Utility Point to cease trading in tough energy market
A UK energy provider with more than 200,000 customers is about to cease trading in a market hit by rising wholesale prices and a regulatory price cap, according to a report.
Dorset-based Utility Point is preparing to tell employees and customers that efforts to find a buyer have failed, Sky News said. It is likely to be controlled by Ofgem, the industry regulator, which will transfer its customers to a large operator.
Utility Point has about 225,000 energy customers and also provides home emergency cover and boiler services. It employs 200 people in Bournemouth and Poole. Other providers to fail include PfP Energy and MoneyPlus Energy, whose collapses in September affected almost 90,000 customers.
Utility Point Chief Executive Ben Bolt said: "Recent international and national circumstances have created a perfect storm of events in the energy market which has meant that Utility Point has not been able to find a buyer for its business.
"Wholesale energy prices have soared to record levels and with the added price cap on default tariffs, the costs of supplying energy have increased dramatically."