Ofgem orders Avro Energy to provide financial information

merchcon55

Verdigris said:

Avro have about 2% market share, same as Utility Warehouse. More like 400,000 customers.

From Ofgem - data supplied on 1 April 2021

GAS: Fixed rate customers 466,821
         Default rate                   86,544          Total GAS: 553,365

ELEC: Fixed rate                 464,372
           Default rate                 89,463           Total ELEC: 553,835

I did not realise they were considered a "medium size" supplier - i thought they were a much smaller player. 

greenguppie

QrizB said:

greenguppie said:

Dolor said:

Ofgem can require any supplier to act as a SoLR. We can all take comfort from the fact that a claim will be lodged against Ofgem for every penny that is spent by the appointed SoLR in meeting this legal obligation. 

How do you know that? That a claim will be lodged for every penny that is spent?
For someone like BG with their 10 million existing customers, I suspect BG could swallow 40,000 additional customers with hardly a ripple to their current overall energy provison projections.

There's a legal obligation on directors of companies to maximise shareholder value. The idea that a director would instruct their business "no, don't claim those millions from Ofgem's fund, we've got plenty of money" is absurd.

Not least as that director would find themselves being repriamanded by their own shareholders, who set the director's remuneration.

Suppliers bid top become a SoLR, because they want the extra customers.

But if they go in with a bid based on we will claim every penny we possibly can, they are not going to win a competitive bid are they?

If the directors fail to grow the company because they were not prepared to spend a little money to secure more customers, don't you think those same shareholders will be even more upset?

D'oh!

greenguppie

MWT said:

greenguppie said:

How do you know that? That a claim will be lodged for every penny that is spent?

For someone like BG with their 10 million existing customers, I suspect BG could swallow 40,000 additional customers with hardly a ripple to their current overall energy provison projections.

I think that was said in the context of a forced appointment of a SoLR.

When the energy companies are bidding against each other for the spoils they tend to offer to absorb the costs, but if they have had a problem they didn't want, dumped on them, then there is little reason not to claim everything they can...

Agreed. Where a SoLR is 'army volunteered', then sure why not claim as much as they can.

So far, Ofgem has always managed to receive acceptable bids to be appointed a SoLR.

Wouldn't expect anything else really in a competitive market involving 60'ish suppliers
(not suggesting all would be able to submit an acceptable bid, even if they wnated to)

But the large suppliers have lost hundreds of thousands of customers to these smaller suppliers over the years. Now they have a chance to snatch some of them back into their fold