Two more energy companies – Avro Energy, with around 580,000 domestic customers, and Green Supplier Limited (‘Green’), with around 255,000 domestic customers – have ceased to trade. Together the suppliers represent a share of 2.9% of domestic customers.
The news comes just seven days after Utility Point and People’s Energy ceased to trade, with around 220,000 and 350,000 domestic customers, respectively. Peoples energy also had 1,000 non-domestic customers.
It comes two weeks after two other companies failed. PfP had 82,000 domestic customers and 5,600 non-domestic customers, and MoneyPlus Energy had 9,000 domestic customers, at the time the two companies failed on 7 September.
Hub Energy, a gas and electricity supplier with around 6,000 domestic customers, and 9,000 non-domestic customers, ceased to trade in August and its domestic customers were transferred to E.On on 6 September .
It means that around 5.2% of domestic customers have entered the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process, or been transferred as a result, since the start of September.
Ofgem says that Where the appointment of a Supplier of Last Resort is not possible, for example where the size or characteristics of a supplier’s portfolio mean that it cannot be absorbed by another supplier, Ofgem and BEIS have agreed processes in place to appoint a special administrator to temporarily run the business until such time as a new supplier can be found for the customers.
The advice to all customers whose supplier goes out of business is to:
Wait until a new supplier has been appointed and you have been contacted by them in the following weeks before looking to switch to another energy supplier.
Take a meter reading ready for when your new supplier contacts you.
In a statement GEUK (Green Energy UK Ltd) said it wanted to “reassure the market that it has no link whatsoever” with Newcastle-based Green Supplier Limited (‘Green’). GEUK said it was “operating as normal from its Ware (Hertfordshire) head office”. It added, “GEUK is of course monitoring the current situation in the energy market very closely but as it has proactively hedged forwards to mitigate the current market risks, its service to customers is unaffected”.