The What and the Why
Another energy firm has gone under – the news that Our Power, a not-for-profit energy supplier has ceased trading means that 13 energy suppliers have now ceased trading since January last year.
Almost 700,000 customers have been affected by suppliers going bust since January 2018. A total of 11 suppliers ceased trading in 2018, five of them in the last quarter, and 2019 has already seen another two go to the wall.
| Supplier | When did it cease trading? | What happened next? | Number of domestic customers |
| Future Energy | January 2018 | Green Star Energy appointed SoLR | 10,000 |
| Flow Energy | May 2018 | Acquired by Co-Operative Energy | 130,000 |
| Gen 4U | July 2018 | Octopus Energy appointed SoLR | 500 |
| Iresa | July 2018 | Octopus Energy appointed SoLR | 95,000 |
| Affect Energy | August 2018 | Acquired by Octopus Energy | 20,000 |
| Electraphase | August 2018 | Administration. All customers switched | Under 100 |
| Usio Energy | October 2018 | First Utility appointed SoLR | 7,000 |
| Snowdrop Energy | October 2018 | Transferring customers to Nabuh Energy | 6,000 |
| Extra Energy | November 2018 | Scottish Power appointed SoLR | 108,000 |
| Spark Energy | November 2018 | Ovo Energy appointed SoLR and acquired Spark Energy Ltd. operating group | 290,000 |
| One Select | December 2018 | Together Energy appointed SoLR | 33,000 |
| Economy Energy | January 2019 | Ovo Energy appointed SoLR | 230,000 |
| Our Power | January 2019 | Utilita appointed SoLR | 38,000 |
| Brilliant Energy | March 2019 | SSE appointed SoLR | 17,000 |
The good news for anyone affected by a supplier going bust is that Ofgem has safeguards in place that ensure no customer are left without gas and electricity at any point. The regulator will automatically transfer all customers to a new supplier, known as a supplier of last resort (SoLR).
If you’re ever in the situation where your supplier goes bust, the advice is to sit tight until Ofgem appoints a new supplier. Once this new supplier has taken over your contract, you should then shop around for a better deal, as it’s unlikely the SoLR will put you on a competitive deal, and may even place you on deemed rates, which are among the most expensive.
