Energy ‘tipping point’ is business opportunity says Octopus Energy CEO

Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, believes that the energy sector is facing a tipping point and it’s an opportunity to completely change the system, as well as a business opportunity.

“The key is that we are about to hit a tipping point. Renewables and decentralised energy have been add-ons to a centralised system and at some point soon we need to flip it, so they are the system,” said Greg Jackson, the CEO of the UK energy and tech company, Octopus Energy.

Jackson was speaking at Enlit Europe about the quantum leap required to achieve our decarbonisation goals. He emphasised that we need to stop thinking about the energy transition. “Transitions are really difficult and the reality here is that we are building an entirely new system.”

According to Jackson, this change in our energy system is comparable to the Internet revolution in terms of the disruption and innovation being introduced.

“But we didn’t talk about the internet transition,” said Jackson.

“This new energy system can be the biggest opportunity of our generation – a bigger business opportunity than the Internet.”

A business opportunity with greater returns, he adds, as renewable energy gets cheaper every year.

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Jackson explained that we have the opportunity to upgrade our system with this radical change, not only on the supply side but with a demand-driven system.

One of the key ingredients to a successful change, he adds, is that companies need to be more agile.

“Ideas need to get to customers quickly…as everything we do is building a platform for the next set of changes. It’s like a chess game, you have to play one move at a time.”

But we have to play this chess game quickly, he said, because as with the internet revolution, it came down to continuous iteration to drive continuous learning and improvement.

The reason for such a drastic perspective on our energy transition is all down to the need for urgent solutions to climate change, he explained.

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Jackson made a poignant example of presenting an exam question in decades to come: “Why in the 2020s when we could see the devastating impacts of climate change did we not invest more in wind and solar and the energy system that would prevent climate change?”

He said that asking this question must be avoided at all costs, we have a choice and we need to double down on this new energy system.

“[It] will deliver better returns for us and society and a far better future,” he concluded.