Another supplier enters the Supplier of Last Resort process.
With recent news that yet another supplier has gone into administration and that that Ofgem has activated the Supplier of Last Resort process, energy suppliers continue to face turbulent times. Solarplicity are the latest supplier to fail and with a portfolio of around 8000 customers, industry partners will once again be asked to step in.
While there are many varied reasons which can all add up to this downfall, the fact remains that the energy industry is a complex beast and smaller independent suppliers are often adversely affected due to their size. Keeping up to date with all the latest modifications, demands and changes is more than a full-time job in its own right and some smaller independents simply don’t have the resource available to manage this. Add to that wholesale pricing issues, industry demand and a limited understanding and right there is a recipe for things to go wrong.
One often surprising area, is the lack of interest that suppliers can show in checking and understanding their invoicing, reconciliation and backing data. Yes, there is a lot to check and understand but even some basic checks will ensure that you are being billed (and more importantly, reconciled) correctly. Simple checks will also quickly throw up those rogue AQs which need to be corrected and there’s nothing like reviewing what you have been charged against the actual AQ charges to help focus your mind!
One of the key areas of focus in future releases of GENUS© will be a full business and reconciliation module which will be able to automatically check and flag any areas of concern for your review. Until then our team at DMS offer a partial reconciliation service designed to flag those areas of concern and help you to address these issues.
The new Ofgem supplier licensing review does aim to address some of the issues that have led to so many suppliers failing but this is also an area of great importance which shouldn’t be overlooked.
For more information on any of our products or services please contact us.
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