Strong Buy14 Oct 2021 11:46
The boss of Britain's longest-running independent energy firm has warned that a wave of supplier failures this winter could send the market 'back to the 1990s'.
Dale Vince, owner of Ecotricity, said he expected three more suppliers to exit the market in coming weeks – and that by the spring Britain could have only between six and 12 energy firms.
He said the exit of scores of smaller suppliers could lead to 'a Big Six-type situation' similar to the 1990s, when British Gas owner Centrica, SSE, Npower, Eon, Scottish Power and EDF dominated the market.Vince, who founded Ecotricity in 1995, said: 'We will see more bankruptcies because the market has been forced into an unnatural position, with suppliers forced to sell energy for less than they can buy it for. We are going back to the future – that's where the price cap is taking us.'
The 'Big Six' led Britain's energy market after British Gas was privatised in 1986 and the UK's 12 regional electricity boards in 1990. Start-ups Octopus, Bulb and Ovo have won millions of customers in recent years, along with more than 50 new smaller suppliers.
Vince said some new entrants had treated the market like 'a casino', gambling that wholesale energy prices would fall.