Roar Power

Roar Power was a regional energy supplier in the UK.

On this page

What happened?

Roar Power was launched in September 2019 as a white-label energy supply brand for the region around Norwich/East of England, offered in partnership between Norwich City Council and ENGIE UK & Ireland (ENGIE acting as wholesale/back-office supplier).
In January 2020 ENGIE announced that it was exiting the domestic supply market, and the domestic customers of ENGIE (including those under the Roar Power brand) were to be transferred to Octopus Energy Limited.
After the transfer, Roar Power continued as a brand under Octopus’s supply-structure, rather than as a standalone supplier. For example, Oak “Roar Power provides … is part of Octopus Energy” in the consumer guide.

Roar Power was set up in partnership with Norwich City Council and ENGIE for the East Anglia region.
No specific large customer base numbers are publicly highlighted just for Roar Power (distinct from ENGIE’s broader portfolio) in the sources reviewed.
ENGIE announced the transfer of around 70,000 domestic customers (from ENGIE, Qwest and Roar) to Octopus in early 2020.

Although Roar Power did not collapse in the sense of insolvency or failure of supply, it represents a useful case in the area of white-label suppliers / branded local energy offers and how supplier structure, ownership, brand partnerships and back-office arrangements matter for risk assessment in procurement.
For business customers evaluating smaller or niche suppliers or local-brand energy offers, the Roar Power case shows how a “local brand” supplier may rely on a larger principal supplier (ENGIE) for licence, operations and risk. The shift to Octopus underscores that dependence.
From contract standpoint: If your business goes with a smaller brand (white-label) rather than a major supplier, you should check: Who is the underlying supplier? What happens if the underlying supplier changes or decides to exit the domestic market? Are fixed tariffs honoured? Are credit balances protected?
In this case, customers of Roar Power (via ENGIE) were transferred to Octopus with assurances that fixed deals would be honoured and credit balances protected.
For business energy procurement, the operational and regulatory risk that smaller suppliers (or white-labels) can be reshaped, re-branded or consolidated should be factored into continuity planning. Some of the risk is less dramatic than failure (i.e., transfer rather than cessation) — but still relevant for contract stability and supplier continuity.