SoLR

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Ofgem outlines thinking on protecting credit balances and RO payments

    This article is an extract from our Energy Spectrum publication issued on Monday 25 April. If you are interested in receiving critical policy, regulatory, market and transactional developments across the energy sector, and would like a free full sample of Energy Spectrum, please request a copy here. You only need...

  • Business supply and services

    Businesses facing a 250% increase in gas bills

    The past two years have been incredibly tough for SMEs, with many still struggling to keep their heads above water. To add to what is already a difficult time, Cornwall Insight’s ‘Pricing in the SME gas markets’ quarterly report has shown, that on a year-on-year basis, SME customers are facing...

  • Home supply and services

    The risks of short-term interventions distorting long-term incentives in the energy market

    Christmas 2021 was not a time of cheer for the energy industry and its customers. There is acute stress on energy suppliers and consumers from current bills - let alone where they may move to in the coming year. And it seems the political and regulatory debate has moved on...

  • Business supply and services

    With great power comes great responsibility – what can be done for customers and suppliers in these challenging times?

    Given that the situation in the wholesale markets shows no signs of abating, both the government and Ofgem have a shared responsibility for helping to steward the energy sector through a period of profound challenges for suppliers as well as for their customers. Furthermore, the risk of structural damage to...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    2021’s most exciting ‘Charts of the week’

    Some of our team have looked back throughout 2021 and picked their most exciting 'Chart of the week'. Read about their choices and click through to read the full 'Chart of the week'. To do so, you need a free Cornwall Insight account which is easy to create here. Green...

  • Regulation and policy

    Just the bill please – who picks up the costs of market exits?

    This article is an extract from our Energy Spectrum Nutwood. find out more about a subscription to Energy Spectrum here. Between 9 August 2021 and 19 November 2021, 22 energy suppliers exited the market impacting more than 2mn mainly domestic customers. Supplier exits result in a number of costs being...

  • Home supply and services

    Will customers pay for suppliers reconsolidating?

    There’s been a lot of media about Scottish Power chief executive Keith Anderson’s comment about a “massacre” in the retail energy market. The spectre of a return to a handful of domestic energy suppliers has been raised. We are certainly going to a world of many fewer suppliers, in my...

  • Home supply and services

    Shaken, not stirred: The fate of the supply market

    This Energy market perspective was taken from our Energy Spectrum publication on 4 October 2021. To find out more about a free trial to Energy Spectrum, find out more here or contact Robert on r.buckley@cornwall-insight.com. As we enter the winter 2021-22 trading season, the energy supply market remains in intense...

  • Home supply and services

    37 suppliers remain in domestic energy market

    2021 has seen 14 domestic supply market exits to date, including the most recent three companies to use the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process on Wednesday 29 September 2021: Igloo Energy (0.59% market share), Symbio Energy (0.04% market share) and ENSTROGA (0.09% market share). In September alone, nine suppliers...

  • Home supply and services

    Rocketing energy prices and failing suppliers—what is happening?

    Sky high gas prices and energy suppliers going out of business have been key headlines in the news over recent weeks, but what is actually happening?  Through the COVID-19 pandemic we saw much lower gas prices, which have been surging upwards since the spring and risen rapidly through the summer, a time...

  • Home supply and services

    Consolidation in the energy market predicted to continue

    It has been a turbulent time for the retail energy market, experiencing a period of consolidation with mergers and supplier exits. This supplier consolidation is expected to continue in the near term. If suppliers fail to shift their business models for the new world it is likely to continue, according...

  • Home supply and services

    Editor’s Pick | All Hallow’s Eve in the retail market

    This article was originally published in Energy Spectrum Issue 689 on 4 November 2019. Whether by accident or design last week’s last payment date for the 2018-19 Renewables Obligation (RO) followed nine days after Ofgem issued its proposals and impact assessment for ongoing monitoring of energy retailers. Halloween was always going to...

  • Regulation and policy

    Life is a SoLR-coaster you just got to ride it

    On Tuesday 13 August Solarplicity became another in an ever-growing line of suppliers to fall ill to the tough market conditions and exit the market either voluntarily or through the Supplier of Last Resort process (SoLR). Exiting the market is becoming a more common occurrence, this being the third exit...

  • Home supply and services

    New year, same trend: Economy Energy exits the market

    Economy Energy exiting the market on 8 January marked the first supplier failure of 2019 and the 12th domestic supplier exit over the last 12 months. The departure of Economy Energy follows continued speculation around the supplier’s financial health. Media coverage since December 2018 reported the supplier was working with...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Cornwall Insight: extraordinary retail market update

    Following a series of important developments announced today, this Cornwall Insight extraordinary update covers: New information released by Ofgem on RO buy-out fund mutualisation, including coverage of enforcement action against Spark and Economy EnergyThe announcement that Extra Energy goes in to supplier of last resortSummary of a consultation launched by...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Energy Perspective | Energy Spectrum Issue 628

    In this week’s Energy Perspective, we dissect a week that has seen three suppliers from very different backgrounds effectively stop trading. With five forced exits from the retail market since November 2016 there is little doubt that suppliers are facing more challenging conditions. However, we believe these events have also...

  • Home supply and services

    The ups and downs of energy supply: Brand and technology can make the difference in retail energy

    Three events in the last week have shown not only the contrasting fortunes in the energy supply market but also the roles of brand and technology in enabling success. The events are the credit default under electricity wholesale balancing rules of very small supplier Gen4U, the new energy supply deal...

  • Home supply and services

    SOLR power transfers Future Energy customers to Green Star Energy

    Green Star Energy has emerged as the winner of Ofgem’s supplier of last resort (SOLR) process for the 10,000 or so customers of failed supplier Future Energy. The process seems to have worked well with physical supplies continuing at the same tariff rates—be they fixed or variable—until 30 September. This...