AN ENERGY supplier which collapsed last year with the loss of 226 jobs is being placed into liquidation.

Southampton-based Igloo Energy Supply was one of a string of smaller companies which ceased trading as the price of wholesale energy rose rapidly.

Administrators were appointed after the directors told the industry regulator last year that Igloo would be unable to pay its debts as they fell due. Its 179,000 customers were all transferred to one of the industry’s big names, E.ON.

READ MORE: Southampton energy supplier Igloo ceases trading - what the company is saying

The founders of the business said at the time the market was “no longer sustainable” for their company.

The final update from joint administrators Rob Croxen and Jonny Marston, of Alvarez Marsal, says the business will now be placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation.

Osaka Gas UK, which had first call on the company’s assets and submitted a claim for £17.8million, has been paid in full.

Lightbulb ES Limited, which was Igloo’s only shareholder – and had Igloo founders Matt Clemow and Henry Brown among its directors – has been paid £5.39m.

The company’s debts to unsecured trade creditors have previously been estimated at £45.36m.

The administrators’ report says: “Based on current estimates, we anticipate that unsecured creditors should receive a dividend. We have yet to determine the amount and timing of this due to uncertainty regarding asset realisations, cost of realisation, adjudication of claims and the outcome of the court directions hearing.”

In the period covered by the report, administrators have been paid £3.4m in fees.

Thirty-nine of Igloo’s staff were made redundant soon after administrators were appointed in October last year.

The remaining 187 were kept on to support the transfer of customers to E.ON before being given notice on December 22, 2021.

READ MORE: Southampton company wound down after 226 staff made redundant

Igloo Energy Supply, based at Mountbatten House in Grosvenor Square, was founded in 2017 and scored highly in customer service rankings.

In a statement issued when it ceased trading, the founders apologised for the impact the closure “will have on those customers we have been proud to supply”.

They said they had founded Igloo “with the aim to sell as little energy as possible to our customers” in the face of the climate crisis.

They added: “However, our core business of energy retail operates in a market that is sadly no longer sustainable for Igloo.”

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