The Bottleneck Holding Back Britain's Energy Industry
Oil Prices Crash as Traders Bet the War Is Over Alternative export routes, smuggling activity,… CityAM.com is the online presence of City A.M., London's first free daily business newspaper. Both platforms cover financial and business news as well as sport and… Alan Chang believes Britain’s energy crisis is largely self-inflicted.
The founder of Fuse Energy, the $5bn (£3.72bn) energy supplier and infrastructure developer, argues that the UK already has the ingredients needed to drive investment in the sector.
What it lacks, he says, is a planning system capable of turning that potential into projects.
“There is more money chasing infrastructure projects than there are infrastructure projects”, Chang toldCity AM.“It’s basically a self-imposed bottleneck for growth.” Just a couple of weeks ago, Fuse announced it had reached group-level profitability less than three years after launching, making it one of the fastest-growing firms in the UK.
The business now supplies over 300,000 households, has annualised revenues exceeding $550m (£409m) and recently secured an extension to its Series B funding round, taking total capital raised to $250m (£186.1m).
Chang said planning delays remained the biggest barrier to faster growth across the energy sector, despite the government’s repeated promises to accelerate infrastructure delivery.
“There has been a lot of talk about planning reform, but nothing has materialised,” he said.
“If I had a magic wand and one wish, it would be to make planning simpler and faster.” The formerRevolut executiveadded that existing rules should be reviewed to determine whether they continue to serve a useful purpose.
“Someone very competent should review all the planning regulations in the country line by line and make sure every single line actually makes sense,” he said.
“I’m not asking for a complete removal of regulation.
Make it sensible.” Founded in 2022 by Chang and fellow former Revolut executive Charles Orr, Fuse has attempted to challenge established energy suppliers by combining retail supply and software under a single business.
The company says it has been operationally profitable since December 2025, and generated £131.8m of revenue last year, up from £15.3m in 2024.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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