As per the report, Households in Britain face picking up a £172million bill over the fall down of 11 energy firms. Charity Citizens Advice said that also thousands have lost out on their consumer rights and have been subjected to forceful action from bailiffs after companies went bust.
Energy suppliers pay many industry bills which cover things such a renewable generation, metering costs as well as infrastructure costs. As per the Charity statement, £172million remains due in these industry bills which would likely to be covered by consumers.
It also estimates that about 32000 have left open to aggressive debt collection. The time energy suppliers fail SoLR, i.e. Ofgem’s Supplier of Last Resort process appoints a new supplier for customers to make sure a continuous energy supply, at the same time the old supplier is taken over by the administrators.
As per the Citizen Advice, these administrators are not at all bound by similar rules as suppliers licensed by Ofgem, and it could lead to them following debts which are more aggressively in comparison to usually allowed.
The charity is also requesting the government to take action to guarantee administrators of energy administrators of all energy suppliers to get a duty to consider consumer interest along with to follow the same rules as suppliers. This all is to ensure more regular payment of industry costs and also to stop the buildup of massive consumer debts.
Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, Gillian Guy, supposed ‘consumers should not have to foot the multi-million pound bill left behind at the time of companies collapse. They would certainly should not lose their normal protections in the procedure. Also, the Energy White paper is the ideal option for the government to close the gap in protections. It will also limit the cost to consumers of any future supplier failures. It should act now.’
