Small-scale energy provider Gen4U (gas & electric nationally) appears to be in financial difficulty, according to a default circular issued by Elexon.
Gen4U, which was granted its supply licence by Ofgem on 4 February 2016, is unable to submit contract notifications and all existing trading contracts have been cancelled.
Code administrator Elexon announced Bradford-based Gen4U had defaulted under the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC).
The BSC, which Elexon is responsible for, is a legal document which defines the rules and governance for the balancing mechanism and imbalance settlement processes of electricity in Great Britain.
Gen4U has not ceased trading but will not be able to submit contract notifications and has had all existing trading contracts cancelled. However, the company is currently still able to register metering systems.
Elexon provides and procures the services needed to implement the BSC and compares how much electricity generators and suppliers say they will produce or consume with actual volumes. It must get approval from Ofgem to suspend the registration of further metering systems and balancing mechanism units.
Two other suppliers have ceased trading in the past few weeks – National Gas and Power and Iresa.
Iresa ceased trading on Friday (27 July) and its 90,000 customers were taken on by Octopus Energy which was named by the regulator as the supplier of last resort.
Meanwhile non-domestic provider National Gas and Power (NGP) had its supply licence revoked by Ofgem as it was unable to pay debts of more than £200,000.
It ceased trading on 26 July, with around 80 customers being taken on by Hudson Energy.
Gen4U launched in October 2016 and offered tariffs for credit and prepayment domestic customers, as well as also offering non-domestic supply contracts.
The company was reportedly “sporadically active” according to consultancy firm Cornwall Insight. Gen4U withdrew its tariffs from the market first in April 2017, again in June to be reinstated in October 2017, and for a final time in April this year.
Elexon said in its circular that the defaulting party is “unable to pay its debts or any voluntary arrangement is proposed in relation to it”.