Octopus Energy to buy Bulb as soon as this week - report

The UK government is set to help close a deal that will see Octopus Energy buy Bulb Energy as soon as this week, according to Bloomberg.

Octopus will become one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers after adding Bulb’s roughly 1.6m household customers.

Bulb went bust in November last year, when wholesale prices spiked above the regulator’s price cap, forcing the company to sell energy at a loss.

The government then stepped in and appointed Teneco to run the business using £2.2bn of taxpayers’ money until a buyer could be found.