Ofgem is consulting on issuing seven suppliers with final orders over £34 million in outstanding Renewable Obligation (RO) and feed-in tariff (FiT) levelisation fees.
The suppliers – Co-Operative Energy, Robin Hood Energy, Flow Energy, MA Energy, Nabuh Energy, Symbio Energy and Tonik Energy – missed the 31 August and 1 September RO deadlines, with Ofgem stating they also haven’t provided “adequate assurances” they will make the payments by the late payment deadline of 31 October.
They are not the only suppliers to have missed the initial deadline, with 24 failing to pay into Ofgem’s buy-out fund by 31 August. However, Ofgem said that 17 of these have either since paid the full amount or given satisfactory assurances on meeting their obligations.
Suppliers only have to pay into the buy-out fund if they don’t have enough Renewable Energy Certificates (ROCS) to meet their obligation.
However, if the payments are not made, suppliers face possibly having their licences revoked.
Of the four suppliers who were issued final orders in 2019 over unpaid RO fees, two – Toto Energy and Gnergy – have since shuttered for good.
Nottingham City Council-owned Robin Hood Energy, which also failed to pay in 2019 and is one of the seven suppliers listed today by Ofgem, has struggled for some time to make ends meet. It was bailed out by the council in August after finding itself £24 million in debt, with its customer base then sold to Centrica last month.
It owes the most of the seven suppliers, with £12,057,879.42 in unpaid RO fees. This is followed by Co-Operative Energy, which owes £5,359,956.40.
Robin Hood and Tonik also failed to make their Year 10 annual levelisation payment for the government’s FiT scheme, with the outstanding amount coming in at £158,814.47.
Cathryn Scott, director of enforcement and emerging issues at Ofgem said that failure to make the payments “undermines the integrity of the schemes and is unacceptable”.
“This enforcement action sends a strong signal that suppliers must meet their obligations.”