Fuse Energy is buying its first grid, betting that owning the grid is the only way around connection delays of fifteen to twenty years.
Alan Chang says Fuse has cut its energy cost about 15 percent against an industry benchmark and saves roughly 30 percent in utility-scale capital expenditure through automation and its EPC team.
Chang hopes Fuse becomes the largest energy company on the continent and lowers energy costs 20 to 30 percent within a decade, even though nearly none of its revenue comes from businesses today.
Fuse Energy's founder plans to buy the grid to fix energy
Fuse Energy is moving from retail supplier toward owning grid infrastructure, because connection delays of fifteen to twenty years block anyone who wants to build in energy. Chang holds that the problem is hard and important enough to attract talent the incumbents cannot, and that speed is the main constraint. His conviction that energy costs can be lowered has grown since 2023, and the target is £1bn in annual recurring revenue.
Takeaways
Fuse is buying a grid instead of waiting. Grid connection delays of fifteen to twenty years make running an energy business impossible. Chang's answer is to become the grid. Fuse is buying a small first grid, like a poorly run coffee shop with a long queue outside, and plans to scale up.
Being an outsider lets Fuse build a team. Chang says the outsider edge is assembling people the industry would not otherwise have. Top talent wants responsibility, impact, great colleagues and pay, and traditional energy companies offer none of them. He calls this Fuse's secret weapon.
Automation and execution cut costs. Fuse says it has cut its cost of energy about 15 percent against an industry benchmark, using AI customer support, a billing engine and better demand forecasting. Its EPC team saves roughly 30 percent of capex on utility-scale generation. Some savings go to customers, some to margin.
A £1,000 plug-in solar kit is next. The product Chang is most excited about is a plug-in solar and battery system for homes. It costs just over £1,000, delivers about 2.5 kilowatts, takes roughly ten minutes to assemble and pays back in about three years. It will look good and integrate with the Fuse app.
Fear of moving slowly drives Chang. Chang says fear of not moving fast enough motivates him more than positive reinforcement, and that time is the biggest constraint, not capital. He rarely looks back, calls Fuse's achievements small, and says startups that stop moving forward die.
Hiring is intense and selective. Engineering is the hardest area to hire. Chang personally runs the final interview for every engineer and designer and warns that the work will be intense. Candidates who ask about pay first are probably not the right fit, and Fuse is not for everyone.
The ten-year goal is Europe's largest energy company. Chang hopes Fuse becomes the largest energy company on the continent and lowers energy costs by 20 to 30 percent, which he says would help industries like AI and fertiliser. Close to zero percent of revenue now comes from business customers. Research teams will start with low-risk solar and storage and aim to draw top nuclear researchers.
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