Shell becomes supplier of last resort for GoTo Energy customers

Shell Energy has become a supplier of last resort (SoLR) for the second time this week following the demise of GoTo Energy.

Ofgem revealed this morning that Shell will take on roughly 22,000 customers from GoTo Energy in addition to the more than 252,000 it acquired just days ago following the exits of Pure Planet, Colorado Energy and Daligas.

Shell also became the SoLR for the 255,000 customers of Green last month. Following these recent acquisitions, the company now supplies around 1.4 million customers.

The failure of GoTo Energy marked the 16^th time this year the SoLR process has been invoked, and the 38^th time since 2016.

So far in 2021 more than 2.4 million domestic energy customers have seen their retailer fail and been transferred to a new supplier – more than 1 million more than the total over the previous five years combined.

Elexon has issued several circulars in recent weeks announcing its intention to expel retailers from the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) for failing to sufficiently reduce their credit cover percentage after entering credit default. Expulsion from the BSC would leave them unable to conduct trades on the Balancing Mechanism.

Most recently the code administrator decided to expel the small, business-only power supplier MA Energy from the BSC, subject to approval from Ofgem.

Several other expulsions have been announced over the last few weeks, including that of Ampower which supplies around 13,400 customers.

The expulsion of Whoop Energy (under 5,000 customers) was announced alongside that of Symbio, which has since ceased trading.

Elexon has now revoked its decision to expel Delta Gas and Power after the supplier increased its credit cover percentage by enough to leave credit default.