Orbit Energy Closes: What's next for customers?
Orbit Energy was founded in 2017 and went bust in November 2021 due to the 2021 energy crisis. Read the Orbit Energy guide and discover the next steps for existing customers.
Orbit Energy has ceased trading All Orbit Energy customers will be transferred to Scottish Power. All information presented here was correct at time of original publication and is for reference purposes only. For more up to date information please contact your new supplier directly.
This supplier has gone bust. Find out what to do next.
Selectra's Energy Team can guide you through the steps.
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Orbit Energy Customer? What to do next
If you were an Orbit Energy customer, we've prepared an FAQ to help answer your questions about what will happen next and what you need to do whilst you wait for your account to be transferred to a new supplier.
Orbit Energy Frequently Asked Questions
1) I'm an Orbit Energy customer - will I continue to receive energy?
Due to Ofgem's Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) scheme, customers will continue to receive gas. Any energy supplier that stops trading has its licence revoked, and a bidding process is started to reassign their customers to another supplier, according to the scheme's terms. Your new supplier will be announced by Ofgem in the next few weeks.
When an energy supplier goes out of business, it will often take its website offline shortly after, so we recommend logging in to your customer portal as soon as possible and downloading any bills and statements so you have a written record of this information.
2) Will my energy tariff change?
Former Orbit Energy customers will be put on a deemed tariff rate, which will be protected by the energy price cap. We recommend that you either shop around for a better deal or request that your new supplier place you on a different tariff because these are some of the most expensive rates a supplier can charge. When you leave your appointed new supplier under the SoLR scheme, you are not required to pay exit fees.
3) How can I get contact my new supplier?
Your new supplier will get in touch with you, once announced, with how you can get in touch with your them.
4) I’ve already changed supplier. Will the switch still go ahead?
If you were had already started switching away from Orbit Energy, the switch should still go through, and any Direct Debit you had set up with them should be automatically cancelled. We still advise you to double-check with your bank just to be sure.
5) I had credit on my Orbit Energy account. Will this be refunded?
All customer credit will still be honoured under the terms of the Ofgem SoLR scheme.
6) I was in debt with Orbit Energy. Am I still required to pay it?
You will still be responsible for any outstanding Orbit Energy debts. Your new supplier will let you know whether they will take on your debt or if you will have to work out a payment plan with an administrator, a company that takes over a failing business.
7) I don't want the new supplier Ofgem selected to provide my energy. Is it possible for me to switch to a different supplier?
After the transfer from Orbit Energy to your new supplier has gone ahead, you're free to switch to another supplier without incurring any exit fees or penalties. We work with a panel of top energy suppliers at Selectra, including British Gas and EDF. To learn more about our best deals, call 020 3936 0059 or request a free callback now.
About Orbit Energy
Orbit Energy launched its first energy tariff in December 2017 and operated as an enegy provider for four years, when it announced it was ceasing to trade and its customers would be transferred to a new supplier as part of Ofgem's Supplier of Last Resort regulation.
In this Orbit Energy guide, we examine the supplier’s final energy tariffs and customer reviews. This will help you know more about Orbit Energy.
For Orbit Energy customers, we also break down the best contact methods for the supplier and how to log in to your online account. We recommend you log in to your account and download any statements and bills as Orbit Energy may close down it's website and servers at any moment. You should keep old bills for your files in case of any dispute with your new supplier.
Where was Orbit Energy based?
Orbit Energy was based in London, England. Its parent company, Genie Energy, is an American energy company. Its headquarters are in Newark, New Jersey.
Orbit Energy Reviews: What did customers say?
On customer review site Trustpilot, Orbit Energy has an average review score of 3.2 out of five stars as of 25 November 2021. Of the more than 6,500 customers that left Orbit Energy reviews, 68% gave the supplier either an excellent or good rating. On the other hand, 27% left Orbit either a poor or a bad review score. The remaining 6% of reviews considered Orbit Energy to be average.
Even though the majority of all the Orbit Energy reviews praised the supplier, we found the most recent reviews to be overwhelmingly negative. The most common complaints concerned inaccurate billing and difficulty contacting the supplier.
In the unfortunate event that you do experience problems with your energy supplier, you’ll likely want to phone the company to get the issue sorted as quickly as possible.
Since the Orbit Energy phone line is only for emergencies, some customers complained in their reviews that they found it extremely frustrating that they are not able to actually speak to someone and get the support they need when they had an issue with their energy account.
How well did Orbit Energy handle complaints?
Besides looking at just the Orbit Energy reviews, checking out its complaints performance can also give insight as to if customers often faced problems with the supplier.
In the following table, we’ve broken down the most recent complaints handling data from Orbit Energy in 2020.
| Quarter | Complaints received | Complaints resolved | Resolved the same or next working day | Resolved within 8 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2020 | 698 | 698 | 45% | 100% |
| Q2 2020 | 1,489 | 1,456 | 49% | 99% |
| Q3 2020 | 2407 | 2365 | 59% | 99% |
| Q4 2020 | 3103 | 2877 | 64% | 99% |
If you wanted to make a complaint to Orbit Energy, you could do so in the following ways:
- Online — Submit the online form on the Orbit Energy contact page.
- Via email — Send an email to [email protected] with details about your issue.
