E.ON invests £2.5 million in tech scale-up Amber

E.ON UK  today announced it has signed a strategic agreement to invest in Australian tech scale-up Amber. The £2.5m (AU$5m) investment will support E.ON Next’s commitment to helping customers and making energy more affordable, at the same furthering Amber’s ambitions to scale its technology.

Amber's pioneering technology is designed to change the way households interact with energy, giving consumers the power to tap into dynamic electricity prices so they can supercharge energy savings: optimising their solar and battery assets by using, storing or selling energy at the smartest times. The wider aim is to cut energy bills in the short-term and support the Government’s ambition of clean power by 2030.

Founded in 2017, Amber is Australia’s largest residential solar and battery automation product with more than 40% of the growing domestic market.

E.ON Next is already working with Amber and recently launched Next Solar Max, the UK’s first combined dynamic electricity tariff and intelligent home energy management service designed specifically for homeowners with existing solar and battery systems.

With access to electricity prices broken down to half-hourly intervals, customers can make informed decisions about when to use electricity – for example, using or storing power in off-peak periods when prices on the grid are low, and selling energy from their solar panels or batteries back to the grid when prices rise.

Up to 1,000 UK households with solar panels and battery systems are being invited to take part in Next Solar Max this year, with E.ON Next looking to grow further through 2026 and beyond.

“Giving people the technology to access dynamic pricing and to optimise the energy generated by their solar panels or stored in their home batteries means you can not only lower energy bills in the short term but also turn everyday households into a driving force of the energy transition,” said Chris Norbury, Chief Executive of E.ON UK. “Our strategic investment in Amber is another clear example of our playmaker role in making new energy work so it’s not only more affordable but also an asset for our customers and communities.”

“Our partnership with E.ON shows the global relevance of Amber’s technology,” said Chris Thompson, Co-CEO of Amber. “By opening up direct access to the energy market, we are enabling households in both Australia and the UK to capture the full value of their solar and batteries and take control of their energy costs.”

As the role of more flexible and affordable energy sources evolves, E.ON sees potential opportunities with Amber to provide innovative propositions for customers not only in the UK, but also across Europe.

The E.ON Next Solar App, powered by Amber, automatically manages each household’s energy needs and learns from its habits while forecasting solar generation and tracking real-time energy prices. It creates personalised energy plans to optimise customers’ energy use tailored to each household’s lifestyle and energy patterns. This allows the customer to either make trading decisions themselves or allow the app to use its advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically optimise the performance of their solar and battery systems on their behalf.