KPMG appointed for Eversmart Energy administration
Manchester-based Eversmart Energy has appointed KPMG to oversee its administration. The firm supplied gas and electricity to around 35,300 customers across the UK, but has fallen victim to market volatility in the energy sector, exacerbated by Brexit pressures.
The UK’s energy and utilities market is in a state of flux at present. Thanks to new disruptors improving the competition of the market, even the UK’s largest energy suppliers have seen hundreds of thousands of empowered customers go elsewhere in the last year. EDF Energy, for example, saw more than 200,000 consumers look for a new supplier to meet their energy needs.
Life has been far from plain sailing for disruptors too, though. This has been illustrated by the collapse of green energy provider Eversmart Energy, which has fallen into administration following financial difficulties. According to regulators Ofgem, the company ceased trading in the first week of September, becoming the third provider to go bust in a month, the sixth major company to exit the market in 2019, and the 13th since November 2016.
Andrew Stone and Will Wright of KPMG have been appointed joint administrators of Eversmart Energy. The Manchester-based firm supplied gas and electricity to around 35,300 customers across the UK, and those consumers have transferred to Utilita Energy as part of the administration process. Eversmart Energy’s 41 current members of staff are meanwhile being retained to work with Utilita to support the smooth transfer of customers.
Commenting on the news, Andrew Stone, Director at KPMG, said, “The numerous issues currently facing energy retailers are well-documented, and it is against this challenging backdrop that the director of Eversmart Energy asked the regulator to run a Supplier of Last Resort process, culminating in a transfer of customers to Utilita. We are pleased to have agreed a deal with Utilita that offers certainty to both customers and employees of the business, with this solution helping to protect supply and billing arrangements to 35,300 transferred customers, and the on-going employment of 41 staff.”
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Alex Dickson of energy auto switching service Switchcraft warned that customers should be "be prepared" for more closures like Eversmart Energy. Noting a combination of market price caps, Brexit, and winter pricing, Dickson suggested another “five or six more suppliers” could fall “by the end of the year.”
She added, "Retail energy is a tough nut to crack. It requires careful weighing of customer pricing, operating expenses and future energy costs. If you get the mix wrong and don’t have deep pockets it’s all over very quickly."
