Which energy suppliers have gone bust?
September was a pretty volatile month for the energy markets, with wholesale gas prices going through the roof. This has resulted in energy companies, along with energy comparison services going under and turning their lights off.
There have been 9 energy suppliers go under in September hitting 1.5 million customers.
The table below shows which energy suppliers have closed due to being unable to buy at the rate/levels that the wholesale space has risen to and to compete at against the price cap that Ofgem have set.
| When | Old supplier | Customer base | New supplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September | ENSTROGA | c6,000 domestic | Pending appointment |
| 29 September | Igloo Energy | c179,000 domestic | Pending appointment |
| 29 September | Symbio Energy | c48,000 domesticnon-domestic | Pending appointment |
| 22 September | Avro Energy | c580,000 domestic | Octopus Energy |
| 22 September | Green Supplier Limited (‘Green.’) | c255,000 domestic non-domestic | Shell Energy |
| 14 September | People’s Energy | c350,000 domestic c1,000 non-domestic | British Gas |
| 14 September | Utility Point | c220,000 domestic | EDF |
| 7 September | PFP Energy | 82,000 domestic 5,600 non-domestic | British Gas |
| 7 September | MoneyPlus Energy | c9,000 domestic | British Gas |
What should you do if your supplier goes under?
The advice is stick it out, since switching to another supplier is unlikely give you any type of monetary benefit right now as there aren’t tariffs right now in the market that are cheaper that what has been offered prior to all this.
Price capped variable tariffs are now the best option, whilst we wait for energy prices to eventually fall, which is the hope.
This is highly unusual, as typically we’d advocate moving off of standard variable tariffs.
Martin Lewis from Money Saving Expert shared the following:
“We are in a situation I never thought I would hear myself saying – there are NO cheap deals to switch to.
Martin Lewis, Founder of Money Saving Expert
There is nothing cheaper than the price cap, meaningfully.
What is Ofgem saying?
Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, have experienced energy suppliers going bust before and have good systems and processes in place to automatically move customers from one supplier to appointing a “Supplier of Last Resort”. This is still pending for ENSTROGA, Igloo Energy, and Symbio Energy.
You’ll see in the table above that those who were with Green Energy are moving over to Shell Energy. Those who were with Igloo Energy are still pending a new supplier taking over.
What should you do if your energy supplier has gone bust but a new supplier is still pending?
No, you don’t need to find a supplier yourself. Even if your supplier stops operating, Ofgem – as the independent energy regulator – will automatically switch you onto a new supplier so there will be no interruption to your supply of energy.
Ofgem
It’s a turbulent time, and we’ll be watching how this plays out and what will happen going forward in the energy market.
