The energy regulator is facing “serious questions” over its handling of the domestic supply market after two more firms collapsed.

Ofgem said that Entice Energy, which supplies around 5,400 households, and Orbit Energy, which supplies another 65,000, had ceased to trade on Thursday as a crisis gripping the industry continued to gather pace.

Their customers will be passed on to other suppliers through a safety net mechanism but will have their current tariffs honoured.

Their collapse takes the number of failed suppliers to 25 since gas prices began to surge in August.

It also came just hours after the regulator placed Bulb, Britain’s seventh-biggest supplier, into so-called special administration, in an unprecedented step that effectively nationalised the energy firm.

Citizens Advice said the latest failures called Ofgem’s approach to regulating the market into question.

Gillian Cooper, the consumer watchdog’s head of energy policy, said: “The increases in global gas prices we’ve seen this year have been significant, but should not have led to the collapse of 25 firms.

“As suppliers continue to fall like dominoes, it’s clear the market is not functioning as it should and there are serious questions for Ofgem to answer about how this has been allowed to happen.”