An electricity supplier is pulling the plug after just 18 months in business, blaming the ‘relentless’ rise in wholesale energy prices.

Bright Energy, which launched in the summer of 2020, said that it will cease trading in February 2022.

"The difficult decision was made as a consequence of ongoing market challenges and the relentless rise in wholesale energy prices, which are more than 200% higher than when Bright launched in 2020," the company said in a statement.

The Belfast-based supplier is also in discussions for a takeover of the northern half of its business.

The company c.10,000 electricity customers and about 8,000 have already switched to a new supplier. Any who have not will be moved to Electric Ireland as the ‘supplier of last resort.'

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Aoife MacEvilly, chairperson of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, said: "The CRU’s decision to direct the Supplier of Last Resort process will ensure that Bright Energy customers will not have any interruption to their electricity supply."

Daragh Cassidy, of utility switching site Bonkers.ie, said he believes there could be further departures, remarking: "Bright is the first supplier to leave the market since Just Energy exited in 2019, and further exits can’t be ruled out."

2021 saw power prices rise up by almost 10% in a 12 month period, which experts say is down to a ‘triple whammy’ of the rising cost of gas and coal used in power stations, a lack of wind for renewables and increased demand as the economy reopens.

Last year the average electricity bill was around €1,500 a year for many people, so the 10% increase added €150 to their annual bill, which is about €3 a week.

Photo: Bright Energy executives Ciaran Devine  and Stephen Devine with Maxol CEO Brian Donaldson (right) at the launch of the venture. (Pic: Sasko Lazarov/PhotocallIreland)