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A local authority-backed energy supplier to more than 170,000 homes is racing to secure new funding as it plots a path back to profitability amid the industry’s deepening crisis.
Sky News has learnt that Together Energy, which is 50%-owned by Warrington Borough Council, is working with advisers at Alvarez & Marsal to raise additional capital.
The company, which has 350,000 accounts, is said to be pitching to prospective investors that it is well-positioned to acquire underperforming rivals once wholesale energy markets begin to stabilise.
More than 20 domestic energy suppliers have collapsed since the beginning of August as unhedged market participants have been caught out by soaring wholesale gas prices.
The largest of those, Bulb, is expected to crash into a form of insolvency later on Wednesday, with the taxpayer taking on responsibility for funding its ongoing operation.
Market sources said that Ofgem, the industry regulator, had filed to place Bulb into a special administration regime (SAR) – the first test of the bailout mechanism – on Wednesday morning.
It was unclear how large a funding shortfall Together Energy, which employs about 250 people, faces.
The company’s other shareholders include Paul Richards, its chief executive.
A spokeswoman for the company insisted that it was “looking to source strategic long-term funding for growth, not short-term [capital]”, although industry sources said that A&M had highlighted the need for short-term funding in recent months.
Together Energy says that 100% of its electricity comes from renewable sources, and that it is “working towards offsetting 100% of our carbon gas by August 2023”.
Warrington Borough Council initially invested £18m in Together Energy in September 2019, arguing that the partnership was “an important part of the council’s work to address the climate…
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Source : skynews
