Prices of wholesale gas have multiplied in recent months as economies reopen after lockdowns and rising demand for liquefied natural gas in Asia push 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.
Bulb, the biggest supplier to collapse, was put into Special Administration last week but will continue to supply its more than 1.7 million customers.
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 brands, owned by OVO Energy, EDF Energy, Centrica's British Gas, several E.ON brands and Iberdrola'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 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 Shell Energy
Colorado Energy 15,000 customers Shell Energy
Daligas 9,000 domestic and Shell Energy
non-domestic gas
customers
Goto Energy 22,000 domestic Shell Energy
customers
Bluegreen Energy 5,900 domestic British Gas
customers, small number
of non-domestic
customers
Omni Energy Ltd 6,000 domestic Utilita
pre-payment customers
MA Energy Ltd 300 non-domestic SmartestEnergy
customers
Zebra Power Ltd 14,800 domestic British Gas
customers
Ampoweruk Ltd 600 domestic customers, Yü Energy
and around 2,000
non-domestic customers
CNG Energy Ltd 41,000 non-domestic Pozitive Energy
customers
Neon Reef Ltd 30,000 domestic
electricity customers British Gas
Social Energy Around 5,500 domestic
Supply Ltd customers British Gas
Entice 5,400
Energy customers Scottish Power
Orbit 65,000
Energy domestic customers Scottish Power
(SOURCE: OFGEM, Reuters reporting)
(Reporting by Aditi Sebastian, Yadarisa Shabong and Priyanshi Mandhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Keith Weir, Sriraj Kalluvila and Arun Koyyur)
