MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Free Subscription
  • Latest digital editions
  • Market reports
  • Events
        • The EV Event
          • Photos
          • 2019 presentations
          • Register
        • The Energyst Event
          • 2019 Videos
          • 2019 presenations
          • 2019 Agenda
          • 2019 Photos
          • Exhibitors
        • Battery storage event
          • 2018 Photos
          • 2018 presentations
          • Photos
        • DSR Event
          • Register
          • Photos
          • 2019 presentations
          • 2018 presentations
          • 2017 presentations
  • Advertise
    • Our Publications
  • About Energyst Media
    • Contact Us

theenergyst.com

  • Policy & Legislation
  • Procurement
  • DSR, storage, flex
  • Energy Management
  • Electric Vehicles
  • Renewables
  • December 7, 2019
You are here: Home / Policy and Legislation / Ofgem chases Robin Hood Energy for £9m in overdue payments

Ofgem chases Robin Hood Energy for £9m in overdue payments

October 1, 2019 By Brendan Coyne 1 Comment

Ofgem has ordered Nottingham Council-owned Robin Hood Energy to pay £9.5m in overdue Renewables Obligation payments before the end of the month.

The regulator is also chasing three other small suppliers for money. Toto Energy owes £4,555,880, Gnergy owes £637,876, Delta Gas and Power owes £91,937.

Ofgem said it believes the four are “likely to breach their obligations”. The regulator said others owe money too, but it thinks they will pay.

Under the Renewables Obligation, energy suppliers are obliged to buy a certain amount of power from renewable sources. If they do not, they pay into a buyout fund.

The cost of the RO is added to the customer bill and the suppliers then pay into the fund at the end of the year.

Many of the small suppliers that have gone bust over the last two years failed to pay into the RO buyout fund. Struggling to stay afloat, some spent the money instead of putting it aside.

Over two years, consultants have estimated the missing RO money totals £100m, which other suppliers, and their customers, will have to pick up.

Citizens Advice research suggested the tab from 10 failed domestic energy suppliers stood at some £172 million in unpaid industry bills. 

Robin Hood Energy’s accounts are two months late. Accountants have questioned whether it can remain a going concern.

Toto Energy must also find a significant amount in the next 30 days. It has been ranking poorly in customer satisfaction surveys, which Citizens Advice has warned is often a proxy for a struggling company.

Gnergy, run by a community of former Gurkhas, has admitted it is battling to keep the business afloat.

The three, along with Delta Gas and Power, could have licences revoked if they do not pay.

After the last round of failed suppliers, Ofgem moved to tighten market entry rules. Citizens Advice said it should collect RO payments more regularly to limit damage when suppliers go bust.

Related stories:

Ofgem revokes URE’s licence over unpaid RO bill

£100m tab for failed energy suppliers

Ofgem outlines new rules to prevent another house of cards

Energy supplier debt crisis “creating house of cards”

Our Power goes bust

Economy Energy latest failed supplier

Extra Energy goes bust

Spark Energy shuts down domestic supply business

Ofgem tightens supply licence rules as money goes missing

Big cracks emerging in energy retail

Risk mismanagement: More suppliers will go bust

Utility Warehouse: More independent suppliers will go pop

GB Energy goes belly up

Click here to see if you qualify for a free subscription to the print magazine, or to renew.

Follow us at @EnergystMedia. For regular bulletins, sign up for the free newsletter.

Share this article:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • WhatsApp

Filed Under: Featured, Policy and Legislation

About The Author

Contributing editor at Energyst Media

Comments

  1. Mark Meyrick says

    October 3, 2019 at 4:44 pm

    At some stage Ofgem are going to realise they’ve squeezed the supplier sector so hard, they’ve broken the model. You can bet those in RO trouble won’t have the CM monies they are supposed to have set aside.
    After all, SSE aren’t selling their supply business because it’s the jewel in the crown of their revenue model, are they? And only yesterday Utility Week posted a story that the price cap could lead to 10,000 job losses in the supply sector this year

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2019 Energy outlook podcast

Top Posts & Pages

  • Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle charger aims to solve capacity crunch
  • After Npower, where next for UK energy retail market?
  • Capacity Market: 33 suppliers owe £38m in payments
  • National Grid outlines future of frequency response
  • SEEIT: 2020 will be a big year for renewable energy PPAs
  • Eon wields the knife at Npower, big cuts ahead
  • Ofgem confirms £97.5m renewables obligation shortfall
  • WPD and ENW plan substation arrays to power electric vehicles
  • UKPN launches vehicle-to-grid hub
  • New CEO at demand-side response firm Flexitricity

RECENT COMMENTS

  • Kayla Ente on After Npower, where next for UK energy retail market?
  • Steve Broderick on Study: smart charging trumps V2G value – for now
  • Oliver on The promise and pitfalls of private wire electricity supply
  • Andrew Warren on Utilities take evasive action against nationalisation
  • David Howard on Net zero: We’ll need 10 times as much hydrogen
  • Bill Parker on SSE: 40GW of offshore wind ‘will not be a walk in the park’
  • Louis Fairfax on Ofgem confirms plans for new network charges
Tweets by @EnergystMedia

Subscribe to The Energyst e:news

We will never share your email address and you can easily unsubscribe from every email we send you.

theenergyst® | Copyright © 2019 Energyst Media Ltd

Website users agree to abide by our Terms & Conditions and Cookie Policy

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.