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Ceased trading · January 2007

Powergen archive

Powergen ceased trading on 1 January 2007. Its customers were transferred to E.ON Next under Ofgem's Supplier of Last Resort scheme. This page is kept as a historical record.

Founded 1989 Big Six member

Ceased trading · 1 January 2007

Powergen no longer supplies UK households

Brand retirement — Powergen was acquired by E.ON in 2002 and the consumer brand was retired in 2007 as part of the rebrand to E.ON UK. Customers were progressively migrated to E.ON Next from 2021 onwards. Customers were transferred to E.ON Next under Ofgem's Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) scheme. This page is kept as a historical record. Information presented below was accurate at the time of original publication.

Founded

1989

Years on the UK market

About

Who is Powergen?

Registered as Powergen plc (renamed E.ON UK plc in 2007), Powergen uses this legal name for Ofgem licence filings, contracts and any formal communications. The trading name customers see on bills is the shorter, more recognisable form.

Powergen was founded in 1989. The supplier operated under a domestic-supply licence until its closure, with a track record of customer service and billing publicly documented for the years it traded.

Powergen is part of the E.ON SE (Germany) — from 2002 onwards group, which provides shared governance, financial backing and a broader pool of expertise in trading, hedging and regulatory work.

The company is regulated by Ofgem, the UK's energy regulator, and its complaint handling falls under the Energy Ombudsman alternative dispute resolution scheme.

Timeline

Powergen — key dates

A short timeline of the Powergen brand — founding, milestones, regulatory events and the closure that brought it to an end.

  1. 1989

    Powergen is created from the privatisation of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) as a generation business.

  2. 1998

    The UK supply market opens to competition; Powergen becomes a major domestic supplier alongside the regional electricity boards.

  3. 2002

    German energy group E.ON acquires Powergen for around £9.6 billion in January 2002 — at the time, the largest foreign acquisition in the UK utilities sector.

  4. 2007

    The Powergen consumer brand is retired; the UK business is renamed E.ON UK plc.

  5. 2019

    E.ON acquires npower's residential customer book from Innogy as part of a wider asset swap with RWE.

  6. 2021

    E.ON Next is launched as the new digital-first retail brand absorbing all former Powergen and npower residential accounts.

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Common questions

Powergen — frequently asked questions

Brand retirement — Powergen was acquired by E.ON in 2002 and the consumer brand was retired in 2007 as part of the rebrand to E.ON UK. Customers were progressively migrated to E.ON Next from 2021 onwards.

Existing customers were transferred to E.ON Next under Ofgem's Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) scheme — supply was never interrupted.

Your supply has not been interrupted: under the SoLR scheme, your supply is automatically handed to the successor supplier. Log in to the successor's online portal as soon as possible to set up your account, confirm your bank details and download any final Powergen statements while the legacy website is still online.

You are not required to pay any exit fee to leave the deemed tariff. Once your account is set up, compare current deals through Selectra to find a cheaper plan that fits your usage.

Yes. Customer credit balances on accounts at the date of cessation are protected under Ofgem's SoLR scheme. The successor supplier (E.ON Next) is required to honour your credit balance. Confirm the balance in writing within the first 30 days to avoid disputes later.

Yes — outstanding debts owed to Powergen transfer to the administrator of the company's estate, not the SoLR. You may receive a written demand for the outstanding amount from the administrators. Verify any demand against your final Powergen statement before paying.

You can complain about the conduct of Powergen (mis-selling, billing errors, customer service) to the Energy Ombudsman, even after the supplier has ceased trading. For complaints about the SoLR transfer itself (delays, incorrect tariff), the route is the same — Ombudsman first, then Ofgem.

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