- By post — Write a letter with details about your complaint and send it to Orbit Energy Complaints Team, St Dunstans House, 201 Borough High Street, London, SE1 1JA, United Kingdom
No matter your preferred method of making a complaint, we recommend that you include your name, account number and email address in the message. This will help Orbit Energy to access your account and sort the query more quickly.
With the closure of Orbit Energy in November 2021, you may need to re-raise your complaint with your new supplier if you still require a resolution.
This supplier has gone bust. Find out what to do next.
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Orbit Energy tariffs
Orbit Energy offered various tariffs: two variable-rate tariffs, a fixed-rate tariff and prepayment options.
Orbit Energy calls its variable tariff the 5% Off 4 Life tariff. As the name suggests, the cost of this tariff is always 5% off the amount of OFGEM's price cap. Each year, Ofgem reviews its price cap in April and October. This means that the price you pay for energy on this tariff will change twice per year. Since this tariff is variable, it did not include an exit fee.
Orbit Energy tariffs also include a fixed-rate tariff, which is called the 12 Month Fix tariff. As stated in the name, this tariff is fixed for one year. Note that even though the rates are protected, your bill may vary depending on your energy consumption.
You can find the rates for this Orbit Energy tariff in the table below. If you end the contract early, you will be charged an exit fee of £30 per fuel.
Does Orbit Energy have exit fees?
Orbit Energy’s fixed rate tariff included an exit fee of £30 per fuel. If you ended the contract less than 49 days before it ended, you would not be charged an exit fee. The variable tariff (5% Off 4 Life) did not charge an exit fee.
Exit fees will not apply to your tariff when you are switched under Ofgem's Supplier of Last Resort regulation, meaning you are free to compare your tariff and find a better deal.
Orbit Energy Login
With an Orbit Energy login, you could manage your account 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You would be able to do the following via your Orbit Energy online account:
- Submit meter readings
- View your account balance
- Make payments
- Notify Orbit Energy that you’re moving
- Update your tariff
- Update your payment details
It was easy to log in to your Orbit Energy account. To sign in, you had to simply follow these four steps:
- Go to the Orbit Energy homepage and click the button in the top right corner that says “Log in”.
- Enter the email address that you used to sign up with Orbit Energy.
- Click the pink button that says “Email me a link login.”
- Orbit Energy will send you an email with a link to securely log in to your account. Open the email and click the link.
Even if it wasn't not your first time logging in, you still needed to enter your email address on the Orbit Energy login page and open the link in your email each time you want to access your online account.
If you had issues logging in, it wass best to contact Orbit Energy by sending an email to [email protected].
Did Orbit Energy have an app?
Unfortunately, Orbit Energy does not have an app available for customers to use. In order to manage your energy account, you had to use the online portal.
Did Orbit Energy do smart meters?
Orbit Energy did install smart meters. You could register to have one installed on the Orbit Energy website. To register, you would need to provide your name, account number and email address.
Orbit Energy did not support smart prepayment meters. Orbit said it was working on this service to make it available to prepayment customers, but that never materialised and Orbit Energy went bust before it could offer this option to its customers.
Orbit Energy Contact Number
The Orbit Energy contact number was 0333 103 8277. Lines were open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and was for emergencies only.
When calling the Orbit Energy contact number, you would have to listen to an automated recording with the following instructions:
- To make a payment using the online payment system, press 1.
- To submit meter reading, view your bill or notify Orbit that you’re moving home, press 2.
- For an emergency, if you are going to lose power or if you are worried about your account, press 3.
If you selected either of the first two options, you would be directed to the Orbit Energy website. If you select option 3, you were given the following two options:
- If you have no power, or if you are a prepayment customer and you are about to lose power, press 1.
- For any other reason, unless it can be solved using your online account, press 2.
Emergency Contact Information
If you experience a power cut, call 105 to report it. If you smell gas, call the National Gas Service Emergency line on 0800 111 999 and follow the instructions given. An engineer will be sent to your home in order to repair the leak.
Other ways to Contact Orbit Energy
Unless you have an emergency, the best way to contact Orbit Energy was online. You could do so via any of the following online platforms:
- Live chat — To access the Orbit Energy live chat, you could go to the supplier’s website. Click on the blue and white icon with three dots in the button right corner of the screen to start the conversation. This live chat service was available Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Online contact form — To access the form, go to the Orbit Energy homepage and click the three lines in the top left corner. Select the option for “Help & Support”, and then click the box that says “Contact Us”. Select the type of issue from the drop-down menu, and enter your name, account number and email address. Then press the pink button that says “Submit form”.
- Email — The Orbit Energy email address was [email protected]. When sending an email, we recommended including your name and account number. This would help Orbit to sort your query more quickly.
- Social media — You could reach out to Orbit Energy on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you chose to use one of these platforms as your method of contact, we recommended including your account number and email address in the message so that Orbit Energy could look into the issue.
This supplier has gone bust. Find out what to do next.
Selectra's Energy Team can guide you through the steps.
Save money on your energy bills with Selectra
Selectra is currently closed. You can leave your phone number and get a free callback.
Fuel Mix: Was Orbit Energy 100% renewable?
Orbit Energy said it had supplied 100% renewable electricity since October 2019. It was able to make this claim that it provided 100% renewable electricity because it bought Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) certificates.
When a supplier purchases these certificates from renewable generators, it guarantees that a certain amount of renewable energy has been put back into the grid.
Orbit Energy’s actual fuel mix consisted of the following sources:
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