Whoop Energy and Xcel Power cease trading amid high gas prices
Ofgem says ‘unprecedented’ price increases have put financial pressure on suppliers
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Your support makes all the difference.Two more energy suppliers have ceased trading amid high gas prices. Whoop Energy supplies 50 households and 212 businesses, while Xcel Power is used by 274 businesses.
Energy regulator Ofgem will find a new supplier for customers of the two firms.
The regulator’s chief executive admitted this month that Ofgem should have acted sooner to prevent a wave of suppliers going bust.
Jonathan Brearley, the chief executive of Ofgem, said financial regulation on suppliers “needs to be tougher” and “needs to change”.
“We need a retail sector that’s more resilient and more able to deal with financial shocks,” he told MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.
“To be clear ... we accept that, had we done that sooner, this would have been better for customers.”
Ofgem said on Friday: "In recent weeks there has been an unprecedented increase in global gas prices which is putting financial pressure on suppliers.
"Ofgem is working closely with government and industry to make sure customers continue to be protected this winter."
News of the latest supplier collapses came as trade body Energy UK reported that the number of customers switching to a new energy company has dropped to a record low.
Soaring wholesale gas have meant that the cheapest deals available to domestic customers are at the price cap level which is set by Ofgem. There is therefore little financial incentive fort to shop around.
Energy UK said that only 94,428 customers moved to a new supplier in January, a 73 per cent fall compared to the year before.
It is the lowest number of switches since data started being collected in 2013.
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