Bulb Energy

Bulb Energy Ltd., trading as Bulb, was an energy supply company in the United Kingdom acquired by Octopus Energy in 2022. Founded in 2013, the company attracted venture capital from DST Global and Magnetar Capital and ran at a financial loss while achieving rapid growth in customers.[3] Bulb claimed to provide electricity and gas from renewable or off-set sources. As of November 2021, it had a share of approximately 5-6% of the UK energy market and was considered the seventh largest in the country.

Bulb Energy
Bulb
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryEnergy supply
PredecessorsRegent Power Ltd., Hanbury Energy Ltd.
FoundedApril 2013 (April 2013)
Founders
  • Amit Gudka
  • Hayden Wood
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom
RevenueIncrease £1.52B[1] (2020)
Increase -£63M[1] (2020)
Members1,700,000 (Nov 2021)
Number of employees
1,000[2] (2020)
Parent
Websitehttps://bulb.co.uk; https://bulb.com

In September 2021, the company sought a bailout due to financial problems caused by increasing natural gas prices. Instead, it was placed into the Energy Supply Company Administration (a special administration regime) by industry regulator Ofgem on 24 November 2021 following a refusal by investors to provide further funding. While customers of other failed suppliers have been transferred by Ofgem to new suppliers, the regulator decided Bulb was too large. So it became the first energy company in the UK to enter special administration.

In October 2022, Octopus Energy announced they planned to acquire Bulb's 1.5 million customers and 650 staff. The acquisition was completed on 21 December 2022.

History
155 Bishopsgate, London, headquarters of Bulb Energy

Bulb Energy Ltd. was incorporated in April 2013 under Regent Power Ltd. and was known as Hanbury Energy Ltd. between June and October 2015.[4] Its parent company is Simple Energy.[5] From the start of trading, the directors were Amit Gudka, a former energy market trader for Barclays, and Hayden Wood, a former management consultant.[6] Gudka stepped down from day to day activities at Bulb in February 2021 to focus on his new battery storage startup.[7]

Initial funding came from the founders' savings and from their personal contacts. The backing was then obtained from JamJar Investments.[8] In August 2018 a further £60 million funding was secured from two backers: DST Global (owned by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner), and US hedge fund Magnetar Capital.[5][9] By 2018, the company was worth between £400M and £500M.[5]

Growth was rapid from the start of 2017, and by early March 2019, the company had over 1 million customers and was employing over 550 staff.[5] Its headquarters moved in February 2019 from offices at Hanbury Street, Shoreditch to Bishopsgate in the City of London.[4]

In 2018, Bulb was the UK's largest renewable energy supplier, and the UK's seventh-largest energy supplier, smaller only than the "Big Six".[10] It was the only company to achieve this growth without taking over other companies, as rival companies had done.[11] SyndicateRoom identified Bulb as the UK's fastest-growing private company of 2018.[12]

Special administration and acquisition

In September 2021, Bulb sought a bailout due to financial problems caused by sharply increasing natural gas prices.[13] In November 2021, Bulb became the first energy company to go into Special Administration, under which it will be run by the government through the regulator Ofgem.[14][15][16] This process will allow the government the option to make grants and loans to the business while the administrators work to transfer customers and sell the business in parts or whole.[14]

The government set aside £1.7 billion to cover the company's trading costs and the cost of the administration.[17] According to the Financial Times, at least two energy suppliers offered solutions that would have allowed Bulb customers to be switched to alternative providers at a reduced cost to consumers and taxpayers.[18]

The company's subsidiaries in France, Spain, and Texas were unaffected by its entry into administration.[19] Teneo were appointed administrators of Bulb in the UK on 24 November,[20] and Interpath were appointed for Bulb's parent Simple Energy.[21]

In October 2022, Octopus Energy agreed to acquire Bulb's 1.5 million customers.[22][23] The acquisition was completed on 21 December 2022.[24]

