Several winding up petitions filed against Solarplicity

Several winding up petitions have been submitted by HMRC against challenger energy supplier Solarplicity.

The company has confirmed six petitions were submitted in total, four were dismissed and the remaining two have been adjourned.

The company has insisted its business is secure, however.

All six are currently listed on the Justice.gov website’s companies’ court winding up list as:

• Solarplicity Supply Limited
• Solarplicity Service Limited
• Peerglow Asset Limited
• Solarplicity Energy Limited
• SPTMY Limited
• Solarplicity Utility Services limited

A company spokesperson told Utility Week: “We can confirm that four petitions were dismissed and the remaining two were adjourned. We are confident that there will be a resolution on these in the coming days.

“Our business is secure, and we will be announcing some positive new developments that will benefit all our customers. First and foremost, we are a renewable technology business striving to fight fuel poverty and make renewable energy available to everyone – our desire and ability to deliver this is as strong as ever.”

The supplier has been subject to a provisional order from Ofgem and earlier this month it was revealed that Solarplicity had again failed to pay money owed to feed-in-tariff (FIT) generators and is in danger of having the order confirmed.

In a statement on 10 July Ofgem said that while Solarplicity did meet the requirement to make outstanding payments by 16 May, it had recently failed to make other FIT payments.

Specifically it noted that the supplier wrote to “at least” nine FIT generators early this month stating that payments due on 28 June would be delayed. On 3 July it contacted Ofgem and advised it would not be making those payments.

As a result the regulator has “concerns” around the supplier’s ability to make future payments and is now consulting on confirming the provisional order.

If Solarplicity fails to comply with a confirmed provisional order it is within Ofgem’s power to revoke its licence.

In response a spokesperson said: ”Ofgem’s announcement implies doubt and concern over Solarplicity’s financial position which is not only unfair but irresponsible.

“We would like to assure suppliers and customers alike that we are working to strengthen our position financially and will continue to honour all payments.

“Given the role that Ofgem’s enquiry process has placed on our ability to take on new customers or market our business effectively, it is worrying to us that an industry regulator should take this approach.”

The accounts for Solarplicity have been listed as “overdue” on the Companies House website since February, something which has previously prompted speculation the company may be in financial difficulty.

Solarplicity was previously slapped with a banning order in February this year for customer service failings. Ofgem decided not to confirm after the supplier significantly improved its customer service arrangements.

However, Ofgem says it still has some concerns in relation to how it treats vulnerable customers and those struggling to pay their bills and will continue to actively monitor Solarplicity’s performance in these areas.

The company says it intends to continue to engage with Ofgem closely to ensure a “swift resolution” to the matter.

It has agreed not to take on new customers until 5 August this year, other than those joining through community energy schemes which it will limit to 200 per week.