Ofgem has issued five energy suppliers with provisional orders to pay around £765,000 for the feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme.
Colorado Energy, Igloo Energy, Neon Reef, Whoop Energy and Symbio Energy have all received the provisional orders, having failed to pay their Year 11 FiT levelisation obligations by the deadline of 17 September 2021.
The levelisation process is the mechanism by which the cost of the FiT scheme is apportioned across Licensed Electricity Suppliers, with this done based on each supplier’s share of the Great Britain electricity market, whilst taking into account any payments they have made to FIT generators.
Colorado Energy failed to pay £261,406,12, Igloo failed to pay £316,582.44, Neon Reef failed to pay £37,350.76, Whoop Energy failed to pay £3,780.22 and Symbio failed to pay £146,238.66.
Alongside this, Symbio’s previous FiT Levelisation payment, due on 11 August 2021, also remains outstanding. A separate provisional order was issued to Symbio last month to pay the c.£450,000 owed.
If the suppliers fail to comply with the order made against them, Ofgem may take further enforcement action, including revoking their licences or issuing a financial penalty.
Earlier this week, Ofgem revoked Nabuh Energy’s licence over the energy supplier’s unpaid debts, with the regulator having issued Nabuh a final order on 20 October 2020 to make a payment of £2,683,631.70 of Renewable Obligation (RO) debt plus accrued interest by no later than 31 October 2020.
It comes during a difficult period for suppliers, with four going bust over the last few weeks alone and more potentially on the horizon. A combination of factors including high power prices, imbalance payments being due and some suppliers being late on their renewable payments are placing significant stresses on suppliers.
Indeed, Elexon expelled three suppliers from the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) yesterday (21 September) due to their failure to sufficiently reduce their Credit Cover Percentage over a period of two working days, while Bulb has approached financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard to assess its options.
Current± has approached Colorado Energy, Whoop Energy, Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy and Neon Reef for comment.