energy and Mark Yeeles from Schneider Electric, to discuss the challenges and opportunities around the energy and data centre sectors in a webinar.

Energy UK has since engaged with DESNZ and NESO on how data centres could contribute to security of supply and has contributed to Government AI Energy Council working groups on CPPAs, grid connection and sustainability.

Business decarbonisation

After establishing a dedicated business decarbonisation policy function in 2024, we continued to advocate for and promote solutions to help businesses decarbonise, with the report ‘Reducing non-domestic electricity prices to drive economic growth’. We anticipate that implementing these policies in the report could reduce non-domestic electricity prices by around £40/MWh, cutting electricity costs for GB businesses by up to 15%. This will in turn improve global competitiveness and enable better products and services.

In September, Dhara Vyas gave evidence to the Business and Trade Select Committee as part of its inquiry into the small business strategy.

We also engaged with MPs Sarah Edwards and Daisy Cooper ensuring their campaigns on high energy costs for businesses (in particular, on the UK high street), were well informed on how to help bring down business energy costs.

As SMEs were not allocated support in the Government’s Spending Review, Energy UK has called on the DBT and DESNZ ministers, in addition to the Treasury directly, to introduce a business electrification discount that can help them access the benefits of decarbonisation.

We have also made related calls for SMEs in our UK Budget advocacy. This is yet to come forward and so support for businesses will be a focus through 2026.

Read more about our case for supporting businesses as they decarbonise in a blog from our Head of Industrial Strategy, Rachel Cary.

Digitalisation

This year, Energy UK launched its Digitalisation Working Group to gain a better understanding of the ongoing digitalisation policies in the energy sector. The group brought together a wide range of expertise from across Energy UK membership, including energy suppliers, central data service providers, and leading tech consultancies. Their insights have helped to strengthen Energy UK’s technical policy positions in the digital transformation of the energy system.

Through the working group, Energy UK has facilitated discussions with DESNZ on energy smart data schemes, with NESO on its Sector Digitalisation Plan, and increased the industry’s understanding of the impact of the Data Usage and Access Bill on the energy sector.

Energy UK has also worked closely on the delivery of the DESNZ Smart and Secure Electricity System workstream, ensuring that new technologies going into homes across the country have the necessary protections for customers and the energy system. This includes ensuring cyber security, data privacy and innovation are central to policy decisions.

Jobs and skills

This year, we started developing our policy work on skills and supply chains, appointing a new skills policy lead to join the Industrial Strategy policy team formed last year.

We worked closely with DESNZ to shape and promote the Clean Energy Jobs Plan, attending three Ministerial Roundtables and working closely with the Office for Clean Energy Jobs on the content. We responded to the Government’s consultation on reforms to the Clean Industry Bonus ahead of Allocation Round 8, and policy asks on skills were also part of our Autumn Budget submission.

We also fed into the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment review and in November were pleased to see our recommendations to better integrate climate science across biology, chemistry and physics adopted.

Following the publication of the Clean Energy Jobs Plan, we published an op-ed by Dhara Vyas in BusinessGreen and summarised the contents of the plan in an explainer that outlined the skills challenge faced by the sector.

In May, Energy UK’s Chair David Laws and Chief Communications Officer Juliette Sanders joined a celebration of the UK’s skills and education sector, held at Buckingham Palace.

In December we attended a Ministerial roundtable hosted by DESNZ and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) focused on supporting ex-Forces and veterans into the sector and have since committed to continue supporting this important work.

Energy UK members have contributed to a workplan that will guide our activity in this area over the coming months. Highlights include holding a Ministerial roundtable with the CCSA at the start of 2026, and beginning research for a new clean heat paper focusing on skills.

Championing our members

Throughout the year, our communications activities around jobs and skills highlighted the great work already being done in the sector by our members.

We shared a collection of inspiring case studies for National Apprenticeship Week in February, and during Green Careers Week released an ‘Energy in Action’ case study collection demonstrating how our members are supporting the buildout of the workforce.

Regulatory reform

Affordability and debt

With record levels of energy customer debt seen in 2025, the issue of affordability featured heavily in Energy UK’s advocacy for the year. While the Government’s clean power ambitions are welcome and will ultimately deliver more stable bills, in the near term, households and businesses must feel the benefit of the energy transition.

As the main representative for energy suppliers, we provide evidence-led analysis and customer-focused solutions to the Government and the regulator, Ofgem, and have continued to be a prominent voice in the media.

Both energy suppliers and consumer groups raised warnings around a number of proposals from Ofgem and the Government throughout the year, which include those relating to standing charges, cost allocation, and the role of the Energy Ombudsman.

Energy UK worked to highlight the potential detrimental outcomes of these proposals and suggest alternatives. We convened several sessions with Government and stakeholders to highlight shared concerns relating to the lack of additional value and the increased costs these interventions would create.

In May, Energy UK’s Deputy Director (Customers) Ned Hammond gave evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on pensioner poverty, covering the importance of targeted energy support interventions for those in fuel poverty. He highlighted issues with the current approach to affordability and the role of smart meters as an enabling technology for support.

