Green Network Energy went bust, leaving around 360,000 domestic customers in the lurch. EDF Energy will be taking over the supply of energy to those homes.

Meanwhile the roughly 50,000 customers of Simplicity will instead be supplied by British Gas Evolve.

EDF has said it will absorb the costs of honouring customers’ credit balances, and will pay the outstanding £140 Warm Home Discount rebates to the approximately 12,000 Green Network Energy customers who are eligible. British Gas has said it will absorb a “significant portion” of the costs of honouring credit balances and the migration of customers.

What does it mean for me?

If you were a customer of either Green Network Energy or Simplicity, then the good news is that you don’t have to do anything. The transfer has already gone through, and you will be contacted by your new supplier in the following days.

The new suppliers will outline the costs of the new tariffs for these transferred customers, which Ofgem described as “competitive”, and to take payment details.

Once these transfers have gone through, you can opt to switch to a different tariff and supplier without having to pay any exit fees. However it is advised that you wait until the transfer has definitely concluded before switching, to avoid any confusion.

What happens when a supplier goes bust?

Thankfully the system put in place by energy regulator Ofgem means that even if your supplier goes bust, you won’t be left without energy.

Instead, Ofgem will invite suppliers to effectively bid for your business by presenting what tariff they would offer you. The regulator will then pick a supplier to take over the energy supply for those affected customers, with the whole process taking just a few days.

Unfortunately it’s something that Ofgem has had to do repeatedly over the last couple of years, with a succession of small energy suppliers going bust. In 2020 for example a host of suppliers disappeared, including the likes of Tonik Energy, Economy Energy and Spark Energy.