Fuse boss attacks planning rules as a ‘self-imposed bottleneck for growth’
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 told City PM. “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 former Revolut executive added 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.
Revenue run-rate exceeded $550m in the first quarter, after growing 32 per cent during the period.
Recent investors include 20VC and Collaborative Fund, alongside existing backers Balderton Capital and Lowercarbon Capital.
Fuse develops and owns renewable energy assets while using proprietary software to forecast customer demand and manage energy purchasing, which Chang claims has allowed the business to remove around 17 per cent of operating costs compared with traditional providers.
“We’ve taken approximately 17 per cent of costs out compared with the median energy company in the UK,” he said.
Much of that advantage comes from software. Fuse uses machine-learning models that incorporate factors, including weather forecasts and household consumption patterns, to predict demand at the property level.
The company is now opening a new 32,000 sq ft headquarters in Canary Wharf and plans to hire more than 380 people over the next year as it expands into Ireland and Spain.
Despite his criticism of Britain’s regulatory environment, Chang remains bullish about building businesses in the UK.
“There is a lot of doom about the UK economy, which is largely true,” he said. “But there is one thing the UK has that most other countries don’t have. It’s great talent.”
He added, “The US is a much larger market. In almost every dimension the US is better. But there is a lot of great talent in the UK and Europe and that’s what matters to me.”