Tonik Energy has ceased trading, just days after Ofgem revealed the energy supplier owed £8.6 million in renewables obligation (RO) payments.
The Birmingham-based retailer, which has around 130,000 domestic customers, was one of seven suppliers listed by the regulator as having failed to meet their obligations.
Along with Robin Hood Energy, it was also revealed that Tonik failed to make its Year 10 annual levelisation payment for the government’s FIT scheme, which is administered by Ofgem.
In total, Tonik owes more than £8.7 million in missed payments.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Japanese firm Mitsui was investing a further £11 million in Tonik, on top of the £10.3 million invested by the Tokyo-based firm in February 2019.
The retailer said it planned to use the investment to fund renewable energy technology and electric vehicle (EV) chargers. Tonik also had ambitions of acquiring 500,000 customers by 2024 and was aiming to be a near £1 billion revenue business by the following year.
A new supplier will now be selected for the failed retailer’s customers as part of the supplier of last resort process.
Despite the pandemic, only two other suppliers – both with significantly smaller customer bases than Tonik – have failed so far this year, Gnergy and Effortless Energy.
Meanwhile the customers of council-backed retailer Robin Hood Energy have been acquired by Centrica while its fellow local authority-owned supplier Bristol Energy has been acquired by Together Energy.
Industry experts however have previously spoken to Utility Week and predicted that a “winter of discontent” may be on the way for some suppliers.