(Reuters) - Co-operative Energy has been chosen to supply customers of bankrupt GB Energy, British energy regulator Ofgem said.
Ofgem said the company will honour all outstanding credit balances for present and past customers.
Britain's Big Six energy suppliers, EDF Energy (PA:EDF), Innogy's Npower (DE:IGY), E.ON (DE:EONGn), Scottish Power (MC:IBE), SSE (L:SSE) and Centrica's British Gas (L:CNA), had earlier bid in an Ofgem tender to supply the 160,000 customers after GB Energy went bankrupt last week, sources told Reuters.
Co-operative Energy is offering GB Energy's customers the same price they were paying before, both on fixed deals and on standard variable tariffs, Ofgem said in a statement.
The cost of protecting customers' balances will be met partly by Co-operative Energy and the rest from an Ofgem safety net funded by a levy spread on all energy suppliers.
Ofgem updated its rules last month, allowing any supplier stepping in to take over customers of a bankrupt supplier to recoup the cost of reimbursing outstanding customer credits by increasing energy bills.