E.ON Next has been appointed to take on failed supplier Hub Energy’s 15,000 customers.
Ofgem selected the company following a competitive process to find the best deal for the 6,000 domestic and 9,000 non-domestic customers. It follows the news earlier this week that Hub Energy would shutter, becoming the third supplier this year to cease trading.
Energy supplies will continue as normal, as customers are automatically switched over to E.ON Next today (13 August), and will have their outstanding credit balances honoured.
Ofgem’s director of retail Neil Lawrence said despite the “unsettling” news of Hub Energy’s insolvency, customers do not need to worry.
“E.ON Next will be in contact with customers over the coming days to assist them. Customers can ask E.ON Next to put them onto another tariff, but should customers wish to switch, we advise waiting for the transfer from Hub Energy to be completed. For urgent queries please contact E.ON Next directly.”
The closure of Hub Energy follows Green Network Energy and Simplicity Energy closing in January, following which EDF took on the former’s customers and British Gas Evolve took on the latter’s.
E.ON Next was launched March 2020 by Big Six provider E.ON, following the acquisition of Innogy and with it its npower customer base. These npower customers were the first to be migrated onto E.ON Next, which was developed thanks to a strategic partnership with Octopus’ tech arm Kraken Technologies.
As of May 2021, two million customers have been migrated to the Kraken-powered E.ON Next customer service platform. The move enabled E.ON’s UK business to return to profitability in Q1 2021, following the impact of its npower acquisition, which led to 4,500 job losses and a 3% year-on-year drop in income in Q3 of that year.
E.ON Next launched two new tariffs in April – Next Drive and Climate+ – both of which offer 100% renewable energy through the use of REGOs.
