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Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects

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Florence

Joined: 15 Mar 2025
Posts: 619

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 26 6:25 pm Post subject: Do You Remember?

How many energy suppliers have ceased trading since 2016?

Here's a list - and it doesn't cover all of them

Ofgem automatically move people over to a "supplier of last resort" with the result that some poor company gets a load of bad payers who may neve pay up. And people with credit lost out because that isn't transferred with them. Because the failing company has spent it.

And we wonder why our energy suppliers are not exactly thriving businesses. It's not all paying the shareholders a bucket load of our money.

Florence

Joined: 15 Mar 2025
Posts: 619

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 26 7:32 am Post subject:
Pity the one that got Bulb forced on them. The company has gone from profitable to losses over 2 years.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 9693
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 26 8:19 am Post subject:

I was with Union energy which changed to Good Energy as they were not then allowed to give union members favourable rates... Daughter introduced me to Ecotricity and I've been with them since.
Dale Vince may come over as a bit of a nutter to some, but they are ahead of the game in many ways. I think that this is why shareholders and customers are staying with them. Being honest about pricing and what they do with their profits.
Clear bills and the first to charge the same however you pay.
Investing in renewable production in solar, wind and green gas.
You get letters explaining government policy clearly and how it works.
They may not be the cheapest, but they are the most honest

Florence

Joined: 15 Mar 2025
Posts: 619

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 26 8:37 am Post subject:

I joined OVO Energy many, many years ago because they too had a lot of green and ethical standards, policies rather close to Ecotricity.

However things went downhill when Bulb collapsed into administration in spectacular fashion. It was a big company and someone had to be arm twisted by the government into taking it over to cope with a lot of customers suddenly without a supplier.

Lets say it has wrecked the profits of OVO as well as their green and ethical policies. As ever, they inherited customers who owed money rather more than those in credit.

I think that Ecotricity has not met the long arm of the government wanting to force failing companies on them unlike British Gas, Eon and others. I can hear Dale Vincent if they tried mind.

Florence

Joined: 15 Mar 2025
Posts: 619

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 26 8:51 am Post subject:
The collapse of an energy company set up by Nottingham City Council has left more than Â£50m of bills unpaid, a report on its final liquidation has found. Nottingham City Council set up Robin Hood Energy, found it couldn't run a gas and electricity supplier so both the council and the company went bankrupt. Nottingham City Council had to be bailed out by the public purse at first.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 17235

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 26 3:19 pm Post subject:

I don't think any of these companies actually produce electricity, they just buy it from Powergen. We were with Southern Electric, or whatever they currently call themselves, but they offloaded all domestic customers onto, I think, ovo. Not found any difference between the two.

Imo all the utilities need to be nationalised, which will stop unscrupulous people buying up a company and then loading it with debt. Yes, defaulting customers are a big problem, but so are the loans to buy a company.

Florence

Joined: 15 Mar 2025
Posts: 619

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 26 6:29 pm Post subject:

MR, yep they dumped all of their household customers and continued just to generate. OVO used to be reliable but has been made to swallow too many bad payers and now you are likely to be swallowed by E.ON when OFGEM says.

British Gas has just swallowed a Tomato - OFGEM said that this company had to give its customers over as it had become just another failure.

Wonder when OFGEM will run out of companies to act as "supplier of last resort". Which is the technical term for these take overs.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44876
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 26 12:47 pm Post subject:

the fossil rump is clinging to the last vestiges of profit and writing the supply script in it's own image

harvested from water, wind and pv has more than a factor of ten cost advantage for production cost over fossil

harvested faces the problem of old money among the fossil rump being deployed politically to ensure harvested is priced at the most expensive fossil rate

sustainable and ethical energy has a huge disadvantage until we take the means of production and distribution into not for profit hands, and those hands are immune to bribes, "offers" and threats

a small personal aside as to scumbag energy operators my i humbly introduce northern power, keen on overpriced pay as you use go meters(even when you are a very different customer to previous ones with the same or similar addresses) along with sometimes adding several years costs to a false debt

a Â£ delivered energy should reflect the lowest cost of production rather than the highest

ie leccy should cost about ten percent offwatt

it does cost now and still make the "greenies" a decent return on investment

its ok, on a personal issue(see above) i sorted them 2 decades ago

Florence

Joined: 15 Mar 2025
Posts: 619

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 26 7:59 pm Post subject:
Living off grid is the real answer to the power of the utility companies. But I can't see this village living off grid. To many nimbys would object to the infrastructure changes

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 17235

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 26 9:02 pm Post subject:

If you mean by 'off grid' not relying on companies that sell electricity, yes, it has its advantages. On the other hand, the grid was a game changer when it was introduced. It meant that more people could have electricity and the grid could respond to things like people turning on the kettle at the end of a football match on TV, cold weather, or a need in any part of the country. My father remembered it being set up, and before, and it made a real difference.

If the electricity industry can work out the logistics of 'micro generation', storing electricity when it is made by renewables at various times and one or two other problems, it can still be a really useful system. In the 'sunny south' here, we generate quite a lot of solar electricity and that can be very useful in still weather further north for example.

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