Operations

In the year 2018–2019, Bulb's renewable electricity was generated as follows: 73% from wind power, 24% from solar power, and 3% from hydroelectricity. Bulb's carbon-neutral gas was composed of 10% biogas and 90% carbon offset.[25]

Bulb announced in June 2019 that they were expanding to France, Spain, and Texas.[26]

In August 2020, Bulb agreed to pay £1.76 million in redress, refunds, and goodwill payments after industry regulator Ofgem found 11,400 customers had been overcharged, together with other mistakes (some self-reported by Bulb).[27]

Bulb customer numbers
DateCustomers
(approx.)		Source
January 201715,000[5]
August 2017100,000[28]
January 2018200,000
300,000		[29]
[28]
August 2018670,000[5]
January 2019870,000[29]
March 20191,130,000[30]
November 2021 1,700,000 [14]

References
  1. Adam John (11 March 2021). "Bulb saw losses reduce in 2020". Utility Week. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  2. Team Bulb (2 March 2021). "Annual update for members 2020". Bulb blog. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  3. "'Too good to be true': the rapid rise and costly fall of Bulb Energy". the Guardian. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  4. "BULB ENERGY LTD - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. "Tech firms Bulb Energy and Monzo bag £200 million in funding". Evening Standard. 17 August 2018.
  6. "Bulb switches on revenue growth but losses spiral". Business Matters. 19 December 2018.
  7. Team Bulb (19 February 2021). "An update from our founders". Bulb blog. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  8. "Tech firm crowned UK's fastest-growing company". BusinessCloud.co.uk. 11 December 2018.
  9. Havelock, Laurie (27 December 2018). "Bulb energy company targets one million customers as it takes on the 'big six'". i News.
  10. Ross, Kelvin (1 October 2018). "Bulb Energy named in top startups list". Power Engineering International.
  11. Vaughan, Adam (26 January 2019). "Small energy suppliers get a growth boost as their rivals collapse". The Observer.
  12. "What you need to know about Bulb, the fastest growing UK tech company". Evening Standard. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  13. "UK energy company seeks funds to stay afloat". BBC News. September 2021.
  14. "Energy firm Bulb set to go into administration". BBC News. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  15. "Taxpayers face enormous fee as latest energy company collapses: Government now a supplier". www.msn.com.
  16. "Bulb Energy Limited: information for interested parties". GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  17. Rojas, John-Paul (25 November 2021). "Taxpayers left with £1.7bn bill as Bulb, UK's seventh-biggest energy firm, collapses". Sky News. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  18. Thomas, Nathalie (26 November 2021). "Two energy suppliers offered rival plans to Bulb's government bailout". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  19. "Bulb Energy, which supplies 1.7m customers, collapses into administration". the Guardian. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  20. Graham, August (24 November 2021). "Ofgem applies to put Bulb in special administration". The Independent. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  21. Earl, Nicholas (24 November 2021). "Sequoia swoops in to switch administrator of Bulb's parent company". City A.M. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  22. Zeldin-O'Neill, Sophie (29 October 2022). "Octopus Energy announces takeover of collapsed supplier Bulb". The Guardian.
  23. "UK government approves agreement between Bulb and Octopus Energy, providing certainty to 1.5 million customers". GOV.UK. 29 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  24. Burton, Lena (21 December 2022). "Octopus completes the acquisition of Bulb Energy after a year-long saga". UK Daily News. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  25. "Bulb - Making energy simpler, cheaper, greener". Join Bulb - Making energy simpler, cheaper, greener. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  26. "Bulb is expanding internationally". Bulb. 6 June 2019. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  27. Bradley, Jane (13 August 2020). "Energy firm pays out £1.76m after failing 61,000 customers". The Scotsman. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  28. "Challenger to Watch: Bulb Energy". The Challenger Project. 26 January 2018.
  29. Vaughan, Adam (14 January 2019). "SSE hits out after Bulb claims big energy firms are squeezing families". The Guardian.
  30. "BULB ENERGY LTD - Filing history (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
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