Vulnerability Commitment

Launched in 2020, the Vulnerability Commitment has completed a fifth year of consultation with energy suppliers, consumer and charity groups, the energy regulator, and customers.

A voluntary initiative to drive improvement in how energy companies identify and support customers in vulnerable circumstances, the Commitment was founded on three key principles: accessibility, collaboration and innovation. Between the 13 signatories, the Vulnerability Commitment now covers suppliers that serve 95% of UK homes.

The Commitment is independently chaired and scrutinised and is supported by an Advisory Board comprising consumer groups and charities, industry and government representatives, and suppliers. This year, Paul Spence took over as the new Chair of the Vulnerability Commitment and along with Energy UK, has been gathering input with the Advisory Board to inform the future of the Commitment.

Energy UK held panel hearing sessions with all 13 supplier signatories of the Vulnerability Commitment, requiring them to demonstrate how they are meeting the standards set out in the Commitment. The themes covered how suppliers are proactively treating customers in vulnerable circumstances as individuals, how they are delivering outcomes that address both acute and enduring challenges, and how suppliers can demonstrate that the Commitment is used to drive performance and improve outcomes for people and households in vulnerable circumstances.

For 2025, Paul Spence and Energy UK provided the suppliers with face-to-face verbal feedback on their panel hearing. Each supplier’s Vulnerability Champion was required to attend this session to ensure the feedback was considered at Board level. The findings of these panel hearing sessions were captured and published in the 2025 Good Practice Guide and shared so that all in the sector can learn areas of best practice.

Targeted support

Energy UK continues to advocate for a more targeted and effective support scheme to help customers struggling with their energy bills. This includes responding to the consultation on Expanding the Warm Home Discount 2025-2026 and Continuing the Warm Home Discount Scheme, the latter of which proposes to extend the scheme until 2031.

Energy UK has also published a policy paper on the future of targeted support, highlighting that the current Warm Home Discount scheme does not go far enough, even with proposed changes. In the paper, we push for better targeted, flexible, tiered support, which is fairly funded either wholly or partially via government taxation rather than on energy bills.

Enabling better data matching is fundamental in moving towards a fairer, more effective, targeted support scheme, and Energy UK has been engaging with the DESNZ-led data sharing taskforce with DWP, which has looked at legal routes for sharing data with energy suppliers that would allow them to identify Warm Home Discount recipients for other use cases.

We are continuing to work with this taskforce to explore options for longer term improvements for data sharing, for example, working with other government departments such as His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to develop the sharing of income, health, and energy use data for energy support schemes.

The Fuel Bank Foundation

In November, the Energy UK team visited the Fuel Bank Foundation at Queensborough Community Centre to experience one of its award-winning immersive fuel crisis events.

These practical, hands-on sessions are designed to give participants an insight into the daily challenges faced by people living in fuel crisis and how simple domestic tasks can be made much more difficult by exposure to cold.

In April, the Government’s significant Budget intervention to cut domestic energy bills will come into effect, providing much needed relief to millions of households. However, energy costs will remain too high for many consumers and businesses. During 2026, we are looking for further progress to permanently reduce energy bills, including through the Warm Homes Plan, enhancing data sharing to enable better targeted support, and developing policies to help businesses electrify.

Ned Hammond, Deputy Director (Customers), Energy UK

#BringDownBills campaign

The UK has some of the highest energy prices in Western Europe. The energy industry continues to do all it can – from investing billions of pounds in more British power to directly supporting customers – but the problem of households and businesses struggling with high bills is more than the sector alone can resolve.

This year, Energy UK launched the #BringDownBills campaign, which calls on the Government to act urgently to lower energy bills for households and businesses, in addition to highlighting how the sector is working to bring down bills.

In March, we published a report which included a comprehensive list of costed recommendations covering policy areas from networks to targeted support. All these asks are included in our live action scorecard, which is updated with progress and has been visited more than 600 times since launching.

Throughout the year, we presented ideas from the campaign to business groups and charity advisors, held drop ins and meetings with MPs and advisors, and briefed media on the importance of reducing bills. As a result we’ve seen interest from many of those groups wanting to be involved in the campaign. We were pleased to see the Chancellor announce the first step to rebalancing policy costs in the Autumn Budget in recognition of the high energy bills households are facing. However, more needs to be done to support businesses.

In December, we sought insights from energy leaders in ‘Bring Down Bills: Views from across the sector.’ This pocket-sized collection was distributed at our winter Parliamentary Reception, and featured perspectives that considered the previous week’s Autumn Budget announcement. The campaign is supported by a dedicated hub that signposts customers to tips and support for struggling customers, details of Energy UK’s recommendations for policymakers, and answers to frequently asked questions for anyone looking to learn more about energy bills.

With energy debt at record levels, the need for action is important; Energy UK will continue to advocate for people and the industry.

