The energy supplier that bailed out rival Bulb after its collapse in 2021 has repaid the final tranche of government support provided to secure the deal, delivering what it will say this week represents a £1.5bn windfall for taxpayers.
Octopus Energy will announce on Thursday that it has paid more than £3bn to the government, including more than £40m raised under a profit-sharing agreement struck between the company and Whitehall two years ago, Sky News has learned.
Industry sources said the announcement would mean Octopus Energy – the UK’s second-largest gas and electricity retailer after… British gas – It paid in full the government support it received as part of the deal.
An insider said that although the government had spent more than £1.6bn on dealing with the bulb crisis, falling wholesale energy prices had generated a windfall for the public purse due to hedging arrangements put in place at the time of the crisis. practical.
Figures to be published on Thursday are expected to show that the company has repaid £1.85bn to the government under that wholesale agreement.
It also made around £200 million in interest payments to the Treasury, on top of an initial £19 million under the profit-sharing deal.
£20 million or more in dividends are due to be paid to the government soon, according to one source.
In total, Octopus Energy is expected to say it paid £3.16bn to the Treasury, resulting in a £1.53bn profit for the government.
At one stage, projections suggested that a bailout of BLP, which had around 1.5 million customers when it collapsed, could cost taxpayers more than £6 billion to deal with, with wholesale energy prices soaring around the time of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. For Ukraine.
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The sale of Bulb has sparked interest from a number of major players, some of whom have resorted to legal action after complaining that Octopus Energy received unfair state subsidies.
BLP was the first company to be placed under the so-called Special Administration Regime (SAR), meaning it was temporarily nationalised.
News that the final chunk of funding has been repaid and a £1.5bn windfall proposed for taxpayers comes as Britain’s biggest water company, Thames Water, teeters on the brink of a similar private bailout-style bailout.
Octopus Energy, which has become one of Britain’s most valuable private companies through a series of primary and secondary share sales, declined to comment on Wednesday.