Octopus said it was taking on Bulb’s 1.5 million customers “ending taxpayer losses and uncertainty for Bulb customers and employees”. He added: “Octopus is paying the government to take over Bulb’s customer base – it is believed this will represent a higher amount per customer than suppliers would normally pay to take over any of the 29 failed suppliers from September 2021. “Taxpayers will also benefit from a profit sharing agreement for a period of up to four years.” It comes after Ovo Energy launched an 11th-hour bid to prevent Octopus from gobbling up the nationalized supplier. Ovo bid for Bulb soon after it collapsed into bankruptcy a year ago, but then pulled out of the auction. The taxpayer bailout of Bulb is set to cost the government up to £4bn, Sky News previously revealed. Major supply failure Bulb’s collapse in November 2021 was the most significant of dozens of supplier failures, with Ofgem, the industry regulator, facing heavy criticism over its approach to licensing new market entrants. The government has already been forced to spend billions of pounds buying gas to supply Bulb customers because the company did not hedge its purchases to establish its cost base. Wholesale gas prices have soared over the past year, with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine having a particularly sharp impact on global energy markets. Click to subscribe to Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts This would allow the buyer to secure sufficient forward gas supplies to see the company through the winter months. Octopus intends to repay the government funding over a period of several months, according to sources close to the situation.
