Council-run Robin Hood Energy set out to help people struggling with their bills, but instead it failed to turn a profit, ended up losing millions and is being closed down, leaving 230 workers redundant.
BBC NEWS
Robin Hood Energy was the 'pet project' Nottingham Labour but has resulted in Nottingham City Council teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and an inept leadership's true colours revealed.
Auditors Grant Thornton calculated the council had invested a total of £43m into the company and risked £16.5m in guarantees.
The directors and key players new and old, practically all of which are Nottingham Labour Councillors or party leaders, have remained tight-lipped following the release of the external auditor's damning report in August and the company's subsequent collapse.
At its height, Nottingham residents were subsidising the energy of users across the country. National users included the anti-semitic, marxist old-guard of the national Labour Party including, most notably, Jeremy Corbyn for his central London flat.
Even when it came closest to turning a profit, the company was failing on everything it set out to do. Robin Hood Energy came joint 20th out of 35 energy firms rated by 7,355 members of the public in the annual Which? satisfaction survey which looked at customer care, value for money and security of service.
The company, led throughout its history by unexperienced and (evidently) financially illiterate Labour Councillors, has had a long record of failing to turn a profit and business ineptitude.
In October 2019 the financial situation came to a head when energy regulator Ofgem threatened to withdraw RHE's licence over unpaid bills. It demanded £9.5m within the month and our shambles of a Labour Council passed the bill onto the Nottingham tax payer.
Grant Thornton, which carried out a Public Interest Report, said the council had no clue of the size and the risks of what it was taking on.
The firm accused the council of "institutional blindness" with a determination that the company "should be a success", despite the deteriorating financial position.
Leaked documents seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service showed the council stood to lose £38.1m, although the exact final figure would not be known until the transfer of customers was complete.
Local government minister Simon Clarke said the city's leadership needed to decide "whether they are the right people" to lead after such a "disastrous waste of money".
So far, no senior councillors have answered the call to resign.
Labour Council Leader, David Mellen, regretted that their pet project was 'not a good use of money'.
RHE's 112,000 customers have now been switched to British Gas, the very company Nottingham Labour set out to rival.
The 230 members of staff were all made redundant at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The £34.4 million debt has been left to the people of Nottingham to pay.
Read the full article from BBC News, here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-54056695
Read the entire damning report from Grabt Thornton, here: https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/media/2835756/report-in-the-public-in…
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