Households face extra £150 hit from cost of bailing out bust energy supplier Bulb

BRITISH households will face an extra £150 hit from the cost of bailing out bust energy supplier Bulb.

Bulb, which collapsed last November, has been bailed out by the government to support the 1.4 million British customers who relied on it for gas and electricity.

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Households face an extra £150 hit from the cost of bailing out bust energy supplier Bulb[/caption]

However, since the bailout the price of gas has soared, prompting analysts at Auxilione to say the cost will soar to more than £4billion.

This will make it the most expensive bailout since the rescue of RBS in the financial crisis.

Another energy boss told The Sun that the figure could be now as high as £6 billion, based on yesterday’s record highs of gas prices.

Bulb’s administrators are hamstrung by government rules that forbid companies to hedge against rising energy prices.

A rescue deal for Bulb has yet not been secured with Octopus Energy asking for a £1 billion dowry to cover the extra cost of taking the business on.

Administrators now can only watch as the rules around hedging – which acts as a cushion from rising prices – mean Bulb is totally exposed from the soaring gas prices.

Bulb, which was set up in 2015 and never turned a profit once, was one of 29 companies that have collapsed during the energy crisis because they failed to hedge against the soaring prices.

Auxilione told the Financial Times it was “paying a high price for the lack of hedging and costs could rise even higher if gas prices continue to soar”.