The future of energy retail

In 2025, DESNZ announced the review of Ofgem’s role in the sector. To drive DESNZ to examine the issues of importance to members, from retail to connections, Energy UK hosted a number of roundtables with the Minister and senior officials so members could share their direct experience of working with the regulator.

We believed it was important to propose a bold change in response to the review, subsequently publishing a paper in October calling for a more focused and streamlined regulator, fit for a modernising energy sector that can react quickly to changing demands and provide more stability. This was a significant intervention and our report was accompanied by a robust op-ed in theTelegraph calling for Ofgem to be reformed.

Standing charge

At the end of 2024, Ofgem announced plans to introduce a zero standing-charge price cap tariff and subsequently launched a consultation on the proposal in February 2025.

Energy UK argued that the tariff would create unnecessary complexity for customers, which could result in some households paying substantially more for their bills, and create significant cost recovery risk for energy suppliers. It would also fundamentally change the nature of the price cap, which is designed to provide protection whatever customers’ level of engagement.

We successfully advocated against the proposal, with Ofgem shifting to an alternative plan to require all suppliers to offer at least one tariff with a low-standing-charge tariff. While this is less stringent, Energy UK argued in its consultation response, and in the media, that the new proposal still risks causing higher costs for customers and could clash with the regulator’s cost allocation and recovery review. We await Ofgem’s decision on the proposal in 2026.

Smart meters and Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement

Energy UK has continued to work to ensure DESNZ’s post-2025 smart meter rollout policy framework and Ofgem’s Guaranteed Standards of Performance proposals are proportionate and practical.

Deputy Director Ned Hammond also gave evidence to the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee on suppliers’ efforts towards the smart meter rollout, the challenges to delivery, and the need for a new framework to maximise the consumer and societal benefits of smart meters. Our position was informed by research commissioned from Frontier Economics in 2025, to better understand the social costs and benefits of different policy packages.

Energy UK is excellent at finding a balanced position – given the variety of members – between affordability for customers, long-term needs of the industry and the investment needs of the companies, as well as providing excellent and credible public spokespersons.

Energy UK member

The future of smart metering

Energy UK has increasingly engaged on consumer-led flexibility, including responding to DESNZ’s consultations on the best approach to engage consumers on the topic, and reforms to the Capacity Market relating to delivery assurance, testing, and data reporting for flexibility assets. Following this engagement, we welcomed the subsequent removal of hard targets and a greater focus on customer experience.

We also continued our input to the Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement Programme Steering Group, to efficiently drive the programme forward and within planned timescales.

Radio Teleswitch Service phase-out

Energy UK activity on the programme to prepare for and deliver the phased switch-off of Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) meters ramped up significantly in 2025, with our member organisation Engage Consulting running the taskforce on our behalf.

We acted on behalf of industry to secure agreement for an extension of the service into 2026 to allow more customers to upgrade to smart meters ahead of the switch-off. This has required a cross-industry effort, with the Energy UK team handling high volumes of media and parliamentary inquiries, government data requests, and negotiating a multi-element phase-out schedule with agreement across the whole market.

Calling for customer action

Energy UK led the development and publication of communications at critical points of the RTS phase-out process. In addition to securing 10 broadcast interviews (two television, eight radio) throughout the year to discuss the RTS phase-out, we deployed press releases to build coverage and awareness across the country.

A press release in August urging customers to act to replace RTS meters resulted in 233 pieces of online coverage in local and regional newspapers, including 27 pieces of coverage in Scotland. Meanwhile, another in November – urging action over winter months – achieved 216 pieces of regional and national online newspaper coverage.

Syndicated to local and regional commercial radio stations across Great Britain, supporting broadcast interviews featuring Ned Hammond resulted in almost 4,000 pieces of coverage. The November package was particularly successful, played an average of seven times on each of the 342 stations that carried it. Over 2025, Energy UK’s RTS information webpage received 32,395 visits.

Energy Switch Guarantee

Energy UK continues to facilitate the Energy Switch Guarantee, which strives to ensure that all customer switches are simple, speedy, and safe, and to reflect good practice and remain ahead of regulatory expectations and obligations. This includes tracking key performance indicators, which have become more ambitious over time.

Each year, a good practice guide shares how suppliers are going beyond Ofgem’s regulatory baseline, in addition to areas where suppliers could learn from each other to further enhance the customer experience. In 2025 we welcomed Ecotricity to the Energy Switch Guarantee, meaning between them, the 13 signatories supply energy to 95% of UK homes.

Energy UK publishes monthly reports on customer switching activity between electricity providers; explore the figures behind the trends on our website.

Greater regulation in the non-domestic sector

In early 2025, Energy UK created the Non-Domestic Customer Sub-Committee to support effective advocacy on challenges and opportunities relating to the energy supply market for business (non-domestic). This sub-committee has built on Energy UK’s work to produce better outcomes in the market as part of the non-domestic market-wide regulatory review.

A major achievement in 2025 was securing the decision by the Government to introduce a new, robust regulatory regime to supervise thousands of intermediaries operating in the energy supply market – something for which Energy UK has been advocating for some time.

