Entice and Orbit become latest energy firms to go bust
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESTwo more energy suppliers have gone bust amid the surge in gas prices, the regulator Ofgem has said.
Entice Energy and Orbit Energy, which have about 5,400 and 65,000 customers respectively, ceased trading on Wednesday.
The two firms are the latest companies to go under as higher wholesale gas prices have made price promises by suppliers to customers undeliverable.
Ofgem said new suppliers would be found for the two companies’ customers.
Households have been advised to wait until a new supplier is appointed before thinking about switching company.
Neil Lawrence, director of retail at Ofgem, said: ”I want to reassure affected customers that they do not need to worry: under our safety net we’ll make sure your energy supplies continue. ”
Orbit said energy supplies to its customers were “secure” and said any credit balances would be honoured.
The collapse of Orbit and Entice comes after Bulb, the UK’s seventh largest energy supplier, was handed about £1,000 per customer from the UK government to enable it to continue supplying energy.
Bulb, which has 1.7 million customers, is the largest company to date to face difficulties in recent months and was put into special administration, which will allow it keep trading for the moment with a £1.7bn loan.
It will be run by an administrator until a buyer can be found or until its customers have moved.
Bulb’s size is the reason it has been kept afloat by the government, rather than its customers being transferred to other suppliers, as has happened with other failing energy providers.
Since the beginning of September, a total of 24 energy suppliers have now failed following a spike in gas prices.
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