POWER supply company Open Electric in Belfast has had its licence revoked by the Utility Regulator and its 1,100 domestic and business customers had their accounts transferred to Power NI.
It came as the business - which only launched 14 months ago - went into administration last Thursday, having failed to win a significant customer base.
Open Electric, which billed itself as the north's cheapest domestic supplier when it offered tariffs of 13.39p per unit to under-cut all its rivals, is the first of the six local providers in the competitive market to collapse.
Based at City East on Belfast's Newtownards Road, Open Electric was fronted by IT analyst Marc Norris (43), who launched with a promise to reward loyal customers with an annual credit payment as part of a share in its success.
He said the company had a “compelling offer of simplicity and transparency" with one competitive rate and a choice of free billing options.
Open Electric also described itself as one of Europe’s first “socially-aware” power suppliers, pledging to make "significant donations" to charity.
But the company's model appeared flawed when it was unable to build any sort of customer base - the north's second biggest unregulated supplier, for instance, has more than 10,000 customers on its books.
It was also unable to absorb a 40 per cent-plus hike in wholesale power costs, which may yet force other suppliers in the north to increase their tariffs.
All of Open Electric customers were automatically transferred yesterday to Power NI, which is the nominated supplier for situations such as when a supplier exits the market.
Utility Regulator Jenny Pyper said: “Customers of Open Electric don't need to worry, particularly over the Christmas period, and they will not experience any disruption to their electricity supply.
“We have been carefully watching market developments over these last few weeks and have been speaking with suppliers.
"As soon as we decided that Open Electric’s licence should be revoked, we activated established arrangements to ensure that affected customers did not lose their electricity supply, and were transferred seamlessly on the same tariff basis as Power NI’s existing customers."
NI Consumer Council chief executive John French described the announcement as "unwelcome news" for the supplier's 1,100 customers.
He added: “However, we assure advise Open Electric customers that there will be no interruption to their electricity supply, as they will already have been automatically transferred to Power NI standard tariff and keypad customers transferred to the Power NI keypad tariff.
“Power NI will be emailing Open Electric customers immediately, informing them of the situation and what they need to do. The Utility Regulator has also produced a useful fact sheet on its website at www.uregni.gov.uk.”