Through the Non-Domestic Customer Subcommittee, Energy UK also contributed to the streamlining of the change-of-tenancy process which will result in better operational continuity for businesses when they move premises. To address a shortage of information on the non-domestic supply market, the members of this committee helped Ofgem build and populate a market monitoring mechanism that will help improve the operation of the market.

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in energy

The role of AI – both in how it is used within the sector and the power the technology needs to operate – is already widespread, with further use cases coming to light all the time.

As the main trade body for the sector, it’s important we and our members understand the challenges as well as its potential, presenting this accurately to government, and advocating for an appropriate regulatory framework which understands the risks but supports the essential innovation needed to meet industry and government goals.

Energy UK’s AI Working Group continues to identify emerging themes and share member insights, and has worked collaboratively with DSIT, DESNZ and Ofgem to build and share knowledge and support consistency in governmental approach to this area, alongside informing Energy UK’s input to several Ofgem consultations on AI and engagement with key stakeholders.

We have spoken at various industry and academic conferences on the topic; hosted a Breakfast Briefing on ‘The Power of AI’ with speakers from Ofgem, National Grid, Smart DCC and Publicis Sapient, and written a blog and article on our thinking around optimising products, services and operations across the industry.

We are also building our understanding around the energy sector’s use of quantum methods, and are engaging with members, DESNZ and NQCC on this subject, with a view to supporting further activity and events in 2026. Read about our work on sustainably powering data centres.

Clean Heat

In 2025, Energy UK created a new position of Head of Heat Decarbonisation and recruited two Clean Heat Policy Executives to expand its advocacy activities in a growing and vital policy area.

This expanded focus saw us welcoming six heat network developers and operators as full members, in addition to two new associate members specialising in consultancy expertise to support the sector. These members join Energy UK’s Customer and Systems committees and will additionally feed in via the relevant groups; in particular, the Net Zero Buildings Subcommittee and Heat Networks Working Group.

Working with members, Energy UK kicked off a series of reports that shared proposals for policies to accelerate a cost-effective rollout of clean heat technologies. and a calendar of in-person and online events to amplify voices from the Energy UK members leading the transformation. You can explore the full range of reports, explainers and briefings in our Clean Heat hub.

To support our clean heat advocacy, we held two Breakfast Briefings that developed the narrative around clean heat. ‘In the zone: Aligning energy system planning and heat’ took place in February, with speakers joining from Gren, Deloitte, Vattenfall, the UK Energy Research Centre and Engage Consulting.

Sponsored by Frontier Economics, ‘How clean heat can bring down bills’ followed up on this in September with speakers from Mitsubishi Electric, Octopus Energy and Citizens Advice.

The Warm Homes Plan

Through 2025, the Government continued to develop its Warm Homes Plan. While delayed from its initial publication date, Energy UK has played an important role in policy formation and ensuring the sector’s views are inputted into the plan. Alongside many meetings with key officials, Dhara Vyas and Adam Berman attended the Warm Homes Plan Expert Panel to feed directly into the development of the Government’s strategy. We look forward to seeing the full plan be implemented in 2026 and beyond.

Energy UK consistently supported the ambition for a fully funded Warm Homes Plan at various fiscal events, and we were pleased to see this committed to by the Treasury heading into 2026.

Energy Company Obligation

Ahead of the fourth phase of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme coming to an end in March 2026, Energy UK hosted two ‘The Future of ECO’ summits in March and September 2025.

These brought together energy suppliers, installers, local authorities, regional authorities, Distribution NOetwork Operators (DNOs) and the DESNZ Warm Homes team and provided an opportunity for delegates to be updated on DESNZ’s policy development progress and provide feedback. Additionally, we facilitated three Ofgem workshops on suppliers’ management of fraud within schemes.

Warning on ECO cuts

Towards the end of 2025, reports emerged that the Treasury was thinking of significantly reducing, or getting rid of, the ECO scheme in an effort to save money for households.

In response, Energy UK supported a letter (see right) organised by campaign group E3G calling for the decision to be reversed, and ECO to be continued in some form. We were informed that it was our voice and actions that impacted the Treasury’s decision to not cut the full programme.

Fit for the future

Membership

Our strength and influence as a trade association is grounded in the breadth and diversity of our membership, so we were delighted to welcome 29 new members to Energy UK in 2025 – a record number in a single year.

Our new members were drawn from across the sector and included household energy suppliers, interconnector developers and operators, onshore wind generators, flexibility service providers and storage companies. We also welcomed six new companies representing heat networks as we further strengthened our policy and advocacy work in this space.

Having rolled out a new account management model in 2024, in 2025 we consolidated our approach to continuous improvement of the member experience focusing on our core offerings of insight, profile-raising, and networking for all members, as well as providing effective advocacy on behalf of our Full Members.

Energy UK’s open and collaborative approach encourages constructive dialogue between members with diverse interests, helping to align policy ambitions with practical delivery considerations.

Energy UK member

We were delighted to see these efforts reflected in the feedback received through our 2025 Member Survey. 100% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Energy UK has been an effective, professional and trusted representative body of the energy industry.

