Solarplicity becomes 13th energy supplier to collapse since 2018

Thousands of homes left without an energy provider after firm goes bust

Thousands of homes and hundreds of companies have been left without an energy provider after Solarplicity became the 13th firm to collapse out of the energy market since the start of last year.

It ceased trading two weeks after selling most of its customers to a rival amid a rising number of complaints and a deepening row with the energy regulator.

Solarplicity, which also installs home solar panels, was left with 7,500 home energy customers and 500 business customers after agreeing to hand over 43,000 of them to Toto Energy in July.

The company’s remaining customers will be moved to a new supplier through the regulator’s “safety net” process, which has been used seven times this year because of energy supplier collapses.

David Elbourne, the chief executive of Solarplicity, blamed its demise on the “overcrowded, highly regulated market” and the regulator’s “overly onerous interventions”.

Ofgem cracked down on the supplier this year because of customer complaints and unpaid bills for renewable energy subsidies, which Solarplicity collected from customers but failed to pass on to the regulator’s coffers.

The regulator also banned Solarplicity from taking on new customers because of poor customer service and problems with customer switching.

Matthew Vickers, the chief executive of Ombudsman Services, said it was no surprise the supplier had gone bust after rising customer complaints.

The ombudsman has received 3,324 complaints about Solarplicity this year, including 583 in July. It received about 1,000 complaints last year.

In addition to “high complaint volumes for a company of its size”, the ombudsman said Solarplicity had failed to take the required steps to put things right for the customer within the specified timeframe. “This includes failure to make the necessary goodwill gesture payments and refunds, which has been a concern of ours for some time,” Vickers added.

Elbourne said Solarplicity would continue to focus on the core strengths in its solar panel business.

Contributor

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Economy Energy collapse leaves 235,000 in the lurch
Ofgem urges customers to take meter readings after ninth small UK supplier goes bust in a year

Adam Vaughan Energy correspondent

08, Jan, 2019 @12:59 PM

Article image
Energy consumers face £172m bill for collapse of 11 suppliers
Warnings 32,000 households may be targeted by debt collectors

Jillian Ambrose

20, Jun, 2019 @11:01 PM

Article image
Together Energy is latest UK supplier to go bust
Ofgem will appoint new firm to take on 176,000 households affected by collapse of Bristol Energy owner

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent and Richard Partington

18, Jan, 2022 @5:32 PM

Article image
Doubts over rescue deal for Bulb Energy raise fears of imminent collapse
UK’s seventh largest supplier seeks funding as regulator promises to protect families

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

29, Oct, 2021 @3:37 PM

Article image
BP-backed renewable energy firm becomes one of latest suppliers to collapse
Pure Planet, backed by oil firm, and Colorado Energy brings number of failed energy firms to 14 this year

Rob Davies

13, Oct, 2021 @6:41 PM

Article image
More than 6m households switched energy supplier in 2015
Energy regulator Ofgem releases new statistics showing nearly half of account changes were to independent companies

Terry Macalister

22, Feb, 2016 @12:01 AM

Article image
Nottingham-based energy supplier fails to pay £9.5m in subsidies
Robin Hood Energy may have licence revoked if it fails to pay total sum to Ofgem

Jillian Ambrose

01, Oct, 2019 @2:03 PM

Article image
Energy watchdog accused of stalling electric vehicle rollout
Scottish Power boss says UK regulator needs reform after refusing upgrades to cope with e-vehicle demand

Jillian Ambrose

18, Oct, 2019 @3:22 PM

Article image
Energy firms warned by watchdog of 'radical' change ahead
Ofgem tells suppliers to prepare for range of reforms, including switching customers automatically to better deals

Adam Vaughan

19, Oct, 2017 @2:22 PM

Article image
Ofgem energy league table could save users hundreds of pounds
Price comparison tool could help reduce bills for consumers on standard variable tariffs by £200 a year, says regulator

Miles Brignall

14, Dec, 2016 @11:52 AM