The majority of the customers of embattled energy supplier Solarplicity have been acquired by fellow small supplier Toto Energy, the two companies announced Monday.
“This move is in the best interest of Solarplicity’s customers and the transition of customers is designed to be completed in an efficient and seamless manner,” Solarplicity said.
“While we’re sad to say goodbye to our retail customers, we know that Toto is an excellent fit.”
Toto—sometimes stylised TOTO—will also become the preferred grid energy supplier of Solarplicity’s community energy scheme. The scheme, launched last year, lowers energy bills for council tenants by installing solar panels, energy storage units, smart meters, and LED technology in their homes.
A spokesperson for Toto Energy said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Solarplicity’s customers to Toto. We want to assure the customers who are moving to Toto that their energy supply is secure and we are protecting their credit balances.”
Additionally, Solarplicity customers will keep the same tariff and terms and conditions during the move.
Toto will be contacting affected Solarplicity customers, both from the standard retail market and the community energy scheme to inform them of the switch.
However, Solarplicity supplies electricity generated from 100% renewable resources, while Toto has never publicised its fuel mix, which may rise the ire of environmentally conscious consumers.
Solarplicity said it was shedding its domestic retail operation to focus more on its renewable technology business.
“First and foremost, we are a renewable technology business striving to fight fuel poverty and make renewable energy available to everyone. We look forward to offering a more focused and dedicated level of service across our renewable business,” the supplier said.
However, the firm has drawn censure, including from Ofgem, in recent months. Earlier this month Solarplicity was alleged by the regulator to have failed to pay money owed to feed-in-tariff (FIT) generators. Ofgem has said the supplier is at risk of having its licence revoked.
Meanwhile, both Solarplicity and Toto have chequered customer service records.
Solarplicity was ranked at the bottom of Which’s annual customer satisfaction survey, published in January, and has consistently ranked in the bottom quarter of Citizen Advice’s customer service league tables.
Toto Energy performed little better. The Brighton-based supplier ranked last in Citizen Advice’s league tables published in October 2018, covering customer service between April and June 2018, before climbing to fourth from last, with a star rating of just 2.1, in the most recent rankings.
Among Toto’s offences were transferring thousands of customers to Utilita Energy without adequate communication in March of last year.