In 2025, we delivered our most comprehensive events programme to date, which included a number of invitation-only opportunities for members in addition to bespoke events and roundtables on which we partnered with members on mutual priorities.

Across the year we partnered with 25 different companies on sponsorship opportunities ranging from ministerial roundtables to evening networking-based Lightning Bolt Talks and our Young Energy Professionals Forum Awards.

Having just launched our 2026 sponsorship opportunities, we are delighted to already confirm we will be working again with a number of this year’s sponsors; we are excited to see how we can develop further impactful partnerships with members and sponsors across the year ahead.

We can’t begin to express our gratitude to all the sponsorship partners who have made sure 2025 is the richest year yet for Energy UK’s event attendees. From flagship conferences to specialist discussions, they’ve made it possible for us to advance the energy agenda across our entire sector. We’re planning even more opportunities in 2026 – if you’d like to learn more and identify the right options for your business, I look forward to hearing from you.

Nicole Johnson, Senior Partnerships Manager, Energy UK

Events

This year, we delivered 28 events covering a wide range of topics, including nuclear power, data centres, clean heat, energy bills, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), as well as our flagship Annual Conference and Parliamentary Reception.

The quality of our events continues to improve, with feedback for all major events increasing and achieving an average rating of at least eight out of 10.

Energy UK hosted a wide range of speakers in 2025, including Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, the Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP, Rt Hon Sir Ed Davey MP, Chris Stark CBE and the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng. We also heard from speakers from a variety of organisations including National Grid, Ofgem, NESO, Citizens Advice, British Gas, E.ON Next, Octopus Energy and many more.

We also celebrated the achievements of the future energy workforce with our 11th annual Young Energy Professionals (YEP) Awards – our biggest and most exciting yet (read more about the night).

Annual Conference

This year’s Annual Conference was another sell-out success. We were delighted to host a political lineup that positioned Energy UK as one of the key channels between the politics of the day and the reality of industry and people.

The day’s programme featured sessions with the CEOs of NESO and Ofgem alongside several leading industry CEOs presenting their thoughts about the current challenges facing the sector. We also heard from EU ambassador, and political and media commentators to give an external perspective – and launched a new ‘Lightning Bolt Talks’ style session of limited time talks.

We hosted more than 300 engaged attendees on the day, with many more watching online. The event attracted national media and feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive.

A big thank you goes to headline sponsor E.ON Next and all our sponsorship partners for helping to make the conference possible.

EDI in Energy Conference

In July, Energy UK again partnered with Energy Networks Association, the Energy Institute and Ofgem to deliver the EDI in Energy Conference, now in its sixth year.

This is the only sector-wide event which examines inclusion as a whole, rather than focusing on specific characteristics; once again attendees included senior leaders from across the sector, as well as those working directly in EDI or talent teams.

This year, the fully booked venue heard from EDI networks in energy, such as Women’s Utilities Network, Pride in Energy and Energyz Black, CEOs and senior leaders from Centrica, bp and National Grid and watched panels discussing how to engage with under-represented groups such as prison-leavers, ex-Forces and refugees.

New research was presented by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the energy sector results for two data sets were revealed – the Inclusion Measurement Framework, which measures sector-workforce diversity and Tackling Inclusion and Diversity in Energy (TIDE)’s Health Index (see below).

EDI and accessibility

Energy UK has made a commitment to ensure its events are as accessible as possible. We select accessible venues and provide British Sign Language interpreters at our flagship conferences.

In 2025, we introduced a voluntary form for all event speakers which confidentially collects data on age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and social mobility, helping us better understand and improve the diversity of our speaker line-ups.

In our 2025 public-facing events, the composition of our 142 speakers was:

49% women, 51% male
23% ethnic minority, 77% white including from different nationalities
68% had at least one speaker from an ethnic minority background

We do not invite any speakers based on their gender, or ethnic background and recognise these aren’t the only forms of diversity. We will always ensure that we have the most appropriate speakers for the topic, but having these targets helps us ensure that we actively try to give a platform to our brilliant colleagues across the sector from different backgrounds.

In 2025, we introduced a Code of Conduct for all our events to ensure a respectful, inclusive and welcoming space for all participants.

CPD-certified energy training

Energy UK has been delivering training courses since 2018, offering a range of one-day sessions – held online or in-person – to help companies and industry professionals broaden their knowledge within the energy sector.

Between them, Introduction to GB Energy Markets, Understanding the GB Power Market and Energy Trading cover a range of industry areas including gas and electricity markets, decarbonisation and power markets, and current post-Brexit energy trading arrangements.

This year we added a fourth course – Understanding the GB Retail Market – to provide an overview of how the retail market operates in Great Britain. Delivered in collaboration with Engage Consulting, the course outlines the origins and history of the retail market, the roles and demands of the retail supply license and key considerations of energy pricing, wholesale levies, network charging and customer debt.

