Elysian Energy collapses after begging customers to switch providers as its costs skyrocket

An energy supplier has been suspended from the national electricity market and will be banned from trading after being placed in voluntary administration.

Elysian Energy, most of whose customers are based in Victoria, will be taken off the market from Friday, the Australian Power Market Operator confirmed.

Insolvency experts Adrian Hunter and Robyn Erskine of Brooke Bird have been appointed as administrators of the company.

Provider clients are expected to transfer to a different provider.

“Elysian Energy customers do not have to worry about their power going out during this transition,” Hunter said in a statement.

“We are working hand-in-hand with the Essential Services Commission, the Australian Energy Regulator and AEMO to ensure this is a seamless process for all customers.”

Elysian provides solar power to about 7,500 homes.

The closure comes three months after Elysian urged its customers to find a new supplier as rising wholesale costs forced them to double prices.

Customers received a letter from the utility saying it has been absorbing massive increases in wholesale energy prices and that additional costs to consumers will soon rise by at least 100 percent.

ReAmped Energy used a similar measure, telling customers it was in their best interest to switch providers to get a cheaper price.

At the time, Australia’s Energy Regulator raised benchmark prices for retailers, causing households to receive higher bills from July 1.

ReAmped Energy CEO Luke Blincoe said it was an “incredibly volatile time” for the energy market due to rising costs.

“Several retailers have already started lifting the drawbridge, so customers need to act quickly to get a better deal now before it’s too late,” it said in a statement.

‘There are still a handful of competitive offerings on the market. No one really knows how bad it’s going to get, so we want people to act now.”

ReAmped Energy has 70,000 customers in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT.

Elysian’s collapse comes after Australians were warned to expect power shortages from mid-2023 as coal- and gas-fired generation plants are pulled from the national power grid as part of a switch to renewable sources. of renewable energy aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Massive investment in power generation, storage and transmission will be needed over the next decade to ensure that plant closures do not impact homes and businesses.

The Australian Power Market Operator forecasts significant problems in the interconnected electricity market of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Africa in its latest report published on Wednesday.

“Gaps in forecast reliability have emerged in NEM (National Electricity Market) regions due to sizable coal and gas plant closures, coupled with insufficient commitments of new generation capacity needed to offset increased electricity use. AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman said.

It signaled Australia’s first batch of coal-fired generation retirements to occur in the next decade, totaling 8.3 gigawatts, equivalent to about 14 per cent of the total capacity of the national electricity market.

“Without further investment, this will reduce generation supply and challenge the ability of the transmission grid to meet reliability standards and the security needs of the power system.”

The report forecast reliability gaps in South Australia in 2023-24 and Victoria from 2024-25 compared to what is known as the “interim reliability measure”, and in New South Wales from 2025-26 compared to the “reliability standard”.

Gaps are forecast in all states in the national electricity market before 2031-32.