Building a fairer energy future: Why social impact must be central to Britain’s energy transition

When people talk about Britain's clean energy transition, the conversation often centres on technology: solar panels, heat pumps, home batteries, artificial intelligence and smarter grids.

But technology alone will never define success.

The real test will be whether the transition creates a fairer society – one where lower energy bills, stronger communities, better jobs and wider opportunity are felt by everyone, and not simply those able to adopt the latest innovations first.

That principle sits at the heart of the latest Powering Fairer Energy: E.ON & The Purpose Coalition Breaking Down Barriers Impact Report 2026, which we produced alongside The Purpose Coalition, which examines how businesses can help remove barriers to opportunity while delivering commercial success.

The report demonstrates how we are increasingly embedding social impact within every aspect of our business.

This is reinforced by three strategic priorities which shape both the company’s long-term steering and its day-to-day decision making in the crucial areas of:

• Affordability and Vulnerability
• Enabling Sustainable Growth for Businesses and Communities
• Widening Opportunity

Together, these support one overarching ambition: making new energy work by making it affordable and sustainable – for everyone.

It states cleaner energy must also lower bills, technological innovation has to strengthen communities and economic growth must create opportunities for more people to participate.

As the Rt Hon Justine Greening, Chair of The Purpose Coalition – pictured below – says: “The next phase of the UK's energy transition must be judged not only by emissions reduced, but by bills lowered, homes improved, high-quality jobs created, future skills developed and communities strengthened.

“E.ON’s purpose, to make new energy work for everyone, is therefore not just a corporate statement. It is a practical challenge and a vital contribution to Britain's future.”

Affordability and Vulnerability

If Britain's transition to cleaner energy is to succeed, it must first answer one simple question: will it make energy more affordable?

For millions of households, this is not a theoretical debate.

Around 40 per cent of our residential customers – approximately two million people – are registered on the Priority Services Register, with around one million classified as high-risk or vulnerable, often experiencing a combination of financial hardship, health challenges and energy debt.

Supporting these customers has become one of the defining priorities of the business.

Over the past three years, we have provided more than £200million in targeted support, including approximately £75million during the last year alone – helping customers through debt relief, grants, repayment support and replacing inefficient household appliances such as fridges, washing machines and cookers.

But increasingly, the company is moving beyond crisis intervention towards personalised, long-term support.

Our Next Care platform enables customers to explain their circumstances only once, automatically directing them to specially trained teams capable of providing tailored assistance, while partnerships with organisations including Mind, Macmillan Cancer Support, National Energy Action, Citizens Advice’s CEDA Service and The Wise Group recognise fuel poverty is often closely linked with wider issues surrounding health, housing and income.

The company’s approach has also transformed the way it communicates with customers facing financial hardship, redesigning debt correspondence alongside the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute to make it more accessible – changing tone, language and even visual design to improve engagement and reduce anxiety.

As The Purpose Coalition report notes, these initiatives represent a shift away from reactive customer service towards proactive, personalised care.

Technology with a social purpose

While immediate support remains essential, The Purpose Coalition report argues lasting affordability will increasingly come through innovation.

Across the UK, we are investing heavily in technologies that help customers use energy more intelligently, automatically shifting electricity consumption to cheaper periods through flexible tariffs and smart energy systems.

Working alongside partners including KrakenFlex and Amber Electric, the business is helping households benefit from real-time electricity pricing without requiring customers to actively manage their energy use.

The ambition is significant.

Future flexibility solutions are being designed to benefit more than 10 million people, including households without electric vehicles or rooftop solar.

Perhaps nowhere demonstrates the potential more clearly than battery technology.

In Coventry, E.ON has already shown that combining battery storage with time-of-use tariffs can reduce household energy bills by an average of £250 every year.

Building on that success, we are now working with Glasgow City Council and The Wise Group as part of Glasgow’s Child Poverty Programme, combining free home batteries, insulation improvements, debt advice and tailored family support.

Participating households could reduce electricity costs by up to 30 per cent through battery technology alone.

Meanwhile, wider modelling suggests our Battery Boost approach could eventually save social housing residents around £480 per household every year, demonstrating how clean technology can become a powerful tool for tackling fuel poverty while easing pressure on the wider electricity network.

Lower bills, built into communities

Affordability is also being designed directly into Britain's future housing stock.

At Avalon Grove in Worcestershire – seen below – which was delivered alongside Cotswold Oak Homes, our Lower Bills, Built In model integrates rooftop solar panels, home batteries and smart energy management systems into every property from the outset.

Rather than treating renewable technology as an optional upgrade, affordability becomes part of the home's DNA.

The technology automatically decides when electricity should be generated, stored or used, enabling homeowners to maximise renewable energy while reducing exposure to volatile wholesale prices.

In some circumstances, the report estimates these integrated solutions can reduce household energy costs by up to 50 per cent.

