Utility Point to Cease Trading

[Deleted User]

greenguppie said:

wakeupalarm said:

Consumers are bearing the costs of this.  Each time an energy company fails the direct cost is past onto consumers bills.
Its a never ending cycle of higher costs, leading to more failures, leading to costs being passed onto consumers, etc.

The retail energy market is broken.

Not necessarily 100% true.

I'm sure there has been a SoLR who agreed to cover all the costs themselves.

In the case of recent failure of Hub Energy, the SoLR (Eon Next) bid agreed agreed to mitigate any claim, offering to cover much of the migration costs as well as as much of the credit balances they could afford (exact terms not released, as subject to commercial sensitivity). Ofgem discloses details of any claim eventually made (i.e. cost, how much it means is spread across off suppliers as a consumer levy), but that could take over a year.

But todays failures are largish suppliers (UP has 220,000 customers, Peoples Energy have 350,000 customers) so I expect there will be at least a partial claim. If no one comes forward with a bid, and Ofgem is forced appoint a SoLR, then a full claim may well be made.

(To date, Ofgem has always received bids to be the appointed SoLR)

Not since the Consumer Levy was introduced, or at least I couldn’t find one. Even as far back as Iresa, Octopus claimed £13.8M and it covered the credit balances of all the customers that had already switched. Presumably, the £13.8M took into account any goodwill contribution that was made for the 100k customers that it gained.

Daffodil78

I've read the article with notes from Martin Lewis and it says not to try and switch if you're with one of these companies. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/09/utility-point-ceases-trading---here-s-everything-you-need-to-kno/

It doesn't say why though. Why don't they want us to switch?

Is it because it would cause havoc for the companies involved with getting everyone switched over? Or is it because it's better for us if we don't?

I was looking at switching before I heard this news and so now I'm not sure whether or not to continue or stay put.

daveyjp

By waiting to switch you reduce the chance of more problems.

You will get notification of which company is taking over with the option of accepting their tarriff or moving.  Thats the time to switch.

The issue currently of course is prices are rising, so what may be a good offer today may not be around by the time this is sorted out.

btr30

I joined UP in December 20, and there were a lot of MSE posters at the time warning of impending closure, and poor service. To be fair over the 9 months, I have experienced no issues with the company and this is my first experience of a supplier going under on me.
Thoughts for those who will loose their jobs.

angei010

they havent said in the email what our options are.  if i find my own supplier will i have to pay the exit fees

Daffodil78

daveyjp said:

By waiting to switch you reduce the chance of more problems.

You will get notification of which company is taking over with the option of accepting their tarriff or moving.  Thats the time to switch.

The issue currently of course is prices are rising, so what may be a good offer today may not be around by the time this is sorted out.

Thank you for your reply. This was my concern. It seems likely that there will be a lot of price increases if what UP said in their email is true. 

If you haven't seen it, it blames the rising cost of supplying energy and the 'price cap on default tariffs' for them and other energy companies going out of business.

This makes me wonder if I should go through with my switch as I had intended.

But also, I can totally see how switching now could make a crap situation even worse. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

techno12

I got the mail earlier, thinking it was a response to my query last week of "why is my DD at the higher level after 9 months, it should have dropped back to the lower level 3 months ago".

£200 in credit - at least that will help with whoever ends up taking them over, as prices for new contracts are up 20%+ across the board..

UP were pretty good and cheap, though they never got those DD levels right (always messing them up, the "higher for 6 months, lower for 6 months" schemes).

[Deleted User]

angei010 said:

they havent said in the email what our options are.  if i find my own supplier will i have to pay the exit fees

Follow the advice and let Ofgem port your account over to the Supplier of Last Resort. If you try to switch now, your switch may well be blocked as there is a switch already in progress to the SoLR. Once your switch to the SoLR has gone through you can then switch to a supplier of your choice without any exit fees.

CRISPIANNE3

After reading information on the OFGEM site I have cancelled my direct debit. I am £100 in credit and more than enough to cover any outstanding bill. Also had a great deal until June 2021. I paid £30 a month and they only wanted £21 per month but I thought it would give me a nice surplus to carry me over the winter period.

michaels

Best available fix right now is DOUBLE my UP fix (which lasts till next spring) so this will cost me £950 at an annual rate (lets call it £700 a it is mostly the winter) and who knows what will be available once I with the SoLR and free to switch.

I think we are going to see major fallout from both high prices and energy shortages this winter