E.On to Acquire OVO Energy, Forming UKs Largest Supplier

German energy firm E.On has agreed to acquire rival OVO Energy in a deal that will create Britain's largest household energy supplier, serving approximately 9.6 million customers and surpassing current leader Octopus Energy.

The companies announced the transaction on Wednesday without disclosing its financial terms, though earlier reports estimated its value at up to 600 million pounds. E.On, which currently serves 5.6 million UK customers, will add OVO's roughly four million accounts to its portfolio. The acquisition, alongside OVO's separate agreement to sell its home services division—including boiler servicing and insurance—to Hometree, is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending approval from UK regulators such as the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofgem.

The deal underscores ongoing consolidation in Britain's energy sector, strained by years of market turbulence. Extreme gas price spikes in 2022, driven by post-pandemic recovery and geopolitical disruptions, led to the collapse of dozens of smaller suppliers. Regulators responded with stricter financial resilience standards, which OVO failed to meet last year, prompting warnings of material uncertainty...