Importantly, E.ON is also exploring financing models that remove upfront costs, helping ensure cleaner energy technologies become accessible across society rather than remaining the preserve of higher-income households.

As Chris Norbury, Chief Executive Officer of E.ON UK – pictured below launching The Purpose Coalition Report with Ms Greening – explains: “For E.ON, the clean energy transition is not simply about technology. It is about people. It is about helping customers reduce bills, supporting those in vulnerable circumstances, giving households greater control over their energy, and ensuring that the benefits of cleaner energy are shared as widely as possible.”

Enabling sustainable growth for businesses and communities

Affordability represents one pillar of E.ON’s social impact strategy.

But the second focuses on ensuring Britain’s clean energy transition creates stronger businesses, more resilient communities and a modern energy infrastructure capable of supporting long-term economic growth.

For years, clean energy innovation was often viewed as a collection of individual technologies.

Today, we are increasingly treating them as interconnected parts of a much bigger system.

Solar panels, battery storage, heat pumps, electric vehicle charging, artificial intelligence and home energy management systems are no longer standalone products.

Together, they form the foundations of a new energy ecosystem designed to make homes, businesses and entire communities cleaner, more efficient and significantly more resilient.

One example is our Next Gen Home, which combines solar panels, batteries, EV chargers, heat pumps and intelligent energy management into a single integrated proposition.

Rather than asking customers to navigate multiple suppliers and technologies, the model simplifies installation, maintenance and energy management through one joined-up service, removing many of the barriers that have previously slowed adoption.

The same philosophy extends beyond individual homes.

Projects such as Symphony are helping develop local energy marketplaces where electricity generated within communities can be used within those communities, reducing transmission costs while allowing local people and businesses to benefit directly from renewable generation.

Meanwhile, programmes such as the one at St Luke’s School in Newham demonstrate how schools and other public buildings can become local energy hubs.

Solar panels installed on the school reduce its own energy costs while surplus electricity has the potential to support nearby households, creating benefits that extend well beyond a single building.

Taken together, projects such as these represent more than isolated innovation.

They illustrate how cleaner energy can become a catalyst for stronger local economies, more resilient infrastructure and long-term regional growth.

As Britain continues its transition towards home-grown energy, scalability will become increasingly important.

Success will depend not simply on proving technologies work, but on deploying them at a scale capable of transforming millions of homes, businesses and communities across the country.

And that, as The Purpose Coalition report argues, is where social impact and commercial success become inseparable.

Widening opportunity

While affordability and sustainability are reshaping how Britain produces and consumes energy, we believe the clean energy transition must also transform lives.

Our third social impact priority – Widening Opportunity – focuses on ensuring more people can participate in, benefit from and build careers within the energy system of the future.

It reflects a simple but powerful belief: the transition to cleaner energy will only succeed if it is powered by people.

That means investing not only in infrastructure, but also in skills, education, inclusion and communities.

The scale of the challenge is huge.

As the UK accelerates towards a cleaner, increasingly digital energy system, demand for engineers, software developers, energy advisers, installers, project managers, AI specialists and customer service professionals will continue to grow.

Meeting this demand requires more than recruitment.

It requires creating pathways that allow people from every background to access the opportunities emerging across the sector.

That ambition is already taking shape across E.ON.

Since 2018, more than 1,300 colleagues have participated in over 90 apprenticeship programmes, spanning everything from technical engineering roles to degree apprenticeships and leadership development.

Rather than preparing people for a single discipline, apprentices are encouraged to experience multiple areas of the organisation through rotational placements, building broader commercial, operational and technical expertise that reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of the modern energy industry.

As The Purpose Coalition report notes, apprenticeships sit at the intersection of skills, social mobility and sustainability, helping create the workforce needed to deliver Britain's clean energy future while opening doors to high-quality careers.

Preparing for tomorrow's energy workforce

Creating opportunity also means preparing people for jobs that are still evolving.

Digitalisation, automation and artificial intelligence are transforming almost every part of the energy sector, from customer service and network management to predictive maintenance and energy optimisation.

In recognition of this, we have developed our Future Skills Framework, encouraging colleagues and leaders to think beyond today's roles and develop the capabilities that will define tomorrow's workplace.

Artificial intelligence forms a key part of that strategy.

New apprenticeship programmes focused on AI and automation have already been introduced, while additional learning opportunities are being rolled out across the organisation to help colleagues build confidence before technological change creates new barriers.

Rather than allowing innovation to widen inequality, the aim is to ensure it broadens opportunity.

The Purpose Coalition report describes this as a proactive approach to inclusion, helping colleagues develop the confidence and capabilities required to thrive in an increasingly digital workplace.

Inspiring the next generation

Building the future workforce begins long before recruitment.

Through the New Energy Academy, E.ON is helping young people understand how careers in clean energy extend far beyond traditional engineering.

