An energy supplier to tens of thousands of small businesses is on the brink of becoming the 14th provider to collapse in the last three months, further underlining the scale of the crisis gripping the sector.

Sky News has learnt that CNG Energy’s retail arm – which only supplies commercial customers – is close to falling into the Supplier of Last Resort (SOLR) system operated by Ofgem, the industry regulator.

That outcome has become inevitable after CNG and its advisers at Interpath, a restructuring firm, did not receive any viable bids for the retail arm in a process which commenced several weeks ago, according to insiders.

One source said the transition of CNG’s 45,000 customers, which include schools, hairdressers, hotels and restaurants, into SOLR could take place within a matter of days.

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The fate of the company’s retail arm is separate to that of its wholesale shipping business, which provides gas to other energy suppliers operating in the UK market.

Many of them, such as Avro Energy, have already failed in the last two months, with suppliers serving roughly 2m UK households falling by the wayside since the start of August.

Pure Planet, in which BP owned a minority stake, also ceased trading, while Glencore, the FTSE-100 commodities trading giant, is a shareholder in CNG.

CNG remains in talks with industry stakeholders including Glencore to try to ensure an orderly outcome for its wholesale clients, which are said to include Opal, Zebra, Entice and Osso.

The wholesaler is thought to be working with 14 small suppliers representing less than 40,000 meter points in aggregate – representing a tiny proportion of the UK energy market.

CNG and Interpath declined to comment.

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