Together Energy & Warrington Borough Council?

ihatetrump

It's already been documented on other threads that Together Energy (144,000 customers at last report) is controlled jointly by one of its' shareholders (Paul Scott Richards) and Warrington Borough Council (they seemed to have lent quite a bit of cash to the company to keep them going).

This news release by OFGEM may be of interest:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/ofgem-orders-seven-suppliers-pay-ps179m-unpaid-renewables-obligations-payments

£12.4M owing!!!!!!!! - Together Energy may be the next to fail, unless they get bailed out again by Warrington Borough Council of course.

If I was a resident of Warrington, I'd really be more than a little concerned to find that my council tax and business rates were being used to keep afloat an energy company in Scotland.

Where's the governance here? This could get very messy.....

Shedman

To be frank surprised Together Energy didn't go years ago...given how poorly they were rated

[Deleted User]

Councils setting up energy companies or partnering with existing suppliers was seen as a ‘win win’ situation for Councils. Sadly, the real life experience has proved to be somewhat different. Bristol Energy; Robin Hood Energy; Plymouth Energy all come to mind. The problem is that most Councils lack the expertise to provide continuous oversight of ongoing operations. 

That said, Warrington Council may be playing politics by supporting the supplier’s decision not to pay their Ofgem dues.

https://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/2021/11/01/council-satisfied-non-payment-of-12-5m-renewables-obligations-is-in-best-interest-of-together-energy/

ihatetrump

@[Deleted User] - agree with your initial comments, not sure taxpayers will be best pleased however if Together go belly up.

All good, except in their last accounts, Together had £422k in the bank, had customer advances of £23M (i.e funds they owe) and owed circa £33.5M - most, if not all to Warrington Borough Council. Who funds the £12.4M?

To me, they smack of a business trading while insolvent. It won't look good on WBC if they end up with a bad debt of £33.5M and effectively no assets to secure it against.

[Deleted User]

ihatetrump said:

@[Deleted User] - agree with your initial comments, not sure taxpayers will be best pleased however if Together go belly up.

All good, except in their last accounts, Together had £422k in the bank, had customer advances of £23M (i.e funds they owe) and owed circa £33.5M - most, if not all to Warrington Borough Council. Who funds the £12.4M?

To me, they smack of a business trading while insolvent. It won't look good on WBC if they end up with a bad debt of £33.5M and effectively no assets to secure it against.

They can join the Club:

Quote: Bristol Energy cost city council taxpayers an estimated £43million, it has been revealed.

Councillors were told the ballpark figure, which is subject to change, after pressing senior finance officers at a public meeting, although the final total will not be fully known until liquidators have finished winding up the catastrophic venture next year.

Unquote (Bristol Live Sep 21)

brewerdave

[Deleted User] said:

ihatetrump said:

@[Deleted User] - agree with your initial comments, not sure taxpayers will be best pleased however if Together go belly up.

All good, except in their last accounts, Together had £422k in the bank, had customer advances of £23M (i.e funds they owe) and owed circa £33.5M - most, if not all to Warrington Borough Council. Who funds the £12.4M?

To me, they smack of a business trading while insolvent. It won't look good on WBC if they end up with a bad debt of £33.5M and effectively no assets to secure it against.

They can join the Club:

Quote: Bristol Energy cost city council taxpayers an estimated £43million, it has been revealed.

Councillors were told the ballpark figure, which is subject to change, after pressing senior finance officers at a public meeting, although the final total will not be fully known until liquidators have finished winding up the catastrophic venture next year.

Unquote (Bristol Live Sep 21)

And of course who took over the customers of Bristol Energy ? Yes ,you've guessed - Together Energy !!

QrizB

ihatetrump said:

All good, except in their last accounts, Together had £422k in the bank, had customer advances of £23M (i.e funds they owe) and owed circa £33.5M - most, if not all to Warrington Borough Council. Who funds the £12.4M?
To me, they smack of a business trading while insolvent. It won't look good on WBC if they end up with a bad debt of £33.5M and effectively no assets to secure it against.

Better that, surely, that having Together Energy go bust in 3-4 months leaving a bad debt of £45.9M?

ihatetrump

Better that, surely, that having Together Energy go bust in 3-4 months leaving a bad debt of £45.9M?

Let's face it, they're losing money, look highly likely to fail (their current cash flow is insufficient to enable them to pay a government mandated tariff) unless they receive more funding - from where? they are already under water owing millions in customer advance payments - that you and I will pick up eventually though SOLR.

Their last accounts say they have taken out a loan paying 11% interest - that is more than peer to peer lending!

Why on earth would Warrington Borough Council pour in yet more money after bad? - like most if not all local authorities they must be struggling to maintain essential services - throwing yet more millions into a failed venture would surely be highly questionable and open up WBC to yet more public scrutiny.

UnclaimedEnergy

Shedman said:

To be frank surprised Together Energy didn't go years ago...given how poorly they were rated

That's only because Warrington Council bailed them out.

Without the investment they would had gone following a disastrous appointment of the SoLR for One Select.

emmajones1976

Quite possibly the worst company I have ever dealt with.

Left them a few years ago knowing I owed them £60 or so. Rang up three times asking for a final bill so I could pay it, email them etc. In the end I gave up.

A whole TWELVE months later they sent me a letter from their debt collection arm demanding £61 off me.

UnclaimedEnergy

QrizB said:

ihatetrump said:

All good, except in their last accounts, Together had £422k in the bank, had customer advances of £23M (i.e funds they owe) and owed circa £33.5M - most, if not all to Warrington Borough Council. Who funds the £12.4M?
To me, they smack of a business trading while insolvent. It won't look good on WBC if they end up with a bad debt of £33.5M and effectively no assets to secure it against.

Better that, surely, that having Together Energy go bust in 3-4 months leaving a bad debt of £45.9M?

Exactly the point. The council putting any more money into Together Energy is them just gambling with their tax payers money instead of spending it on local projects.

Like what happened with Robin Hood, Together Energy obviously have zero governance in place and need to accept that another council vanity project has failed.