PAC issues report on SAR of Bulb and recovery of its costs

6th November 2023

On Wednesday 1 November, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report on Bulb's Special Administration Regime (SAR) and the recovery of its costs.

The total estimated cost to the taxpayer for funding Bulb was £3.02bn at the end of January 2023. The SAR will continue until Octopus Energy has repaid the taxpayer funding and Bulb's outstanding costs and liabilities have been settled.

The government expects to recover £2.96bn from Octopus Energy by September 2024, leaving an estimated shortfall of £246mn which the government expects to recover from energy consumers. The government and Octopus Energy have agreed the payment could be deferred to September 2025 if wholesale energy market conditions worsen.

PAC recommends that, within six months, DESNZ should provide a review of the effectiveness of the range of support mechanisms it has introduced. It should also continue to update the committee on how it is ensuring that government interventions to support people and businesses with their energy bills are accessible.

It also recommends that within 12 months, DESNZ should write to PAC with details of what lessons it has learnt from the SAR and how it is using these to monitor and ensure the successful recovery of temporary taxpayer funds.

Furthermore, by the end of 2023, DESNZ and Ofgem should update their procedures for handling a supplier failure to ensure they cover the entirety of the SAR process.

Source - www.cornwall-insight.com/

See also
Bulb Energy Will billpayers remain on the hook for multi-billion pound bail-out
For the main parliament reports.