UK court approves Octopus Energy takeover of Bulb

The announcement comes despite rivals E.ON, Centrica and ScottishPower lodging separate judicial reviews – arguing there’s a lack of transparency around the deal.  

Judge Antony Zacaroli was deciding whether to approve the Energy Transfer Scheme, which will transfer some of Bulb’s assets into a new separate entity – as well as when to set a date for the transfer. 

He set the date for the deal to go ahead as 20 December, adding that E.ON, Centrica and ScottishPower should make any application to delay the takeover pending their legal challenges in those proceedings. 

In response, a spokesperson for Octopus Energy said: "The High Court has rightly given the green light for the transfer to go ahead in December. Taxpayers will be saved from millions - even billions - of costs that could have been incurred if the process was dragged out. 

"This is positive news for Bulb’s customers and staff, and starts to bring to an end the huge financial exposures for government and taxpayers." 

Octopus confirmed last month that it had reached an agreement to acquire Bulb – paying the government take on the firm’s 1.5 million customers. Bulb had been in government hands since November last year when it became the first energy supplier to be placed into special administration, a process designed to protect the customers of a large firm that has become insolvent.  

A couple of weeks later, documents from the government’s official forecaster the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggested, in total, the bailout had cost it £6.5bn – also showing that £4.6bn will be spent handling the firm in the 2022-23 financial year. Previously the OBR said the rescue would cost £2.2bn over the course of two years.