French utility Engie has announced its entry into the UK home energy market with plans to launch a tracker tariff in the summer, less than a week after Octopus Energy unveiled a similar offer.
The Tracker product has been designed to align retail and wholesale prices to reflect changes in daily costs and what customers pay.
In this way, Engie says the offer will bring customer bills in line with the ‘real’ cost of energy, resulting in “a new level of price fairness and transparency to UK customers”.
Judith Hartmann, executive vice president of Engie, in charge of the UK and North America business units, and chief financial officer, said: “The launch of Engie’s home energy business in the UK is a natural extension of our [business to business] energy and services activities in the country, reaffirming our long-term commitment to the UK.
“With the combination of our knowledge of the country and our global expertise in [business to consumer] solutions, we are convinced we can provide something new to energy customers in the UK: a fair, clear and transparent pricing along with plans to save money and energy in a sustainable way.”
Engie has also committed to rolling customers onto the cheapest available tariff at the end of their fixed term plan, while all of its plans will offer 100% renewable at no extra cost.
In addition, Engie has said it will make a donation to a community initiative scheme that invests in local sustainability projects for every customer that signs up to the Tracker tariff.
While Engie has said this product will bring “a new level of price fairness and transparency”, it comes just days after Octupus Energy made its own entry to the home market with a Tracker tariff, calling it the UK’s first ‘transparent’ tariff.
It’s unclear how the prices of these tariffs will compare, with Engie yet to reveal the mark-up it will add on top of the wholesale cost of energy and other costs included in energy bills.
