Robin Hood Energy posts £7.6m loss

Robin Hood Energy has posted a £7.6 million loss for the year to the end of March 2017.

The council-owned supplier racked up net debts of £10.8 million by the end of the period.

A spokesman for the company told Utility Week losses are the norm for new entrants to the retail market and that it expects to break even over its current financial year.

“Robin Hood Energy is on track to become one of only a few energy suppliers that have reached a break-even position within three years of trading,” he said in a statement.

“Having acquired over 100,000 customers since launch and disrupted the previously monopolised energy market, Robin Hood Energy continues to help tackle fuel poverty across the UK by offering competitive tariffs to customers.”

Robin Hood Energy was launched by Nottingham City Council in September 2015. The spokesman denied the reported loss risked leaving local taxpayers out of pocket as the company has “an asset value in its customer base that largely covers liabilities”.

He said the supplier is actually adding to the council’s coffers by borrowing money from it at a commercial interest rate.

The company provides white label tariffs to a number of other council-owned suppliers to market under their own branding, including White Rose Energy in Leeds, Lecyy in Liverpool, Ram Energy in Derby, Angelic Energy in London and Great North Energy in Doncaster.

Robin Hood Energy recently took over the customers of Brighter World Energy – another company to offer its white label tariffs – after the social supplier closed due to an “unsustainable business model”.