Octopus Energy has announced that it has paid over £3bn to the Government following its acquisition of Bulb.

The Government stepped in to support Bulb in November 2021. A year later, it sold Bulb to Octopus Energy in an unprecedented deal and this final payment concludes the bailout without loss to taxpayers or billpayers, and presents a £1.5bn profit to the Government.

The Government also received a further £19m from the profit-sharing mechanism and £200m in interest and is expected to receive another £20m from the profit-share agreement in due course.

Octopus ensured that every Bulb employee was offered a job, with 94 per cent choosing to stay, while migrating Bulb’s 1.5 million customers onto its systems within six months, minimising disruption to customers.

Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy, commented: “This outcome is a remarkable success story for taxpayers and billpayers. I’m proud that when other companies walked away or banged their fists on the table, Octopus worked hard to find a fair deal which saved the Treasury billions compared to alternatives. I hope this is a model for future deals between government and companies.”

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