Bristol Energy owner is latest UK supplier to go bust

theguardian.com:

The owner of Bristol Energy has gone bust weeks after the struggling council-owned supplier assured its customers that the business was stable despite record-high gas market prices.

The energy regulator, Ofgem, will appoint a new supplier to take on the 176,000 households affected by the collapse of its parent company, Together Energy, which is part-owned by Warrington Borough Council.

The energy company was forced to deny press reports earlier this year that it was on the brink of calling in administrators and told customers that the company was “stable” and operating on a “business as usual” basis.

Bristol Energy said it was “saddened” to announce its exit from the UK’s energy market but it was “untenable for us to continue”. It also denied press reports which suggested that it had not bought enough gas and electricity to meet its customers’ needs.

Together’s collapse makes it the 27th energy supplier to go bust since gas market prices began a steep ascent to record highs in August last year, leaving more than 2m households in need of a new supplier.

The fate of another 1.7m Bulb Energy accounts is yet to be decided by a special administrator, which was appointed to handle the large-scale collapse.

Gillian Cooper, the head of energy for Citizens Advice, said: “As well as causing considerable disruption and confusion for customers, today’s announcement will add to the £2.6bn bill consumers are already facing due to these failures.”

“The government must spread the cost of supplier failures so people aren’t left to foot a sky-high bill for chaos in the energy market, just as prices rise. It should also provide a one-off payment to people through the benefits system this April for those who need the most support,” Cooper added.

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