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Utilita Energy has been appointed as the supplier of last resort (SoLR) for more than 29,000 customers of Eversmart Energy, which ceased trading last week.
Customers will be switched over to their new supplier tomorrow (11 September).
Philippa Pickford, Ofgem’s director of future retail markets, said: “I am pleased to announce we have appointed Utilita Energy for the customers of Eversmart Energy. Their energy supply will continue as normal, and domestic credit balances will be honoured.
“Utilita Energy will be in contact with customers over the coming days with further information. Once it’s been completed, customers can shop around for a better deal if they wish to.”
Manchester-based Eversmart became the sixth supplier of 2019 to exit the market last Friday (6 September), the day after Utility Week revealed that National Grid had filed a winding up petition against it.
Meanwhile the Energy Ombudsman has revealed that it has received four times as many complaints about the supplier this year than it did for the whole of 2018.
Matthew Vickers, chief executive at the Energy Ombudsman, said: “We have seen a significant increase in complaints about Eversmart Energy, receiving four times as many complaints so far this year (225) as we did in the whole of last year (55).
“Billing and switching problems have been the main drivers of unresolved complaints about the company.”
The challenger energy brand was one of several suppliers which failed to pay its renewables obligation (RO) payments by the late payment deadline last year. It owed £367,149.82 and was ordered to pay in instalments by 31 March this year.
Speaking in April Eversmart’s chief executive Barney Cook said the company had by then paid its obligation in full.
In an interview with Utility Week last year Cook insisted Eversmart had a handle on its risks.
“We recognise our risks and we recognise how we can be sustainable. Although we have seen growth in certain months it doesn’t mean we are growing at an accelerated rate every month, so we are very measured in how many customers we take on. A big driver in our customer acquisition is our smart meter rollout.”
In total 34 suppliers failed to meet their obligation by the initial 1 September 2018 deadline. Of those, 20 fully discharged their obligation by the late payment deadline at the end of October.
In November, the regulator announced a mutualisation process would be triggered for the first time ever after the outstanding payments following the final deadline exceeded a threshold known as the relevant shortfall.
The level of the shortfall was confirmed at £58.6 million.
A number of suppliers named as owing RO payments beyond the 31 October late payment deadline have ceased trading.
Tough trading conditions have already seen five other suppliers exit the market this year – Economy Energy, Our Power, Brilliant Energy, Cardiff Energy Supply. and Solarplicity.
You can read Utility Week’s interview with Barney Cook here
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