Ofgem has ordered five suppliers to pay a combined £575,000 for failing to meet payment deadlines for the feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme.
The suppliers didn’t meet the second quarter payment deadline of 10 November 2021, and will now receive provisional orders compelling them to make the payment.
Failure to do so may cause mutualisation to be triggered, and Ofgem may take further enforcement action that could result in suppliers having their licences revoked or they could face a financial penalty.
The suppliers who have failed to meet the deadline, thus breaching electricity Supply Standard Licence Condition (SLC) 33, are:
Suppliers |
Amount owed |
Whoop Energy |
£19,013 |
Simply Your Energy/ Entice |
£28,353 |
Social Energy Supply |
£28,735 |
Delta Gas and Power |
£46,701 |
Orbit Energy |
£451,296 |
Earlier this month, Whoop Energy was also issued with a final order and Delta Gas and Power and Entice Energy with provisional orders from Ofgem for outstanding Renewables Obligation (RO) payments. Together with MA Energy, Neon Reef and Together Energy, which were issued provisional orders and Ampower which was issued a final order, the companies owe a total of £17.9 million in RO payments.
Delta Gas and Power defaulted out of Elexon’s Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) in October for failing to reduce its Credit Cover Percentage, and as such is currently unable to take on new customers. A week after this Simply Your Energy/Entice defaulted out of the BSC, and in the first week of November Orbit Energy also did, with the companies forming part of a raft of recent supplier struggles.
High wholesale power prices – which have risen by 250% since January – have led to the supplier market in the UK halving, falling from 47 to 25 since the start of 2021.
This includes Omni Energy, MA Energy, Zebra Power and Ampoweruk ceasing to trade in November, along with Goto Energy, Pure Planet, Colorado Energy, Daligas, ENSTROGA, Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy, Avro Energy, Green Supplier Limited, People’s Energy, Utility Point, PfP Energy and MoneyPlus Energy in recent months.
Failure to meet FiT and RO payments in previous years has in some cases been a precursor to supplier collapse.
Ofgem’s move to issue provisional orders follows five suppliers – Colorado Energy, Whoop Energy, Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy and Neon Reef – being issued provisional orders to pay around £765,000 for FiT scheme payments in September.