Energy retailer tells more than 70,000 customers to go elsewhere or face doubling of prices

ReAmped Energy said ‘the price increases that we will need to put through’ were so high, they advised customers to find other suppliers. Photograph: David Gray/Getty Images/500px Prime

Tens of thousands of customers of an electricity retailer have been told to find a new supplier or face a doubling in prices within days as the toll from soaring wholesale prices grows. Related issues in the gas sector have also prompted regulators to act.

Just days after the energy regulator ordered increases of as much as 18% for household and small business power prices, New Zealand-based ReAmped Energy has taken the unusual step of telling its 70,000-plus customers across eastern Australia to take their contracts elsewhere.