BIG SIX energy firms are asleep at the wheel, meaning challenger suppliers have a great opportunity to pick "low hanging fruit" amid market volatility, argued Bobby Kalar, group chief executive of Yu Group.

Kalar told City A.M.: "They are so bloated in terms of their response and their ability to move in changing market conditions.

"I think for years and years, we will enjoy poaching contracts from the bloated underbelly of the Big Six."

Kalar argued Yu Group would continue to thrive in a market place where it could operate more nimbly than its larger more established counterparts, turning around attractive contracts for potential customers at speed and with a consistent hedging strategy.

Yu Group provides energy to businesses across the UK via its supplier business Yu Energy, which has grown from 4,200 metre points to over 30,000 in the past six years.

Its latest full-year results, published yesterday, are encouraging - with rev- enues rising 53 per cent from £101.5m to £153.4m, recording a profit of £4.5m.

The escalating domestic energy crisis has seen dozens of suppliers' collapse over the past six months, but Yu Group has managed to survive and thrive.

The company has scooped up customers from three fallen firms through the supplier of last resort process.

This includes 2,500 customers from AmpowerUK last November and a combined 550 from Xcel Energy and Whoop Energy earlier this year.

The chief executive attributed Yu Group's success in navigating the market's stormy seas to the company's vigorous protection of its gross margin, which he described as "the lifeblood of the business".

It has also not been constrained by the price cap - which limited the ability of consumer-focused suppliers to pass on soaring wholesale costs this winter.

Kalar also refused to rule out a play for Gazprom Energy's customers, with reports of a mass exodus of clients.

He said: "These customers are publiclylisted companies, shopkeepers, NHS hospitals or local councils, district councils. They all need gas and electricity."

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper