145 jobs lost as rescue attempts run out of gas

Attempts to rescue CNG Energy have finally run out of gas as the latest victim of the energy crisis resulting in 145 jobs being lost.

CNG’s offices in Harrogate

Harrogate-based CNG has 41,000 business customers but has been struggling to find a rescue option for weeks.

They have become the 19th energy supplier to fail in recent months after a surge in wholesale gas prices made it uneconomical for many providers to continue to trade.

CNG’s chief executive Paul Stanley said: “The global energy crisis and extremely high wholesale energy costs have affected many suppliers already and unfortunately CNG is the next casualty.

“We have tried and exhausted all options to remain in business.”

The business was founded as Contract Natural Gas and has traded for 27 years.

It had begun to struggle before the pandemic, and recorded losses of nearly £50m for the 18 months to October 2019. This led to a restructure that saw more than 40 people leave the company but the changes did result in a small profit in its 2020 results.

However the transformation attempts ultimately failed because of the impact of the rise in wholesale gas prices in recent months. In early 2021 the price for forward delivery contracts was averaging below 50p per therm but had soared above 80p in July.

CNG joins a long list of energy companies that have collapsed, including Ampower, Omni Energy, Zebra Power, MA Energy, Bluegreen Energy, Goto Energy, Daligas, Pure Planet, Colorado Energy, Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy, Enstroga, Avro Energy, Green, People’s Energy, Utility Point, MoneyPlus Energy, and PFP Energy.

Ofgem has advised CNG customers not to switch, but to wait for a new supplier to be appointed. On Friday CNG warned its customers were being targeted in a phishing attack, where scammers had cloned CNG’s phone number and were pretending to advise on potential contract termination.

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