(Reuters) -British energy suppliers are grappling with soaring wholesale gas prices that have led to the collapse of a number of energy companies, forcing nearly 2 million customers so far to switch providers.
Prices of wholesale gas have multiplied in recent months as economies reopen after lockdowns and rising demand for liquefied natural gas in Asia pushed down supplies to Europe.
Smaller energy suppliers, which have less capital available to hedge customer needs, have stopped trading in recent weeks. Britain's bigger energy firms are mopping up their customers and have asked the government for support to help bear the costs.
Before the current crisis, there were more than 50 small- and mid-sized independent energy suppliers in Britain with around a 30% share of the market.
The rest of the market is controlled by five large suppliers: OVO Energy and SSE (LON:SSE) brands, owned by OVO Energy, EDF (PA:EDF) Energy, Centrica (LON:CNA)'s British Gas, several E.ON brands and Iberdrola (MC:IBE)'s Scottish Power.
Here's a look at some of the companies that have fallen prey to the surging costs and the firms that have taken on the customers of the failed ones.
Collapsed supplier No. of customers New supplier
PfP Energy 82,000 domestic British Gas
customers and 5,600
non-domestic customers
MoneyPlus Energy 9,000 domestic British Gas
customers
Utility Point 220,000 domestic EDF
customers
People's Energy 350,000 domestic British Gas
customers, and 1,000
non-domestic customers
Avro Energy 580,000 domestic Octopus Energy
customers
Green Supplier Ltd 255,000 domestic Shell (LON:RDSa) Energy
customers and a small
number of non-domestic
customers
ENSTROGA 6,000 domestic E.ON Next
customers
Igloo Energy 179,000 domestic E.ON Next
customers
Symbio Energy 48,000 domestic E.ON Next
customers and a small
number of non-domestic
customers
Pure Planet 235,000 customers To be determined
Colorado Energy 15,000 customers To be determined
9,000 To be determined
Daligas domestic and
non-domestic gas
customers
(SOURCE: OFGEM, Reuters reporting)