Three more UK energy companies go bust
Energy suppliers Enstroga, Igloo Energy and Symbio Energy have joined an ongoing list of companies that have collapsed in recent weeks amid the surge in wholesale gas prices.
Regulator Ofgem confirmed on Wednesday that the three firms, which together represented less than 1% of domestic customers in the market, had ceased trading.
Customers will still continue to get energy supply despite the news, and funds paid into any accounts will be protected where they are in credit.
Domestic customers will also be protected by the energy price cap when being switched to a new supplier.
Enstroga supplies gas and electricity to around 6,000 domestic customers, while Igloo Energy supplies 179,000 customers, and Symbio Energy supplies gas and electricity to 48,000 domestic households and a small number of non-domestic customers.
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Benchmark natural gas prices in the UK and in Europe have tripled this year due to a combination of factors, including low gas reserves, strong commodity and carbon prices, heightened global demand, and low wind output.
As wholesale prices are currently so much higher than the price cap, providers are supplying energy below cost — smaller firms don’t have the reserves to absorb such costs.
In total, nine small UK energy suppliers have now gone bust since the start of September alone. The others included People’s Energy, Green Supplier Ltd, Utility Point, PfP Energy, MoneyPlus Energy, and Avro Energy.
Avro was the largest supplier to ever go bust and, combined with the failure of Green, affected almost a million customers.
More than 1.5 million people have been hit by supplier failures in the past six weeks.
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Ofgem said it was working closely with the British government and industry to make sure customers continued to be protected during the winter period. According to Goldman Sachs (GS), soaring prices are also exposing the risk of power outages over the winter period.
“Ofgem’s number one priority is to protect customers. We know this is a worrying time for many people and news of a supplier going out of business can be unsettling,” Neil Lawrence, director of retail at Ofgem, said.
“I want to reassure customers of Enstroga, Igloo Energy and Symbio Energy that they do not need to worry. Under our safety net we’ll make sure your energy supplies continue.