Developed alongside teachers, the programme provides free curriculum-linked lesson plans, classroom resources, presentations, films and practical activities designed to introduce pupils to careers across sustainability, engineering, digital technology, artificial intelligence, project management, marketing and data science.

Over the past year alone, hundreds of workshops have been delivered in schools, helping inspire the next generation of innovators.

Partnerships are helping bring those lessons to life.

Working alongside LASER – one of E.ON's largest public sector customers – pupils have taken part in STEM activities including designing, building and racing rechargeable model cars, giving young people a practical understanding of electricity, batteries and renewable energy while demonstrating how science can translate into future careers.

The objective is not simply to encourage more young people into energy.

It is to ensure those opportunities are visible to everyone.

Stronger partnerships, stronger communities

The Purpose Coalition report repeatedly returns to one central theme – no organisation can deliver a fair energy transition alone.

Whether supporting vulnerable customers, reducing emissions or creating jobs, meaningful progress depends on partnerships between businesses, local authorities, charities, schools, housing providers and community organisations.

Those partnerships are already delivering measurable impact across the country.

In Glasgow, E.ON is still working alongside Glasgow City Council and The Wise Group to combine battery technology, energy efficiency improvements and wider family support as part of the city's Child Poverty Programme.

And in Coventry, battery storage projects are helping reduce household bills while easing pressure on the electricity network.

And in Newham, St Luke’s School – pictured below – demonstrates how community buildings can become local energy hubs, reducing operating costs while generating wider benefits for neighbouring households.

These initiatives illustrate how clean energy projects can deliver far more than environmental outcomes.

They can strengthen communities, improve resilience and create lasting social value.

As Ms Greening writes in the foreword to The Purpose Coalition report: “No single organisation can deliver a fair energy transition alone.

“It will require businesses, Government, Local Authorities, schools, housing providers, community organisations and customers to work together.

“E.ON’s strategic partnerships across places such as Glasgow and Coventry, as well as those with private sector customers, show how national ambition can be translated into local impact.”

Creating a workplace where people belong

Opportunity does not stop once someone joins the organisation.

Creating an inclusive workplace where colleagues feel supported to build long-term careers forms another important part of E.ON’s wider social impact strategy.

Today, more than 4,500 colleagues participate across nine employee inclusion networks, helping shape organisational culture through mentoring, learning opportunities and peer support.

The company’s Powering Belonging inclusion strategy has strengthened support for carers, enhanced parental leave, improved adjustments for colleagues with non-visible disabilities and continued investment in leadership development.

Partnerships with organisations including the Women’s Utility Network continue to promote greater gender representation across the utilities sector, while E.ON’s Women in Leadership programme supports colleagues seeking career progression into senior roles.

That commitment has received external recognition.

E.ON has been named one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work and was Highly Commended in the Best Places to Work for Women category, while also achieving sixth place in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List 2025/26.

For Chris Norbury, those accolades reflect something deeper than awards – they demonstrate the culture colleagues help create every day.

As he says: “Through apprenticeships, future skills programmes, inclusive recruitment, colleague networks, public sector social value partnerships and community investment, we are working to ensure that more people can see a future for themselves in the energy sector.”

One purpose – three priorities

Viewed individually, affordability, sustainability and opportunity are each significant ambitions.

Taken together, they become something much bigger.

They represent a blueprint for how a modern energy company can create commercial value while delivering meaningful social impact.

Throughout The Purpose Coalition report, consistent threads emerges.

They include the importance of helping customers lower bills through personalised support and smarter technology, while designing homes and communities where affordability is built in from day one and scaling local energy systems with the power to strengthen regional economies.

Investing in future skills so more people can participate in the jobs created by the clean energy transition is also a vital theme in the report – as is the importance of building partnerships that tackle poverty, improve resilience and widen opportunity.

Above all, we recognise none of these aims exist in isolation.

When put into action as a whole, they demonstrate how we are embedding purpose into the fabric of our business – ensuring social impact is not an additional programme sitting alongside commercial activity, but an integral part of how the organisation creates value for customers, colleagues and communities.

As Britain continues one of the most significant transformations in its energy history, success will not simply be measured in megawatts generated or carbon emissions reduced.

It will be measured in lower household bills, stronger local economies, better homes and new careers.

It will also be measured by communities which are more resilient as they have been included in the transition rather than left behind.

As Chris concludes in the report: “Our responsibility is to help customers and communities navigate that reality while building the cleaner, more resilient energy system Britain needs.”

He added: “The transition ahead will require ambition, innovation and collaboration. Most importantly, it will require a relentless focus on making sure new energy works for everyone.”

That is the challenge set out by The Purpose Coalition.

It is also the opportunity.

Because when affordability, sustainability and opportunity advance together, the clean energy transition becomes about far more than energy.

It becomes a blueprint for building a fairer, more resilient Britain.

To read the full 2026 Purpose Coalition report, click here.