MSE News: Spark Energy ceases trading - here's what you need to know

joe134

Hengus wrote: »

I see that the Press is now reporting that the merger between SSE and NPower may not go ahead as a result of the Default Tariff Cap. The two companies are renegotiating merger terms.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/14/sse-npower-merger-at-risk-over-price-cap-and-lost-customers

Price cap, smart meters, and companies going bust, what a market.
maybe nationalisation could come back if labour get thier way?
I remember it well.

badmemory

D_M_E wrote: »

This should stop lettings agents from giving supplies to Spark - how are they going to recoup/replace the bungs they got from Spark?

Perhaps it will now come to light just how big those bungs to estate agents were. Perhaps whoever is dealing with their debts will be able to get some of those bungs back, serve those EAs right for landing their tenants in it.

[Deleted User]

The problem with Spark, who I "read " meters for in the past , is that over two thirds of their clientele were young first time away from home flat dwellers who never gave a monkeys about running their affairs properly, submitting meter readings/start and end readings etc .
Letting agents got their nice little earners from them so Spark ended up with too many of these types of customers. As a meter reader for Spark Energy it was rare to go to any standard customers in good areas for meter readings with them , It was mostly run down flats I visited. They had excellent prepayment meter rates, better than the big 6
I hope no one repeats Sparks landlord/letting agents bung model.

[Deleted User]

joe134 wrote: »

Price cap, smart meters, and companies going bust, what a market.
maybe nationalisation could come back if labour get thier way?
I remember it well.

Yes I hope so too and if Corbyn promises renationalisation of the utilities, then despite the likelihood of Labour heading us all back into the grip of a corrupt foreign power in Brussels then Labour has my vote once again at the next election.

antrobus

Houbara wrote: »

Yes I hope so too and if Corbyn promises renationalisation of the utilities, then despite the likelihood of Labour heading us all back into the grip of a corrupt foreign power in Brussels then Labour has my vote once again at the next election.

The problem is that the "corrupt foreign power in Brussels" has directives that insist on there being a European Single Energy Market. Nationalising the 'utilities', as in the energy supply companies probably wouldn't be allowed, and in any case there would be nothing to prevent new energy supply companies from entering the market.

I have no idea what the Brexit deal has to say about the energy market.:)

AJS321

I was shocked when Extra went bust, but to lose two medium sized suppliers in as many days is really quite something.

I’ve been saying for about two years now, since GB went under, that the boom in small suppliers was unsustainable and that at some point the number of suppliers would start declining. What I didn’t expect is that the likes of Extra and Spark would go under as well.

My concern now is that this could spark (excuse the pun) some kind of public panic about small suppliers and people will start switching to the Big 6 in droves. You’re average member of the public will most likely think of anyone other than the Big 6 as being a small supplier, even though some of the medium sized ones are financially stable.

Also, the opening line of this thread is misleading in that OFGEM’s definition of a small supplier is one with fewer than 250,000 customers.

AJS321

Houbara wrote: »

Yes I hope so too and if Corbyn promises renationalisation of the utilities, then despite the likelihood of Labour heading us all back into the grip of a corrupt foreign power in Brussels then Labour has my vote once again at the next election.

My understanding is that Labour didn’t promise to nationalise the Energy suppliers at the last election because they understood that buying up their assets would cost about £150bn. But they did promise to set up a publicly owned energy supplier that would compete with all the others on an equal basis. But I’ve got no idea if this is still party policy.

[Deleted User]

antrobus wrote: »

The problem is that the "corrupt foreign power in Brussels" has directives that insist on there being a European Single Energy Market. Nationalising the 'utilities', as in the energy supply companies probably wouldn't be allowed, and in any case there would be nothing to prevent new energy supply companies from entering the market.

I have no idea what the Brexit deal has to say about the energy market.:)

The French have a nationalised energy industry..EDF . I expect they will do what they normally do with an EU directive they don`t like..ignore it ! The Italians are not big on following EU or any rules if they don`t agree with them neither
.

Tottington

Houbara wrote: »

The French have a nationalised energy industry..EDF . I expect they will do what they normally do with an EU directive they don`t like..ignore it ! The Italians are not big on following EU or any rules if they don`t agree with them neither
.

I must have imagined that French energy company, Direct Energie, who sponsor a reasonably successful team in the Tour de France. And who also supply our French home. The French energy market is almost as mature as our own.

Woolco

Can we stop talikng about brexit, labour, france etc. This is about an electric company. THANK YOU.