Belfast-based Bright Energy, which offered 100% renewable electricity, sent a formal notification of its plan to exit the Republic of Ireland electricity market. The energy firm had a wide customer base of around 7,000 households but sadly couldn’t keep up with the “relentless rise in wholesale prices,” which have doubled since the launch of the company in 2020.
In December 2021, it was reported that the company’s owners had written to staff to tell them that the current energy prices meant the firm was no longer viable and had tried hard to keep the business afloat, and now Bright Energy has confirmed their exit from the Northern Ireland electricity market will take place on 13th February.
Bright Energy was first established in June 2020 as a joint venture between Maxol, a family owned forecourt store, and Evermore Energy, a Derry-based energy company founded by Ciaran and Stephen Devine. The cross-border business entered the market with the goal of providing low-cost green energy to its customers. Bright Energy stated at the time of its inception that company planned to create 20 full-time jobs at its Belfast headquarters.
Electric Ireland has been appointed supplier of last resort (SoLR) to take on the failed supplier’s customers. With the now defunct Brights website reading:
“Bright is closing and you will be transferred to Electric Ireland from 26th January. We have now made the difficult decision to exit the energy market and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the amazing customers who joined us on an important green energy journey.”
It is understood Bright is the first company to leave the energy market in Northern Ireland since Open Electric went into administration in 2016.
Bright Energy’s decision to exit the market follows the example of dozens of UK-based energy suppliers that have gone bust in the past few months with the most recent one being that of Together Energy.
At the start of the year, we had 47 domestic energy suppliers – 5 large, 12 medium, and 30 small. Today, that has fallen by over half with only 25 suppliers remaining in the market.
So far, the majority of customers have been moved to larger energy suppliers, growing the market share of the large supplier group from 68.5% at the start of the year to 70.1% today.
This has all been due to the rise in wholesale gas prices across the world. A worldwide squeeze on gas and energy supplies over the past year have caused wholesale gas prices to rise to unprecedented levels. At the end of December, they hit a new record of 450p per therm, which experts think could take average annual gas bills to about £2,000 next year.
The reasons for this include a cold winter in Europe in 2020/21, which put pressure on supplies and, as a result, meant stored gas supplies dropped, a relatively windless summer meant it was difficult to replenish those supplies and increased demand from Asia – especially China – for liquefied natural gas.