Energidrift rebilled 50,000 customers for a period already paid to its bankrupt seller

In summer 2026 the Danish energy group Velkommen — after years of rising customer complaints and regulator attention — put its parent and subsidiaries B.Energy, Vedvarende and Nettopower into reconstruction on 2 July, and the companies went bankrupt soon after. In late July, trustee Flemming Jensen sold more than 50,000 customer relationships — 30,265 electricity, 2,749 gas and 12,169 IT-security customers among them — to Energidrift, a small player whose owners had repeatedly been criticised for ignoring sector rules. Customers' prepaid installments stayed behind in the bankrupt estates.

Under the sale agreement Energidrift obtained the right to collect payments from 2 July — even though it bought the customer relationships weeks later, with the formal takeover date set at 26 July. It then billed customers for that 2-26 July window: people who had already paid the Velkommen companies for the same period, and for weeks when Energidrift was not even their registered electricity supplier. TV 2 saw bills of DKK 170-1,090 from 13 former electricity customers, with consumption listed only as '1 stk' instead of an actual usage figure.

The utility regulator Forsyningstilsynet reviewed five customer cases and found Energidrift had billed in five out of five without an agreement basis and while not registered as the customer's supplier. Its draft order — sent to the company in September — demands Energidrift cancel unpaid improper invoices and refund every improperly collected amount, and criticises the invoices as incomplete. Energidrift denies wrongdoing and insists the collections are justified.

Draft regulator order: cancel the improper invoices and refund every improperly collected amount — bills of DKK 170–1,090 seen across 13 customers

The sale contract let Energidrift collect from 2 July, but customers had already prepaid the Velkommen companies for that period — double-charging built into the deal.

The regulator found no agreement basis and no supplier registration for the billed window in all five cases it examined.

The invoices hid what they were for: consumption stated as '1 stk', leaving customers unable to see what they were actually paying for.

Energidrift bought reputation risk along with the lists — the people behind the company had been criticised several times before for not following sector rules.

Buying a distressed company's customer list does not buy its billing history. Charging customers twice for a period the bankrupt seller already collected turns a bargain into a regulator case.

Forsyningstilsynet's order is still a draft sent to Energidrift in September 2026; the regulator can amend its demands, and Energidrift maintains the collections are legitimate. The consumer council Taenk is advising customers to dispute and refuse the retroactive bills. Denmark's justice and climate ministers declined to take sides, saying statutory interpretation is for the courts. If Energidrift collected similar amounts across all bought customers, July-only refunds could run into the millions of kroner — its own lawyers confirmed bills went to 'a large number of customers'.