Recommendation 10

The total cost of the taxpayer funding committed to the sale and supporting Bulb was made up of a number of areas of spend. These included: £0.16 billion to offset Bulb’s remaining liabilities; a one-off loan of £1.06 billion to assist with building the collateral needed to provide the letter of credit required by Shell for the provision of wholesale energy for Bulb’s customers; and £0.71 billion for the wholesale energy required by Bulb between 21 December 2022 to 31 March 2023. The final cost of operating the SAR to 2025 10 C&AG’s Report, para 16, 17 11 Qq 44, 46 12 Q 3 13 Q 39; C&AG’s Report, para 3.15 14 Qq 33, 35, 36–38 12 Bulb Energy as of January 2023 was estimated to be £1.09 billion – bringing the estimated total cost of taxpayer funding to £3.02 billion. However, the actual cost of the SAR will only be known once the SAR ends, with Octopus repaying the temporary taxpayer funding it owes. The funding provided to Octopus attracts an interest charge to ensure compliance with HM Treasury guidance and subsidy control rules.15