France's EDF in talks to acquire UK supplier So Energy

French-owned EDF Energy is among several parties in talks with the owners of British electricity supplier So Energy, according to a Sky News report. EDF faces at least one competing bidder whose identity remains unknown.

Should EDF win the auction, industry sources expect the deal to focus mainly on So Energy's customer base rather than the whole company. So Energy serves roughly 300,000 household electricity customers and was established in 2015.

Ownership change and sale process

Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) took a controlling stake in So Energy in 2021 and launched a review of the business this summer, appointing PwC to manage the sale process. A So Energy spokesperson confirmed in July that parent company ESB had begun evaluating potential divestment options following a strategic review, adding that ESB intends to focus on its core operations going forward.

Why EDF wants the deal

EDF is one of the former "big six" suppliers that once dominated the British energy market with three million customers and five million accounts, but it now lags well behind Octopus Energy and Centrica-owned British Gas. Scottish Power is in a comparable position. Acquiring a customer book instead of the entire company would be a cheaper way for EDF to grow its scale while avoiding the operational complexity of absorbing a whole business.

Wider industry context

The talks come as British households face rising costs — regulator Ofgem raised the price cap by 4% to £1,723 per year for the autumn period. Meanwhile, government policy is moving in the opposite direction: new Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his first week in office to announce that VAT would be scrapped from domestic energy bills, part of a broader effort to ease the cost of living. No agreement between the parties has been reached so far.