To reflect the rapidly evolving landscape of energy retail, the course also gives attendees understanding of future market design and the implications of data sharing, digitalisation and energy flexibility. Learn more about Energy UK’s CPD-certified training courses.

Energy UK’s training is getting bigger and better with every year, and we’ve delighted with the positive feedback we’ve had from attendees of our new ‘Understanding the Energy Retail Markets’. In 2026, we’re looking forward to welcoming even more participants in person for the added benefit of industry networking.

Sarah Marsh, Events and Training Executive, Energy UK

Tackling Inclusion and Diversity in Energy

In 2025, TIDE once again ran the Health Index, a snapshot of the sector’s EDI maturity measuring the policies and processes energy companies have in place to improve EDI. Based on a self-assessment of 24 simple statements the tool, kindly developed and supported by Cognician, is designed to allow companies to anonymously self-assess, as well as indicate where the sector as a whole is doing well, and where it might need support.

The results showed encouraging signs of progress as more organisations reported as progressive or leading practice in the ‘strategy’, people’ and ‘internal’ categories. Within this, notable improvement was found in organisations having strategic EDI qualitative and quantitative goals in place, and there was a significant rise in diversity forums and employee resource groups, supporting inclusive workplace cultures.

However, the results also underline a continued need for stronger leadership engagement, with many organisations stating they do not have a person nominated for the responsibility of EDI strategy and programmes, and that EDI is not an essential leadership competency.

Following an independent review, TIDE is refocusing its priorities as a Trade Association coalition which – working closely with other sector bodies such as Energy and Utility Skills’ Social Impact Forum – shares good practice, promotes events, research and publications and delivers the Health Index. More will be shared in 2026.

On behalf of TIDE, Energy UK continues to manage the EDI in Energy Hub, TIDE’s LinkedIn page – followed by more than 1500 users – and a monthly newsletter, sent to more than 800 recipients.

Other work to support industry EDI includes Energy UK hosting a Women in Energy event as part of the wider Women in Public Affairs forum, creating a welcoming space to discuss and explore the opportunities and challenges for women in the energy sector; and continuing our support of Energyz Black, offering complimentary tickets, training courses and partnering on events.

Juliette Sanders, Chief Communications Officer and Senior EDI lead, has been appointed as a UK Ambassador for the Equality in Energy Transitions Initiative, which is a global technology collaboration programme with 13 member countries, held jointly under the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM).

She also participated in a roundtable on gender and energy security at Marlborough House, hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat and DESNZ on the eve of the Government’s Summit on the Future of Energy Security.

Young Energy Professionals

Energy UK is proud to host the secretariat of the Young Energy Professionals (YEP) Forum, a community set up to promote the next generation of energy industry leaders, providing opportunities to meet, collaborate, develop and recognise success. Free to join, it’s open to students and anyone working in the energy industry with up to 10 years of experience

From analysts to engineers, over 3,000 members from more than 350 organisations make up the YEP Forum, which this year is chaired by Connor Innes and vice-chair Isabella Oratore and kindly sponsored by NESO, which has announced the renewal of its support for 2026.

This year, members have won awards and accessed networking and development opportunities across a full calendar of industry site visits, panel discussions and informal quiz evenings.

The Young Energy Professionals Awards

The highlight of the Forum’s events calendar was the 11th annual YEP Awards – the biggest and most exciting yet, with 240 people in attendance for the ceremony.

The evening started with a forward-looking keynote speech from Kayte O’Neill of NESO, sponsor of the YEP Forum, before moving to a walkthrough from YEP Forum Chair Connor Innes and Vice-Chair Isabella Oratore that covered the exciting things we can expect of the Forum in 2026.

The 2025 awards featured two new categories: Communications and Engagement and Supply Chain. As sponsor of the latter, Utility Week will be publishing a series of nine profiles on each winning YEP Award member, bookended with interviews with YEP Forum Chair Connor Innes and Dhara Vyas.

Our thanks go to NESO for its sponsorship of the ceremony, and the individual award sponsors for their support. We are already offering sponsorship opportunities for 2026’s awards, so if your organisation is looking to align its brand with a particular field or specialism of our industry – or simply gain exposure in front of present-day energy leaders – get in touch.

Congratulations to the deserving 2026 YEP Award winners:

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Focus Award: Jinkai Chan, JLL
Customer Champion Award: Connie Duxbury, Croydon Community Energy
Rising Star Award: Nene Yamasaki, UK Power Networks
Communications and Engagement (joint): Meghan O’Neil, So Energy and Ben Norman, Hinkley Point C
STEM Trailblazer: Frances Hagen, Centrica
Team of the Year: Critical Materials Team at Decision Analysis Services
Supply Chain Innovator: Lynsey Shovlin, Crown Estate Scotland
Audrey Gallacher Award for Excellence: Annabel Hall,
SP Electricity North West
YEP of the Year Award: Callum Morgan, EDF

It’s never been more important to celebrate the achievements of young talent in the UK energy sector. The fact that we continue to grow the list of YEP awards categories is testament to the broad range of excellence present at all levels of our industry. I hope this diversity attracts people from all backgrounds to contribute to our shared mission of achieving a clean and secure future energy system. The YEP Forum is a key contributor to this mission, and I commend its work in representing the best and brightest emerging talent.

