Energy providers in crisis, What to do.

With the 250% increase in wholesale gas prices many smaller gas providers have been struggling under price rise caps for their customers.  Having insufficiently hedged their supplies to the upside firms such as Avro and Green have now gone into administration.  With some 5% of UK homes now affected we wanted to highlight the process of what will happen for our tenants and clients. 

What should you do?

Initially there is nothing for you to do, your electricity and energy supplies will continue as normal.  Ofgem will assign a new supplier to you, this is when things will likely change.  If you were on a fixed tariff before you can expect price rises.  Ask your new supplier to put you on their cheapest tariff.  If you had a positive balance with your old provider this should be transferred to your new energy provider, we would recommend saving your latest bill or taking screen prints of your balance on your providers application in case of any dispute. 

Once you have been assigned your new provider you will be free to change to a new provider.  The likelihood of any well priced deals is probably quite low in the face of such high wholesale gas prices, and with you being put on a variable rate deal the wise option would be to remain on one until the whole sale and retail prices stabilise at lower levels again. 

The squeeze in wholesale prices is exactly that a short squeeze, refinery output and drilling rates are at historic highs.  The fact was that due to covid reducing demand and economic activity many suppliers were complacent about their future projections which resulted in a classic race for the door and our current situation.  This will no doubt full back to normal levels after this initial painful period, especially in light of the UKs drive for energy diversification.  So please don’t panic and see this time through until new deals become available. 

If you’re struggling financially please talk with Abode and we will see how we and your landlord can help.