a new supplier, we are just gravely concerned who it is going to be, and if it is the likes of british gas, edf or eon, what tariff are we going to be put on, because it will no doubt be significantly more than what we have budgeted for. six suppleiers have now ceased trading since the start of september, affecting nearly 1.5 million households, and more could follow. if your energy supplier does go out of business, it is not as though the gas will stop flowing or your electricity metre will simply grind to a halt, the energy regulator ofgem will simply find you a new supplier, but if you are on a good fixed rate now, for example, you could end up paying quite a lot more. people within the industry insist that protecting consumers is their priority. there is already a mechanism, and i know government are working at pace with industry to make sure that if we think the _ mechanism isn't enough, there will be something else, so the absolute priority is security of supply for people. although energy firms would normally be very happy to take on extra customers, right now