November becomes worst ever month for SoLRs

Ofgem has confirmed another double supplier failure, taking the total number of exits via the supplier of last resort (SoLR) process so far this year to 26.

The collapse of Orbit and Entice Energy means November 2021 is the worst ever month for market exits via SoLR, with a total of 10 failures.

The latest casualties of the continuing energy crisis leave a further 70,000 customers for another supplier to pick up just one day after Bulb entered administration.

London-based Orbit, which served 65,000 domestic customers, was launched in 2018 and is a subsidiary of US firm Genie Energy which also has a presence in Japan and Finland.

In a recent circular, Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) administrator Elexon announced that it would be expelling Orbit from the BSC, subject to approval by Ofgem.

Additionally the supplier was recently named, among others, as owing more than £451,000 to the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme. Earlier this year it agreed to pay more than £7,000 in redress for customer failings.

Entice, meanwhile, was based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and served 5,400 domestic customers.

It too was recently named by the regulator as having failed to pay into various schemes. Ofgem said Entice owed more than £28,000 to the FIT scheme and almost £174,000 in Renewables Obligation payments.

Following the latest failures, Gillian Cooper, head of energy policy at Citizens Advice, said: “As suppliers continue to fall like dominoes, it’s clear the market is not functioning as it should and there are serious questions for Ofgem to answer about how this has been allowed to happen.”

The spate of supplier failures has led to worries about the massive Last Resort Supply Payment claims that are expected to be made by retailers taking on the customers of those exiting the market.

Speaking to Utility Week recently, Energy UK’s deputy chief executive Audrey Gallacher said the government should consider picking up the tab to spread out the costs of the industry levy and protect consumers from a sharp increase in energy bills next year.

“The big ask on government would be, is there any way we can smooth these costs? We already know that there’s a big supplier levy claim going to be coming through for the 2 million customers that have already been involved in SoLRs,” she said.

“We would say the government could step in and cover the supplier levy and then reclaim it back over time through network charges. They could even sell it on as a type of government bond,” she added.