Supplier of Last Resort

  • Press Releases

    Government will struggle to meet 2025 smart meter target

    Data from Cornwall Insight on domestic energy supply has revealed that the government is likely to face a considerable hurdle in achieving its goal of 100% smart meter coverage by 2025. The smart meter analysis, which also looks at supplier installation figures and the annual tolerance levels1 set by BEIS,...

  • Press Releases

    Energy suppliers face over £1.9bn of debt as households struggle to pay their bills

    A new report from Cornwall Insight and Complete Strategy – ‘Bad debt and energy suppliers: A systemic risk’ – has shown domestic energy suppliers could be exposed to approximately £1.9bn of debt1, of which a significant portion could be unrecoverable. The amount of unrecoverable debt, known as bad debt, facing...

  • Media Mentions

    iNews| Supplier of Last Resort payments costing consumers

    Costs to compensate energy companies who take on customers from failed suppliers have resulted in an average increase in domestic electricity bills by £34.36 in 2022-23. Senior Analyst Laura Woolsey spoke to iNews on what needs to change if we are to protect both consumers and companies. We need to...

  • Press Releases

    Failed energy suppliers costing consumers more than a third extra in local distribution networks charges

    Costs to compensate energy companies who take on customers from failed suppliers have resulted in an average increase in domestic electricity bills by £34.46 in 2022-23. When a customer’s supplier fails, they are automatically appointed a new supplier through the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process, with onboarding suppliers able...

  • Press Releases

    Almost half of energy suppliers have left the market

    Research from Cornwall Insight's 'Domestic supplier insight service' show that while consolidation has been a market feature in recent years, 2021 now holds the record of the most supplier exits in one year. At the start of the year, we had 47 domestic suppliers - 5 large, 12 medium and...

  • Press Releases

    Energy price cap predicted to rise to £1,660

    As a result of wholesale gas and electricity prices continuing to reach new records, Cornwall Insight’s modelling for the Summer 2022 default tariff price cap has risen once again, with its indicative forecast climbing to approximately £1,660. Despite a long way to go and a lot of uncertainty to resolve...

  • Media Mentions

    This is Money | More than a million households have seen their energy firm go bust in the last few years

    Our analysis on the domestic energy market showing 1.7% of domestic energy customers have been rescued by the Supplier of Last Resort process in the last two years, featured in This is Money. The first half of 2021 has already seen 1.5% of customers in the domestic retail market being served...

  • Press Releases

    900,000 domestic customers impacted by SoLR over the last two years

    Analysis by Cornwall Insight shows that 1.7% of customers in the retail energy market have been with suppliers subject to the Supplier of Last Resort mechanism (SoLR) process. Between 2020 and 2019, 887,000 domestic customers were supplied by a company that exited the market via SoLR, and in 2021 alone,...

  • Media Mentions

    Daily Mail | Tonik Energy

    Katie Hickford discussed Scottish Power taking on 130,000 customers from failed supplier Tonik Energy last week in the Daily Mail Acquisitions and mergers have been the biggest form of supplier growth. With 10 instances of trade sale events in the domestic supply market since January 2019. Alongside this was also 10...

  • Press Releases

    Heightened risk of suppliers failing to meet their Renewables Obligation

    Latest forecasts from Cornwall Insight show a potential shortfall in the Renewables Obligation (RO) buy-out fund of approximately half of the £16.94mn mutualisation threshold. Supplier exits to date alone are not expected to trigger the mutualisation process. However, there is a heightened risk that some active suppliers may now be...

  • Press Releases

    23% of the cheapest suppliers have exited the market since 2017

    Latest research from Cornwall Insight’s Domestic Tariff Report highlights that since 2017, just under a quarter (23%) of suppliers with the cheapest tariff have left the market either through Ofgem’s Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process or by being acquired by another supplier. Between the years 2015 to 2017 on...

  • Press Releases

    Suppliers use energy market turbulence to gain market share

    Analysis from Cornwall Insight shows that despite the household energy supplier market experiencing a turbulent time over the past 12 months, several companies have used this to their advantage to increase their market share. In fact, figures from Cornwall Insight’s Domestic Market Share Survey show that the recent spate of...

  • Press Releases

    Acquisition prompts next phase of evolution for “challenger” suppliers

    Analysis from Cornwall Insight shows that although the past 12 months have seen several failing suppliers exit the market, a group of small to medium-sized suppliers have seized the opportunity to increase their customer book as a result. The acquisitions by these suppliers have seen them grow significantly. Octopus Energy...