Iresa goes bust - more financial safeguards needed - comment from Doug Stewart

27 July 2018

Please find below a statement from Doug Stewart, CEO, Green Energy:

Iresa is yet another energy company that has gone bust in recent times including GB Energy, National Gas & Power, Future energy, Gen4U, Brighter World energy, Flow were absorbed into Co-op Energy. Doug Stewart, CEO, Green Energy has long called for greater financial safeguards to protect consumers, and that Ofgem should be asking questions of other suppliers offering loss making tariffs.

"This is yet another consequence of Ofgem allowing anyone with £50 and a credit card to start an energy company. It needs fit and proper people operating energy companies with the commensurate funds and business model to provide a service. While customers’ credit balances are protected as a result of regulation, hurriedly introduced in 2016, what is less well known is that the rest of us will be paying the price as the balance of the energy suppliers make good on Iresa’s debts and end up passing that on through rates to domestic consumers.

"What isn’t clear when this occurs is what has happened to the customer money that went into this company. Has it really lost all the money through poor trading – by that I mean selling at a price lower than they could buy? We would repeat our call for Ofgem to mandate that suppliers bill in arrears. This would have the dual benefit of not putting customer money at risk and would mean on switching customers would see and feel any saving promised in their bank account rather than it being eaten up in advance payments to their new supplier.”