Gas and electricity supplier Together Energy has been forced to cease trading amidst the ongoing energy crisis. The firm, and its subsidiary Bristol Energy, are the latest to have been hit by the effects of the ongoing energy crisis, making it the 27th supplier to go bust since August last year.

Together Energy is backed by Warrington council, Warrington council said it had invested in Together to create local jobs and provide “100 per cent green energy” to customers, expressing that they were “very disappointed” with the collapse.

“We know that Together Energy’s operating model was resilient and our approach to hedging extremely robust, but the enormous and sustained wholesale price rises mean that it is now one of many companies that has had to leave the market,” it added.

Even though Together owed a £12.4m payment plus interest to Ofgem, the company had said it was optimistic about its prospects as recently as this month.

With Warrington council being a labour council, Conservative councilors in Warrington were quick to criticize and question the council’s involvement, as seemingly in 2019, when Warrington council made its investment, Together made an £11.4m loss and had net liabilities of more than £19m.

“Today’s announcement is a clear demonstration of Labour’s total lack of expertise, due diligence and oversight from the outset of these high-risk investments,” said Councilor Mark Jervis. “It is the council taxpayers of Warrington who will bear the financial consequences.”

In new developments, British Gas has said they will take on the 176,000 customers of Together Energy.

British Gas is owned by Centrica, an international energy services and solutions company, and is the current leading energy supplier in the UK market with over 500,000 businesses and over 11.6 million UK homes being supplied with gas and energy each year.

A British Gas statement said: “In line with the regulatory framework, it has been agreed with Ofgem that relevant costs, including the costs of buying energy incurred by British Gas that it is not able to recover as a result of taking on the customers, will be recoverable through the established industry levy in a timely manner.

For existing Together Energy customers, energy supplies will continue as normal after they were switched over to British Gas on 23 January, which will be a source of relief for customers of Together. ”In the coming days, we will be in touch with Together Energy customers about the process of moving over.” Said British Gas.