More small energy suppliers will be pushed to collapse by rules forcing them to pick up the tab for those that have gone bust already, an industry boss has warned. Eight suppliers ceased trading last year, owing tens of millions of pounds between them to their customers and to industry schemes. Ofgem rules mean that much of this debt will fall to rivals. Doug Stewart, chief executive of Green Energy, said that its share of the bill for competitors’ unpaid debts under one scheme alone would wipe out 7 per cent of its annual profits. He said that his company, a small but established supplier, could weather the costs, but warned that others would not. Dozens of new energy suppliers have started up in recent years, encouraged by the government and the regulator to take on the Big Six incumbents. More than 70 are now opera ting, but critics have warned that some are charging unsustainably cheap prices.
Times 7th Jan 2019 read more »
