The third party intermediate collapsed earlier this year leaving debts of over £94 million. Janet Wood took a look at where it went wrong for a company who’s ‘middleman’ role is often seen as relatively low risk

Utilitywise was launched in 2006. As a third party intermediary (TPI) it acted as a broker for small and medium-sized companies taking on energy supply contracts. It accrued thousands of contracts, and its income came from commissions, paid by the energy supply companies upfront on the basis of the volume sales during the life of the contract.