The founders of Pure Planet have hit out at the government’s “illogical” failure to support the energy retail sector, as they confirmed the supplier was exiting the market.
Andrew Ralston, Chris Alliott and Steven Day confirmed that BP, which owns 24 per cent of the company, had withdrawn its support because of the “increasing risks and large potential losses” faced.
They said they were “heartbroken” that their 235,000 customers would now enter Ofgem’s Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process.
Ofgem confirmed it was now seeking a new supplier for Pure Planet’s customers as well as the 15,000 served by Colorado Energy, which has also exited the market today (13 October).
The statement from Pure Planet’s founders said the energy price cap had forced retailers to absorb unsustainable differences between rocketing wholesale costs and the limits on what customer can be charged.
They added that “too many (suppliers) have gone bust already, and more will in the future unless something changes”.
The statement went on to say: “In our case, despite being hedged until next spring, and having had the backing of BP, Pure Planet faced increasing risks and large potential losses by continuing to operate in this market. Sadly, this led to bp taking a decision to withdraw its support and we are no longer able to continue.
“The government says it wants to support other energy-intensive and related businesses –steel, glass, paper makers – but it seems illogical to us to not support the supplier sector also. Failure to have done so, puts another 200 jobs at risk today, and will cause disruption to our members who will now be moved to a supplier they did not choose. It reduces choice, threatens net zero innovation and will lead to increased costs for consumers.
“Kwasi Kwarteng says the price cap is non-negotiable. Fair enough. But that doesn’t mean helping supply companies needs to be non-negotiable too. If he doesn’t act fast, he’ll have no suppliers left to be minister of.”
Pure Planet and Colorado’s failures take the number of retailers exiting the market this year to an unprecedented 14.
There have been reports in national media that as many as five other suppliers could exit the market this week, with Sky News predicting Ampower, Zebra Energy and Neon Reef would be among them.
Meanwhile, Centrica announced this morning that because of the “unprecedented commodity price environment” it was postponing its Capital Markets Event set for November.