Retail Market
Today another three suppliers failed: ENSTROGA, Igloo Energy and Symbio Energy all announced they have ceased trading. ENSTROGA had around 6,000 domestic customers, Igloo had roughly 179,000 domestic customers, while Symbio supplied around 48,000 domestic customers and a small number of non-domestic customers. Igloo [...]
The energy market crisis is suddenly big news. It is impossible to open a newspaper or turn on the television or radio without hearing stories of rising bills and supplier bankruptcies. Energy is no longer a footnote in the business pages, with some outlets [...]
Today the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has raised the prospect of nationalising parts of the electricity industry. Of course, it isn’t couched in those terms, but the Government has announced that it will appoint a Special Administrator to run any supplier that fails if [...]
I have been writing recently about the need for radical reform of the retail energy market, and predicted that this autumn would see more supplier failures. Today, another two energy suppliers announced their closure today: PfP Energy (formerly Places for People Energy) based in [...]
Last week I was invited to speak at the Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum on the subject of smart energy markets. The transcript of my speech is below: Developing smart energy markets for suppliers and consumers - modernising entry rules, delivering smart [...]
The Government has finally announced a review of so-called “green tariffs” to assess whether suppliers are communicating appropriately with consumers, or whether they are engaging in “greenwashing”. According to the Government, 9 million British households are now on green tariffs, with over half of [...]
Last week Ofgem announced another increase to the price cap on so-called default energy tariffs, which will take effect from 1 October, the start of the winter season. This comes after a previous increase to the cap last February, and will be a blow [...]
Today Citizens Advice has published a report, Home Truths, into consumer experiences with home heating approaches including low carbon technologies and new insulation. The report draws on the calls made over the past three years to its Consumer Service from people who needed help [...]
I posted earlier about the difficult conditions facing energy suppliers in the GB market, and repeated my long-held vies that suppliers should be allowed to focus on energy supply and be released from their tax-collection activities. However, in the absence of such a move [...]
Many industries have been hit hard by the covid-19 crisis, including the energy sector, but energy supply businesses were in trouble even before the novel coronavirus struck. This year another five suppliers have disappeared - Tonik Energy, Gnergy and Effortless Energy all folded while, [...]