Dhara Vyas, CEO, Energy UK

Other YEP Forum events in 2025

In addition to the YEP Awards, the Forum ran more than 20 free events for members in 2025, from relaxed networking drinks and speed networking sessions to parliamentary events, expert panels and exclusive site visits. Event attendance has hit record levels, boosted by the newly formed YEP Forum communications team’s work on growing its LinkedIn audiences.

The YEP Forum held its annual Parliamentary Reception in the historic Pugin Room in the Houses of Parliament, bringing together early-careers professionals from across the sector. Attendees heard insights from political and industry leaders on the role of emerging talent in delivering the UK’s energy transition, including reflections on the growing skills gap and the need to attract a wider range of future professionals into the sector.

In June, members visited the NESO Control Room in Wokingham, for two behind-the-scenes insight into how Britain’s electricity system is managed in real time. Later, in August, they travelled to the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm, where they toured the operations base in Newhaven, received a detailed briefing on Rampion’s history and day-to-day running, then sailed out to the wind farm itself for a close-up view of the turbines themselves.

The YEP Forum then travelled to Doncaster to visit the Drax Selby-based power station, where they were given the opportunity to learn about biomass and the future of renewable energy in the UK. During the visit, they toured the operations base, received a detailed briefing on the power station’s history and day-to-day running, and gained first-hand insight into how the UK’s largest renewable biomass power station operates.

It was inspiring to see NESO’s control room in person where the moment-to-moment supply and demand across Great Britain is balanced – these people keep the lights on! The control room’s organisation, communication, and redundancy strategies were fascinating to see in action.

Charlie McMullan, MapStand

Had a fantastic time visiting the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm! It’s amazing to see how much goes into making clean energy happen, from massive turbines to clever ways they protect marine life. Really inspired by the work being done to power hundreds of thousands of homes sustainably – I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Amie Taplin, Drax

The visit gave us an insight into how Drax generates power from sustainable biomass and the innovative role that BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage) will play in delivering the UK’s Net Zero ambition. It was an” incredible opportunity to see first-hand how such a key site in the UK’s energy system operates today and is preparing for the future.

Dia Pareek, Drax

Delivery

Balancing the books

Our financial position remains strong, supported by careful management and oversight from the Finance and Audit Board sub-committee. The Board is confident that our resources are being managed responsibly, with reserves held at a level that both supports our work and provides assurance against future risks.

As a not-for-profit organisation, we continue to focus on using members’ contributions efficiently, ensuring they are directed where they will have the greatest impact.

In 2025, we welcomed 29 new members, including organisations from the heat networks sector, and achieved strong growth in sponsorship and events. At the same time, we maintained disciplined cost control across

the organisation. Together, these factors have strengthened our position, providing a solid foundation as we move into 2026 and allowing us to maintain current member fees.

We were pleased to receive another unqualified audit opinion from our auditors, Crowe UK, with no material system or control improvements identified. This outcome reflects the continued strength of our financial management and governance arrangements. The financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, along with the auditor’s report, are available to view on Companies House.

Looking ahead, an audit tender will take place in 2026 as part of our regular review cycle, reflecting our ongoing commitment to good practice and integrity.

After considering the profile and diversity of Energy UK’s membership and Board, recommendations for appointments for the vacant Board seats were made and approved; in September 2025 we welcomed the appointment of Mark Devine of Sembcorp and Finlay McCutcheon of SSE. Later, in November, we welcomed Alice Delahunty of National Grid. All were appointed for a four-year term, as set out in the Articles of Association approved at our AGM (read more on our governance review below).

Our Board

This year, we said goodbye to three members of our Board due to organisational and leadership developments in their careers. Martin Pibworth stepped down following his appointment as Chief Executive at SSE; Gareth Brewerton did the same following internal changes at Sembcorp; and Rhian Kelly left us after her move from National Grid to a new role at SSE.

On behalf of our members, the Board and our executive team, we would like to thank Martin, Gareth and Rhian for contributing their valuable expertise to steer the work of Energy UK.

After serving his initial contracted term as Chair of Energy UK, the Rt Hon David Laws will serve a further five years in the role after the recommendation to extend his term was unanimously accepted by the Board and approved at our AGM.

“Reputation, standing and professionalism – the voice is strong, compelling and effective, and the organisation is good at following effective processes that use the established structures and governance arrangements.” – Energy UK member

Governance review

During 2025, we concluded a wider review of the Association’s governance to ensure it remains effective and aligned with good practice. The Board accepted all recommendations from the review, which focused on codifying existing practice or enhancing existing good governance in four broad areas:

Determining Board composition and organisation
Clarifying Board and management responsibilities
Planning and managing Board and Board committee meetings
Developing effectiveness of the Board

The most significant changes have already been implemented through changes to Board Committee terms of reference and through changes to our Articles of Association, approved at our 2025 AGM in November. A key example is the introduction of term limits for Board Directors.

