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A residential energy supplier part-owned by a Cheshire local authority is lining up administrators amid suggestions that it could collapse as soon as this week.
Sky News has learnt that Together Energy, which serves about 170,000 homes, is preparing to call in insolvency practitioners from FRP Advisory, the London-listed restructuring firm.
One energy industry executive said they expected Together Energy to fall into administration this week, adding that the industry regulator Ofgem and Whitehall officials had been notified of the latest developments.
Together Energy has deferred making a £12.4m payment to Ofgem that is required under industry rules.
FRP is said to have been identified as the preferred administrator by Warrington Borough Council, which has invested tens of millions of pounds in the energy company but which Sky News reported last week had informed it that it would not provide any additional funding.
The local authority owns a 50% stake in Together Energy, and is facing scrutiny over its decisions to put council taxpayers’ money at risk by backing it and subsequently acquiring Bristol Energy, another council-owned supplier.
The company has been engaged in a search for new funding for the last two months, although the torrid industry backdrop meant that securing new funding was always likely to prove difficult.
If it does go bust, Together Energy would be the 26th gas and electricity company to collapse since August – a crisis that has caused the demise of suppliers to millions of UK households.
A spokeswoman for the company said on Monday that there was “no update” to an insistence last week that it was “still in active conversations” about finding new financing.
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Source : skynews
