Octopus Energy set for showdown with workers over union recognition
Fast-growing energy supplier says employee share ownership means it’s not a ‘them and us’ company
Octopus Energy workers are gearing up to push for union recognition, in a challenge to the young, tech-savvy company’s approach to worker representation after its rapid ascent to become Britain’s largest household energy supplier.
The GMB Union is preparing to submit a formal proposal for voluntary recognition at the London-based firm, which prides itself on looking after staff but eschews formal human resources models and is the only large British energy supplier that does not currently recognise a union.
Founder and chief executive Greg Jackson, who has become one of Britain’s most prominent entrepreneurs and an official adviser to the Labour government, has spoken of his concern about the stifling effects of bureaucracy.
A self-styled disrupter, he has reportedly said that while he was not anti-union, he did not believe they were needed at Octopus, where every employee owned shares in the company.
Octopus is also at odds with GMB over the union’s criticism of government support for heat pumps, which Octopus has become a major installer of.
The GMB’s push for recognition comes after it raised a collective grievance last year over workloads and training among installers of heat pumps and electric car charging points in the company’s Octopus Energy Services division.
Tony Tanushi, regional energy officer at the GMB, said the company’s management had shown “no appetite” for unionisation and that if its application for voluntary recognition did not work, he would be willing to take it to arbitration.
“It’s about time they did what their competitors are doing if they want to be seen as a progressive, forward-thinking company,” he said. “They are good at selling energy; we are good at finding talented leaders and individuals in the workplace to hopefully work in harmony with them.”
Octopus Energy emphasised they believed that given every employee was a shareholder the company was “much less ‘them and us’ than traditional businesses” and said it was “consistently named one of the best places to work”.
They added that it was “unfortunate that the biggest unions in energy want to nationalise us — which would kill our employees’ share ownership, or oppose widespread heat pumps — one of our biggest areas of employment”.
The company also noted it inherited union recognition arrangements when it took over Co-op Energy in 2019, but workers voted to end this.
Octopus Energy was founded in 2015 to challenge the so-called Big Six suppliers that dominated the market, such as British Gas and SSE.
Backed by investors such as Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and Japanese utility Tokyo Gas, it has grown rapidly and overtook British Gas at the start of 2025 to become the country’s largest household supplier, cementing Jackson’s status as one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs.
Towards the end of last year it sold off a minority stake in its software arm, Kraken, for $1bn ahead of a potential IPO in New York or London over the next few years.
Despite its size and political influence, it has retained the image of a young, agile, challenger company; exemplified through Jackson’s preference for jeans and T-shirts and criticism of “incumbents” during his frequent media appearances.
Jackson on Friday shared a video with staff of him wearing an England football team cap, encouraging employees to watch the Three Lions World Cup match against Mexico in the early hours of Monday morning. He said most UK-based staff could start work a little later that day so they could enjoy the game.
“We’ll have snacks and stuff in the office on Monday morning to thank those who are providing the cover,” Jackson said.
But the push for unionisation shows how Octopus is being pulled into a more traditional way of working as it grows.
Britain’s unions, while far weaker than 50 years ago, still hold sway in certain areas of politics and public life.
The GMB is lobbying against energy secretary Ed Miliband’s potential elevation to chancellor when Andy Burnham becomes prime minister, due to concerns over Miliband’s ban on new oil and gas exploration licences.
Tanushi said he was “confident” they had enough support to be eligible for voluntary recognition but declined to give absolute numbers on their support.