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

ewokuk

I was with Yorkshire Energy that went bust last year, leaving me stuck on a crap tariff with Scottish Power for weeks until I could escape.  I am now with Avro and suspect they might be one of the 4, considering they are generally one of the cheapest and after reading an article just now on energy-review.co.uk that OFGEM have issued an order to Avro on 14th Sept because Avro failed to provide them with "financial and other information requested by OFEM on 19th August".  Seems like a major red flag to me and with the high prices, issues the providers seem to be having, and this as well, seems like a good chance Avro are one of the 4, and even if they aren't, might follow soon after.

I am considering jumping quickly to one of the big ones before they make any announcements and I get stuck on another crap tariff for weeks or months with whoever they dump me on this time.  What do people think?  Obviously the risk is Avro are fine and I just end up paying more for no reason, the advantage is if Avro do go bust I avoid messing about for months with whatever provider I get dumped on and probably end up saving money as whatever tariff people get moved to will not be a good one.

Looking at the current tariffs E.on Next is the cheapest for me (regardless of provider size) but is £224 more per year than my current fixed tariff with Avro which ends on 19th Jan.  Still a tough choice, potentially 4 months left on this tariff which would save me £80, but potentially getting put on another supplier at double the price for a month or two would cost about that in additional charges anyway.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

I am not sure that size necessarily matters. It is all about hedging and insurance, and cashflow. A number of the new entrants having made staggering losses in recent years as they have built up their customer numbers. If I recall Bulb was over £100M and even Octopus was over £30M (fortunately, it has investors with deep pockets).

Correction: Bulb losses were over £100M in 2019 but improved to a £63M loss in 2020. 

bristolleedsfan

Dolor said:

Octopus was over £30M (fortunately, it has investors with deep pockets).

£30M was year earlier  https://octopus.energy/press/octopus-energy-financial-results-2019/

Most recent accounting year was £53M  https://octopus.energy/press/octopus-energy-group-reports-fy1920-fiscal-results/

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

Correction: Bulb losses were over £100M in 2019 but improved to a £63M loss in 2020. 

Yikes that is not good either way.

4 days ago I initiated a switch from Bulb (the incumbent supplier in my new home) to Eon Next (who shouldn't go bust you would have thought).  However as I recently moved house (3 weeks ago) I am now awaiting a closing bill from Avro and a refund of what will probably be circa £175.  I reckon Bulb will probably owe me circa £25 for the short time I will be with them.  Just hope the wheels of misfortune don't strike twice with Bulb and Avro!

Shedman

Maybe we should have a sweepstake (with a £1 stake) as to who the four are....then at least the winner of the sweepstake might be the one still able to pay their energy bills 😅.  

Sorry I know I shouldn't be making light of a worrying time...got to try and keep a sense of humour in these trying times though

QrizB

ewokuk said:

... OFGEM have issued an order to Avro on 14th Sept because Avro failed to provide them with "financial and other information requested by OFGEM on 19th August".  Seems like a major red flag to me and with the high prices, issues the providers seem to be having, and this as well, seems like a good chance Avro are one of the 4, and even if they aren't, might follow soon after.

You can see a list of Ofgem orders, curent and past, here.

Currently there are orders against:

• Avro, provisional order dated 14th Sep;
• Symbio, final order dated 18th Aug; and
  
• Nabuh, dated 30th Oct (this one is probably academic, Nabuh customers having been transferred to BG)

I wouldn't be surprised if both Avro and Symbio were to go under before too long.

acc

The total customers for the four firms mentioned is one million, which rules out firms in the top 14.

https://powercompare.co.uk/energy-suppliers/ Powercompare lists the top 14 firms as:

British Gas

e.on

SSE

EDF

Scottish Power

nPower

OVO

First Utility

Bulb

Utilia

The Utility Warehouse

Co-op Energy

Green Star

Octopus (1.5 million)

The industry sources' prediction that there may be as few as ten firms left by the end of this year would suggest that anyone switching now should be looking mainly at only the top six or so.

inspectorperez

Another failed government initiative on the cards by the sound of things. Excellent objective to widen the market for competition, but entry to market far too easy and OFGEM regulation far too reactive and always too late.

Hopefully the "Big 6" will react positively and provide good customer service like in the old days when each region had its own dedicated supplier and problems were sorted out face to face in the local office. Hmmmm - somehow I doubt it!

masonic

ewokuk said:

I am considering jumping quickly to one of the big ones before they make any announcements and I get stuck on another crap tariff for weeks or months with whoever they dump me on this time.  What do people think?  Obviously the risk is Avro are fine and I just end up paying more for no reason, the advantage is if Avro do go bust I avoid messing about for months with whatever provider I get dumped on and probably end up saving money as whatever tariff people get moved to will not be a good one.

There is a cooling off period, so you could take this approach and cancel if Avro are ok. It usually takes a couple of days between a supplier going into administration and the SoLR being appointed, so potentially time to get in first with a switch to a different supplier if you keep abreast of developments, but this is not guaranteed.

Gopher123

ewokuk said:

I was with Yorkshire Energy that went bust last year, leaving me stuck on a crap tariff with Scottish Power for weeks until I could escape.  I am now with Avro and suspect they might be one of the 4, considering they are generally one of the cheapest and after reading an article just now on energy-review.co.uk that OFGEM have issued an order to Avro on 14th Sept because Avro failed to provide them with "financial and other information requested by OFEM on 19th August".  Seems like a major red flag to me and with the high prices, issues the providers seem to be having, and this as well, seems like a good chance Avro are one of the 4, and even if they aren't, might follow soon after.

I am considering jumping quickly to one of the big ones before they make any announcements and I get stuck on another crap tariff for weeks or months with whoever they dump me on this time.  What do people think?  Obviously the risk is Avro are fine and I just end up paying more for no reason, the advantage is if Avro do go bust I avoid messing about for months with whatever provider I get dumped on and probably end up saving money as whatever tariff people get moved to will not be a good one.

Looking at the current tariffs E.on Next is the cheapest for me (regardless of provider size) but is £224 more per year than my current fixed tariff with Avro which ends on 19th Jan.  Still a tough choice, potentially 4 months left on this tariff which would save me £80, but potentially getting put on another supplier at double the price for a month or two would cost about that in additional charges anyway.

I’m in a similar situation. I’m with Avro but decided to take charge of my destiny in case they fold and I’ll be switched to a high tariff that I’ll be locked into for a few months. Ive just switched to Sainsbury’s (£30 worth of nectar points) and it’s backed by EoN.