No matter who you get your gas and electricity from, it's already clear that May is going to bring a large increase in energy bills, even with usage going down as we finally start getting some warmer weather.
For many customers though, now getting letters and emails from their energy provider explaining what they will be charged from May, the rapid increases are more frustrating because the firm writing to them is not actually the company they chose as their supplier in the first place. Energy industry regulator Ofgem has a duty to ensure all customers have gas and electricity supplies even if their provider goes out of business.
With 30 such companies going bust over the last year in light of rapidly rising prices, there are a handful of companies Ofgem has decided are 'safe pairs of hands' to inherit customers who now have no energy supplier, including Shell Energy, Eon, British Gas, Octopus, EDF, Scottish Power and Yü (no, me neither).
