Comparethemarket suspends sales as rocketing energy costs mean too few deals

This is the first time Comparethemarket has had to pause sales in this way with the firm saying ‘unprecedented rises in wholesale energy costs’ have forced them to take the step to ‘protect our customers’

Rocketing energy costs have forced one of Britain’s biggest price comparison websites to suspend sales.

Comparethemarket said it was no longer able to give energy quotes because there were too few deals around.

It comes after energy suppliers have rushed to pull fixed rate tariffs because of a surge in wholesale costs.

It is the first time Comparethemarket has had to pause sales in this way.

In a statement, it said: “Due to unprecedented rises in wholesale energy costs, a number of energy companies have temporarily made their tariffs unavailable to people wishing to switch.

“At Comparethemarket.com, our priority is to ensure that our customers can be confident that the product they purchase is going to meet their requirements.

“In order to protect our customers we have therefore decided to temporarily stop offering energy quotes via our website during this period of uncertainty.

“We will resume energy comparison as soon as we can be confident we can offer true comparison for customers.”

Wholesale energy prices have been driven up by what experts call a “perfect storm” of factors.

Demand from factories around the world has spiked amid the economic bounceback from the Covid crisis, just as supplies have been hit.

Wholesale gas prices reached record highs this week after a fire in Kent forced a crucial power cable with France to close

A surge in wholesale costs over recent months has already prompted regulator Ofgem to increase the cap that suppliers can charge 15 million customers on standard tariff and prepay meters from October 1.

The price cap for standard tariff and other default deals will leap by £139 – 12% – to £1,277 a year.

With wholesale costs going up even more, experts warn Ofgem could be forced to hike the cap again in April – the next scheduled change.