Rival firms attack Octopus-Bulb acquisition deal 

Rival firms British Gas, ScottishPower and E.ON have taken aim at the deal, which would see Octopus Energy serve Bulb’s 1.5mn customers. The providers have taken issue with the vagueness of the terms of the deal and financial support from the government.   

Bulb, along with 28 small energy firms, collapsed last year. Following this Octopus agreed a deal to takeover Bulb in October, with a court approving a transfer of Bulb’s customers by 20 December. Before it collapsed, Bulb was the 7th largest energy firm in the UK.  

The high court have decreed that any legal challenge to the deal must wait until the new year. Lawyers for Octopus have stressed that any legal challenge should be dealt with as soon as possible. 

At a hearing that took place in London on Tuesday, Paul Harris, a lawyer for British Gas, accused the government of “a mess-up worth billions of pounds”. 

Writing to the Secretary of State for Business, Grant Shapps, Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said: “My immediate reason for writing to you is the recent announcement of approval of a deal between the special administrators of Bulb and Octopus Energy to acquire Bulb’s 1.5 million customers.  

“As the statutory consumer advocate for energy consumers, we are obliged to consider the impact on customers of deals of this nature. At present we do not have sufficient information to assess the potential impact and so have a number of concerns. Further transparency in a number of key areas would help to provide assurance.”