A review of our Articles to implement the governance changes also highlighted some dated and genderised language which, in line with our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, we took the opportunity to make minor changes to address.

The remaining recommendations all relate to operational processes that support the Association’s governance; these are all in the process of being implemented.

Our team

From adapting committee structures to recruiting new subject specialists, we have evolved our resources and focus to reflect the changing landscape of the energy sector. In 2025, Energy UK expanded to 52 members of staff, with new roles created to support our advocacy in the critical areas of clean heat, industrial strategy and the future energy workforce.

Energy UK remains a great place to work, as evidenced by the results of our 2025 employee engagement survey. With a response rate of 90%, the survey measured improvements across all statements compared to 2024.

Employees generally agreed or strongly agreed with every statement within the survey, with the highest marks indicating that Energy UK is a supportive and an inclusive place to work. It is generally felt within the organisation that goals are clearly defined and that staff understand how their work fits into the organisation’s overall workplan. We look forward to continuing this upward trend, building on our existing Gold Investors in People rating and working towards a Platinum rating.

We have continued our commitment to grow and develop our staff; following trials, we have rolled out a competency-based progression process across our team. It has been gratifying to see this process working well and we have been proud to congratulate our colleagues on their promotions.

We also welcomed several interns to work with us during the year and are excited to be exploring the possibility of secondments in 2026.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

EDI continues to serve as a core area of focus for Energy UK. Having published our EDI Commitment in 2024, we shared a 2025 update to chart subsequent progress made as part of our pledge on continuous improvement.

Throughout the year, we gathered for informal Tea and Talking sessions focused on themes selected through staff surveys alongside ad-hoc and calendar-driven subjects. We explored social mobility, race and racism, flexible working and wellbeing, reproductive rights, men’s health and mental health.

In 2025, we supported eight Mental Health First Aiders to provide effective assistance to colleagues. This included biannual check-ins and meetings to share good practices and maintain wellbeing within the team.

This year (2025), we were pleased to see a marked improvement in TIDE’s industry-wide Health Index results, which also highlighted areas for growth, particularly around embedding EDI objectives into performance management.

In response, all Energy UK employees now have an EDI-related goal integrated into their performance reviews, where they must demonstrate how they have contributed towards our EDI aims both internally and externally, reinforcing the principle that improving EDI is a shared responsibility that has a positive impact on both the individual and organisation.

We also completed the 2025 Energy and Utility Skills Inclusion Measurement Framework (IMF), meeting our employee participation rate target of 90%. With fewer than 50 people in our organisation at that time, Energy UK was too small to publish the results, but we continue to monitor trends and benchmark ourselves against industry averages – and we’re currently performing well in comparison.

In 2025, we completed our first Social Mobility Employer Index, run by the Social Mobility Foundation. The Index is a benchmarking and assessment tool measuring performance on eight areas of employer-led social mobility.

The year of activity was underpinned by a calendar of social events designed to be accessible to as many colleagues as possible, including a staff sports day open to families and pets.

We are really pleased with how our internal EDI work is developing; we encourage staff to feed back on what is working and what isn’t, then ensure we listen and respond accordingly. We have kicked off 2026 with a focus on menopause, and are currently polling staff to see what themes we look to for the rest of the year.

Morven Scott, Internal EDI Lead

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Annual Report 2025

Contents

Welcome from our Chair

Introduction from our Chief Executive

Amplifying influence, making impact

Our work

Fit for the future

Delivery

Welcome from our Chair

Introduction from our Chief Executive

Amplifying influence, making impact

Government

Some 2025 Energy UK mentions in Parliament

Media

Digital Communications

Subscribe for updates:

Our work

Investing in energy

Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA)

Allocation Round 7

Enabling investment

The role of nuclear power

The role of gas in the energy transition

A secure and flexible energy system

Closer UK-EU cooperation on energy and climate

International representation

Infrastructure

Planning and Infrastructure Act

Spatial Energy Planning

Regional delivery

Network reforms

Connections reform

Institutions and sector governance

Industrial Strategy

Decarbonising freight

Data centres

Business decarbonisation

Digitalisation

Jobs and skills

Regulatory reform

Affordability and debt

Vulnerability Commitment

Targeted support

The Fuel Bank Foundation

#BringDownBills campaign

The future of energy retail

Standing charge

Smart meters and Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement

The future of smart metering

Radio Teleswitch Service phase-out

Calling for customer action

Energy Switch Guarantee

Greater regulation in the non-domestic sector

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in energy

Clean Heat

The Warm Homes Plan

Energy Company Obligation

Warning on ECO cuts

Fit for the future

Membership

Events

Annual Conference

EDI in Energy Conference

EDI and accessibility

CPD-certified energy training

Tackling Inclusion and Diversity in Energy

Young Energy Professionals

The Young Energy Professionals Awards

Other YEP Forum events in 2025

Delivery

Balancing the books

Our Board

Governance review

Our team

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Downloads

Media enquiries

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