Octopus Energy completes investment in Uplight, accelerating plans to save US customers $1 billion and double grid flexibility
Nick Chaset named CEO of Uplight to accelerate Demand Stack strategy, transforming disconnected demand-side initiatives
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HOUSTON and BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Uplight and Octopus Energy Group today announced Octopus Energy has closed its investment in Uplight. Uplight will continue to operate as an independent company, leveraging the strategic investment to build on its leadership in customer-centric flexibility management. The investment supports Uplight’s next phase of growth, including targets of $1 billion in customer savings and more than doubling flexible capacity to 20 GW over the next five years.
Nick Chaset has been named Chief Executive Officer of Uplight, a role he will hold alongside his position as CEO of Octopus Energy US. As CEO of Octopus Energy US, Chaset leads both retail electricity and flexibility services, giving him direct operating experience in the same customer participation and grid flexibility models Uplight partners with utilities to scale. His leadership will support Uplight’s next phase of growth as the company expands the reach, reliability, and operational value of demand-side programs.
“Uplight has delivered what the market needs: measurable flexible load capacity resources targeted to grid priority locations,” said Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus Energy US and Uplight. “Octopus Energy’s investment will accelerate Uplight’s growth and impact to 20 GW and $1 billion of customer savings by extending and expanding the platform utilities need to meet rapidly rising demand.”
Uplight and Octopus Energy will also introduce two of Octopus Energy’s global products into the Uplight solution suite:
Octopus Shift, a customer engagement app making its US debut, gives customers a single place to sign up and participate in their utility’s flexibility programs. The app makes enrollment simple and keeps customers engaged over time, rewarding them for participating and turning that engagement into grid capacity utilities can count on.
Octopus PowerStore deploys residential battery storage on a turnkey basis with no upfront cost to customers, removing one of the biggest barriers to home battery adoption. This gives utilities dispatchable storage they can rely on to manage peak demand, while making storage accessible to a broader range of customers than cost alone would otherwise allow.
Octopus Energy brings its own scale to the partnership. The company operates the world’s largest virtual power plant and delivers its technology and customer engagement products to 11 million households across 27 countries. Schneider Electric, an existing investor in Uplight, continues its backing alongside Octopus Energy’s new majority stake, supporting the company’s next phase of growth through Schneider Electric’s global reach and leading grid, software, automation, and energy management portfolio. Together, the companies will accelerate grid flexibility and demand-side management, enabling utilities to transform distributed energy resources into scalable, reliable, and cost-effective capacity that supports grid modernization and the energy transition.
Today, Uplight manages 8.5 gigawatts (GW) of flexible load across more than 85 utilities and over 75 ecosystem partners, including eight of the ten largest utilities in the country. In 2026, Uplight reached over 1 million customer devices enrolled across its multi-DER demand response and virtual power plant programs and, in the 2025 season, tripled the flexible capacity created through these programs. Since 2020, Uplight-powered utility programs have returned $586 million in value to North American energy customers through efficiency savings, rebates, and incentives. This investment builds directly on that trajectory, strengthening and accelerating the company’s Demand Stack® solution, a customizable framework for utilities to unlock the potential of demand-side resources. Demand Stack® delivers near-term grid capacity via existing assets and creates planning-grade reliability as grid constraints and rate pressures intensify.
“This is a new chapter for Uplight as we build on our critical capacity services for our utility customers,” said Hannah Bascom, General Manager of Uplight. “We can invest more deeply into our foundation and extend and expand our utility Demand Stack® solutions — bringing Octopus Shift and Octopus PowerStore into our ecosystem means more tools, sooner, for the utilities, energy customers, and communities we already serve.”
Media Contacts:
V2 Communications for Uplight
uplight@v2comms.com
About Octopus Energy Group
Octopus Energy is a global clean energy and technology business, driving the affordable, green energy system of the future. Under its own retail brand, Octopus delivers world-class customer service and cutting-edge energy products to 11 million households globally.
The company is driving the electrification of heat and transport through smart tariffs and innovative clean tech, with operations spanning 27 countries and the entire energy value chain. It operates a £7 billion renewables portfolio as well as thriving EV leasing, heat pump, and solar businesses. Backed by pension funds, investors and energy giants, Octopus Energy Group businesses deliver cheaper, greener energy and cutting-edge tech to countries and customers worldwide.
For more information see: www.octopusenergy.group
About Uplight
Uplight is a clean energy technology company that unlocks grid capacity by activating customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy. Uplight enables sustainable load growth by combining personalized customer experiences with an open, flexible load management platform through the Uplight Demand Stack, integrating energy efficiency, electrification, rates, and flexibility programs to improve grid resilience, reduce costs, and accelerate decarbonization for both energy providers and their customers.
Uplight serves over 85 energy providers, including 8 of the 10 largest North American utilities, and is a certified B-Corporation whose purpose is to create a more sustainable future using business as a force for good.
To learn more about Uplight, visit https://uplight.com/.
