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

brewerdave

Verdigris said:

superbigal said:

Zog still allowing online applications.
Most professional non big 6 supplier I have ever dealt with.
Hopefully have hedged and survive.

I hope so, too.

Me ,three !!!

Shedman

brewerdave said:

Verdigris said:

superbigal said:

Zog still allowing online applications.
Most professional non big 6 supplier I have ever dealt with.
Hopefully have hedged and survive.

I hope so, too.

Me ,three !!!

And me.  Latest accounts to 31 March 21 show they made a profit in the 12 months plus had cash at bank at that date of £450k so a lot better than most of the smaller ones.  Fingers crossed they hedged as we have a 2 year fix with them at around 3.2p/kwh....

whattochoose

I've recently switched from Octopus to Outfox the Market. Fingers crossed they survive.

QrizB

Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus, has been sharing his opinions on Twitter. It might be worth reading them (you don't need an account, just click through):

https://twitter.com/g__j/status/1439884649833054210

Highlights include:

Make no mistake - there are real issues in energy caused by global gas and shortfalls in UK nukes - but the idea of "crisis" is being pumped up by the former Big 6 in order to try to bounce govt and regulators into restoring the cosy oligopoly they used to enjoy.

and:

Undoubtedly, there are idiot companies out there who offered bonkers low prices when market was low, and seek bailout now it's high. They don't deserve a place in a critical market. And the B6 habitually overcharged for their bloated operations through opaque prices.

QrizB

And Kwasi Kwarteng:

https://twitter.com/KwasiKwarteng/status/1439918902838968326

This morning I led a roundtable with UK energy companies & consumer groups. I reiterated the need for us all to prioritise consumers. I will update the House of Commons this afternoon on the global gas price situation (1/3)

My task is to ensure that any energy supplier failures cause the least amount of disruption for consumers. Consumers come first. We are looking at options to protect consumers, and meetings continue across government today and this week (2/3)

In any scenario, we will ensure UK consumers have continuity of supply - through a Supplier of Last Resort or a special administrator if needed. The Energy Price Cap protects millions of consumers. It will remain in place (3/3)

So suppliers will be allowed to fail, even if they *all* fail and the Gov't need to set up a "special administrator". And the price cap will remain in place.

staggered

Rivers_mum said:

Given that Avro are looking dodgy do people think it would be wise to start a switch today? It’s going to cost more but I’m guessing that the sooner I move the better. 

I think it depends on how likely Avro are to go bust (very likely?) how soon (very soon?), whether you're in credit with them and if so by how much. 

If you're in credit, and switch away, Avro should, in theory, return your credit balance to you within 4-6 weeks.  But it's likely they'll go bust first.

If you stay with them, they go bust and you're transferred to a Supplier of Last Resort, any credit will transfer with you

If you leave them and they go bust before having refunded your credit, you'll be able to apply to the Supplier of Last Resort for a return of your credit but, from what I've heard, this is likely to be a difficult and lengthy process as you're not actually a customer of this new supplier.

So, I think that, if it were me, I would sit tight.  If / when they go bust, you'll be transferred to a new supplier and can either stay with them or switch away.  Any credit you had with Avro should be readily available to you.  Trying to switch away at this stage (assuming they're on the verge of going bust) might be more trouble than it's worth.

Sea_Shell

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?

Verdigris

We have large, more centralised, stores. Unfortunately there is a shortage of LNG from the Middle East because that is going to the Far East and Russia is playing hard-ball over supplies to Europe. So we have storage, just no gas to go in it.

Al_Ross

whattochoose said:

I've recently switched from Octopus to Outfox the Market. Fingers crossed they survive.

You don't have enough fingers I'm afraid.

barker77

Oftm seem decent?