Four more small energy firms could go bust next week (c. 20/09/21)

tghe-retford

julz999 said:

According to DM, Bulb has gone bust - dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10011823/Energy-firms-demand-price-cap-scrapped-soaring-cost-gas.html and i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/09/21/09/48186653-10011823-image-a-4_1632212851037.jpg 

No evidence yet that they've gone bust (and it hasn't stopped the clickbait artists hinting so in the title but clarifying they haven't once you read the article and loaded the adverts) but anecdotal posts on social media that a number of people (not all) who are in credit are not getting their money refunded, in a similar situation that posters on here have reported going on with Symbio Energy but also that those whose accounts are in debt are being sent emails to make an upfront payment to bring their accounts back into credit now. I'm sure Bulb won't be the only one doing this as everyone claws in as much money as possible now to maximise their chances to survive or at least buy some time.

razord

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/ofgem-orders-five-suppliers-make-payments-government-renewables-scheme

Ofgem orders five suppliers to make payments into Government renewables scheme

The five suppliers each failed to make their payments by the due date. Colorado Energy failed to pay £261,406.12, Igloo failed to pay £316,582.44, Neon Reef Limited failed to pay £37,350.76, Symbio Energy failed to pay £146,238.66 and Whoop Energy limited failed to pay £3,780.22. This will delay the distribution of this money to generators and other suppliers.

y3sitsm3

julz999 said:

y3sitsm3 said:

julz999 said:

According to DM, Bulb has gone bust - dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10011823/Energy-firms-demand-price-cap-scrapped-soaring-cost-gas.html and i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/09/21/09/48186653-10011823-image-a-4_1632212851037.jpg 

And yet in the same article they list Bulb as "seeking government bailout."  And that graphic misses off an awful lot of the smaller suppliers anyway.

Perhaps, but the article also says:

The seven energy companies to have gone bust in 2021

Simplicity Energy

Green Network Energy 

Hub Energy

PfP

MoneyPlus

Utility Point

People's Energy

Bulb Energy  

It didn't say that when I looked at it (it showed them as seeking bailout as it still does) and certainly doesn't say that now.

dbks

razord said:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/ofgem-orders-five-suppliers-make-payments-government-renewables-scheme

Ofgem orders five suppliers to make payments into Government renewables scheme

The five suppliers each failed to make their payments by the due date. Colorado Energy failed to pay £261,406.12, Igloo failed to pay £316,582.44, Neon Reef Limited failed to pay £37,350.76, Symbio Energy failed to pay £146,238.66 and Whoop Energy limited failed to pay £3,780.22. This will delay the distribution of this money to generators and other suppliers.

In addition, Symbio’s previous FIT Levelisation Payment due on 11 August 2021, which is the subject of a separate provisional order dated 18 August 2021, remains outstanding.

- I guess that relates to the £450k demand then

YBR

Sea_Shell said:

All this recent talk of gas supplies etc. made me realise we don't have any of those big round gas storage units anymore.

We used to have 2 in the industrial part of town, but they were knocked down years ago.

Do we basically not store gas anymore, and is that the problem?

One way we store gas is to pump up the pressure in transmission and distribution pipes during times of low usage (basically overnight) and let it drop during the day. At some sites there are large sections of pipe buried specifically for this storage. I don't know what pressure the gas towers used to be, but I can guess it's a lot less than these pipes take.

smugwalrus

PZ19 said:

Octopus have also gone very quiet on a quote, they responded to my initial email within an hour last Thursday asking for readings, and not heard back since despite chasing.  Chaos out there..

I had similar too last week with a query I sent them, picked up the phone to chase (in a queue for about 10 minutes) and then straight through to a pleasant chap who found my email, provided me with the answers and took away my (new) other query and said he'd be in touch when metering had a possible solution.  Overall very easy experience, a pleasure to deal with and they were very apologetic about not picking up the email.

annie12

I emailed Avro yesterday at 11.21am to cancel my switch and had a reply at 6.25pm to say it had been cancelled , but to cancel my direct debit as it had been set up.

ETA I've tried to switch to Octopus today and have had an email to say 

Hello , We're sorry to say we're having a bit of trouble getting you switched over to us. We rely on a shared industry database to get all the information we need about your meter and property while switching your supply. It looks like some of the information stored in the database wasn't quite right, which has meant your move to us has been stopped. It also could be that we've got the wrong postcode, your property is used for commercial purposes, or you've switched (or tried to switch) in the last 28 days. We'd love to get your switch moving again, so please could you reply to this email confirming: Your full address (including postcode) Your property is domestic (not used for business) You've not switched or tried to switch in the last 28 days And we'll get it sorted for you. Thank you very much.

Love and power, The Octopus Energy team The only thing I think it could be is that I switched fron green. On 15/09/21 and then cancelled the switch yesterday. I Think I'm stuck with whoever takes on green

masonic

annie12 said:

Think I'm stuck with whoever takes on green

Not if you've successfully cancelled your switch. It's just that when you have a switch in progress, other suppliers are blocked from starting one, and it can take some time for that block to be lifted after a cancellation. I don't think Green has gone bust just yet.

bristolleedsfan

Dogbyte009 said:

ChaunceyGardiner said:

I've been with So and Zog for years. I'll be sorry to see them go.

The Irish state owned energy company ESB recently took a 75% stake in So, I doubt they're going anywhere.

So said on Twitter today, "Hi! Yes, we're fine. We just merged with the wonderful @ESBGroup so we're in a very stable position. We're going to keep on providing the best prices we can to our customers but if anyone's worries about their energy bills please get in touch with us."

So Energy 12 Month fixed rate probably one of the most expensive, exit fees doubled to £10 per fuel,

Gas standing charge (p/day)	26.11
Gas unit rate (p/kWh)	7.29
Electricity standing charge (p/day)	24.38
Electricity unit rate (p/kWh)	28.07

'https://www.so.energy/blog/so-energy-and-esb-energy-stronger-together/

"This merger combines a total of over 300,000 customers, a significant boost in the number of people to whom we proudly supply renewable energy"  of which  https://www.esbenergy.co.uk/  "nearly 100,000 homes"

Sea_Shell

bristolleedsfan said:

Dogbyte009 said:

ChaunceyGardiner said:

I've been with So and Zog for years. I'll be sorry to see them go.

The Irish state owned energy company ESB recently took a 75% stake in So, I doubt they're going anywhere.

So said on Twitter today, "Hi! Yes, we're fine. We just merged with the wonderful @ESBGroup so we're in a very stable position. We're going to keep on providing the best prices we can to our customers but if anyone's worries about their energy bills please get in touch with us."

So Energy 12 Month fixed rate probably one of the most expensive, exit fees doubled to £10 per fuel,

Gas standing charge (p/day)	26.11
Gas unit rate (p/kWh)	7.29
Electricity standing charge (p/day)	24.38
Electricity unit rate (p/kWh)	28.07

'https://www.so.energy/blog/so-energy-and-esb-energy-stronger-together/

"This merger combines a total of over 300,000 customers, a significant boost in the number of people to whom we proudly supply renewable energy"  of which  https://www.esbenergy.co.uk/  "nearly 100,000 homes"

We'd been with So since January 2017, no problem, but in April this year their new tariff was way more expensive, so we switched to Eon. (12 month fix)

They weren't the cheapest, cheapest, but still a significant saving over So.   Looking like it was a good move at the moment.  We'll see how the land lies then.