Ofgem appoints SSE to take on customers of Brilliant Energy

Flt._Lt._Biggles

Following the collapse of Brilliant Energy, Ofgem have appointed SSE to take over as SoLR from tomorrow.

Customers will be placed on the SSE deemed tariff unless and until they agree another.. Looks expensive! :eek:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/ofgem-appoints-sse-take-customers-brilliant-energy

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/brilliant-energy-customers-your-questions-new-supplier-sse

Mister_G

I see that the Bulb Spammers are back on the MSE News article about this!

dj1471

I'm with Northumbria Energy directly and it looks like MSE and OFGEM are as confused as I am about whether I'm affected or not.

Brilliant has folded, OK. Some Brilliant customers were supplied by Northumbria under a white label agreement and will also move to SSE. OK.

According to the OFGEM announcement Northumbria themselves are still trading, but MSE says customers billed by Northumbria will also move to SSE... :think:

I also had an email from Energy Helpline this morning to say that Northumbria had folded and that I would move to SSE, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Flt._Lt._Biggles

dj1471 wrote: »

I'm with Northumbria Energy directly and it looks like MSE and OFGEM are as confused as I am about whether I'm affected or not.

Brilliant has folded, OK. Some Brilliant customers were supplied by Northumbria under a white label agreement and will also move to SSE. OK.

According to the OFGEM announcement Northumbria themselves are still trading, but MSE says customers billed by Northumbria will also move to SSE... :think:

I also had an email from Energy Helpline this morning to say that Northumbria had folded and that I would move to SSE, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I hope you are not supplied by Northumbia Energy, as they do not have any Ofgem supply licence issued to them

Northumbia Energy was a white label of Brilliant Energy, and as Brilliant Energy has collapsed then you are now supplied by SSE.

There is another company called Euston Energy that does have a separate supply licence. Euston Energy also now uses the trading style of Northumbria Energy and runs the Northumbria Energy website, but you would have been supplied under the Brilliant Energy supply licence, not the Euston Energy supply licence.
Just to confuse you a little more, Northumbia Energy owns Euston Energy.

It's same people behind Brilliant Energy as is behind Euston Energy, and come to that URE Energy who had recently been warned of a forthcoming £200k+ bill from Ofgem..
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/ofgem-proposes-final-order-ure-energy-non-payment-renewable-obligation
Conicidence?

Vendee

I got my email from SSE tonight but have received nothing from Brilliant. Ironically, I had seen this coming and had initiated a switch away from Brilliant three days ago. I assume the switch to my chosen supplier will still go through? I have received confirmation from my new supplier but that was three days ago.

Two out of the last three of my electricity suppliers have now ceased trading. It is time that this industry is regulated much tighter but I fear Ofgem are not the people do do this. Looking after the consumer doesn't appear to be their first priority.

dj1471

I'm supplied by Euston Energy under the Northumbria brand. OFGEM seriously need to get a grip of the market...

FullForce

dj1471 wrote: »

I'm supplied by Euston Energy under the Northumbria brand. ...

I see you were only considering switching on 21-Jan-2019, and it would have taken at least 17 days to switch, so it would have been as recently as last month you joined them.

At the same time, there was a thread on this site where Brilliant Energy explained:

"I am sorry for any confusion caused. Northumbria Energy is a brand of Euston Energy Ltd. which is a white label partner of Brilliant Energy Supply Ltd."

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5958476/brilliant-northumbria-energy-merger post#4

See also post#32 of that thread:

Vendee wrote: »

What is really odd is that when I asked Brilliant about these so called cheaper Northumbria tariffs, I was to told to contact Northumbria directly..... so I did by email, and guess what, today that email was answered by Brilliant. Don't get me wrong, I love fish but this smell is overpowering.

Of further interest may be the following

Back in the market: Four bosses of failed energy suppliers have returned to sell gas and electricity

• Gulf Gas & Power UK, Northumbria Energy, Lite Energy and Saturn Energy are all linked to individuals who ran failed energy suppliers
  

...


[The] chief executive of Co-operative Energy, called for tougher rules on former bosses returning to the market.



He said: 'When a supplier goes bust, the tab is usually partly picked up by the new supplier and all other remaining suppliers and their customers.



'This loophole could be exploited by unscrupulous directors. The introduction of a 'fit and proper person' test would help protect customers.'


[The] chief executive of Citizens Advice also called for regulator Ofgem to keep closer tabs on individuals running energy firms.

In Newcastle, Northumbria Energy has been set up by ... a local businessman who was part of a group on entrepreneurs accompanying Theresa May on a trip to Africa last year.


He was the former chief executive of Future Energy, which went bust 13 months ago. He was not running it at the time of its collapse, but was still a shareholder.




The company owed £2.3million to creditors, and its 10,000 customers were transferred to Green Star Energy. [He] did not respond to requests for comment.


...


An executive director at Ofgem said the regulator was reviewing its licensing rules. She said: 'We don't just want anybody to enter the market, and in particular we don't want suppliers to fail with big debts behind them.


'We are revoking licences at the moment to make sure they don't get picked up by people we don't approve.'

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-6686657/Four-bosses-failed-energy-suppliers-returned-sell-energy.html

Vendee

It seems obvious now that Brilliant knew they were going under and the directors were trying to transfer their customer base to another company that they owned (Northumbria) before Brilliant went down.

I hope that OFGEM will take action against the directors who have repeatedly failed with previous companies but I seriously doubt they will do anything.

dj1471

FYI it would appear that Euston Energy t/a Northumbria have gone down too, just had confirmation of transfer from SSE. Which is annoying because OFGEM explicitly stated that Euston are still trading. Perhaps they've been stripped of their license.

Yes I've only been with Euston/Northumbria a short time and I was aware of the background/history as above. I had assumed, apparently incorrectly, that the directors were at least trying to build a sustainable energy supply business rather than planning to fail from the start.

MothballsWallet

Mister_G wrote: »

I see that the Bulb Spammers are back on the MSE News article about this!

This is what happens when you only allow article comments via Facebook, Zuckerberg doesn't give a duck's bottom about spammers.

Biscuit_Tin

dj1471 wrote: »

FYI it would appear that Euston Energy t/a Northumbria have gone down too, just had confirmation of transfer from SSE. Which is annoying because OFGEM explicitly stated that Euston are still trading. Perhaps they've been stripped of their license.

Yes I've only been with Euston/Northumbria a short time and I was aware of the background/history as above. I had assumed, apparently incorrectly, that the directors were at least trying to build a sustainable energy supply business rather than planning to fail from the start.

So it sounds like you were actually supplied by Brilliant Energy
Ofgem have only appointed SSE as a SoLR for Brilliant Energy customers i.e. those suppplied under the Brilliant Energy supply licence irrespective of the branding.

Ofgem have not issued any information over Euston Energy ceasing to trade, in fact quite the opposite.

Euston Energy Limited (trading as Northumbria Energy) has not ceased trading.