High gas prices are driving small, new suppliers out of business
Shell and Octopus join ‘Big Six’ in backstopping UK supplier collapses
Oil major and established independent step in as smaller new gas and power market entrants flounder
September has seen the number of 2021 bankruptcies among the UK’s gas and electricity suppliers jump from three to twelve. Energy retailers Enstroga, Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy, Avro Energy, Green, People's Energy, Utility Point, PFP Energy and MoneyPlus Energy have all folded due to a toxic combination of soaring wholesale prices, a government-imposed price cap for domestic customers that prevents firms from passing on the full extent of this volatility and in several cases, weak balance sheets and subpar risk management from fledgling market entrants. They join August departure Hub Energy and January exits Green Network Energy and Simplicity Energy (see Fig.1).
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
