Neon Reef Limited and Social Energy Supply Ltd have become the latest suppliers to collapse, leaving around 30,000 and 5,500 domestic customers respectively.
Social Energy Supply were one of five suppliers ordered by Ofgem last week (12 November) to pay a combined £575,000 for failing to meet payment deadlines for the feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme. The company owes £28,735.
While the company’s supply side is ceasing to trade, Social Energy Limited will continue as a technology provider. The company’s website confirms that it will still sell smart systems and provide credits for customers taking part in its trading program.
Previously, customers had to be part of the Supply side to provide grid services utilising their domestic solar and battery storage through Social Energy.
But in a statement on Social Energy’s website, the company clarified that: “Our tech team have been working hard to make this possible. The Social Energy Hub will be able to manage when your energy is either stored, imported or exported onto the grid.”
A core part of Social Energy’s offering as a supplier has been its battery storage optimisation arm. In September 2020, it won the first ever fully domestic weekly Firm Frequency Response contract with National Grid ESO.
Over the past year, it has continued to expand its battery offering aided by a significant investment from fund manager CarVal Investor in January.
Neon Reef had recently also been issued with a provisional order from Ofgem for missed payments. It owes £349,148.80 in missed Renewables Obligation payments, with the company one of seven – two of which had folded at the time final orders were issued, and were thus not presented with the orders – which collectively owe £17.9 million in outstanding payments.
Social Energy Supply and Neon Reef are the latest in a slew of supplier collapses, driven largely by the dramatic increase in wholesale power prices throughout this year.
This includes Omni Energy, MA Energy, Zebra Power, Ampoweruk and Bluegreen Energy Services all collapsing this month.
Prior to this, Goto Energy, Pure Planet, Colorado Energy, Daligas ENSTROGA, Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy, Hub Energy, Green Network Energy, Simplicity Energy, Avro Energy, Utility Point, People’s Energy, PfP Energy and MoneyPlus Energy have all ceased to trade this year.
The number of suppliers in the UK market has more than halved in 2021 according to research from Cornwall Insight.
Further collapses are expected as prices remain high going into winter, with low winds earlier this week already seeing day-ahead prices spike to £2,000/MWh in the N2EX auction.
