Bulb grew fast on cheap renewables — gas price surge forced a state rescue

Bulb Energy was founded in 2013 by Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, initially incorporated as Regent Power Ltd. It positioned itself as a green, low-cost challenger to the UK's Big Six energy suppliers, offering electricity from renewable sources and carbon-offset gas at competitive prices. Its model was simple: undercut the incumbents on price, keep overheads low, and grow fast through customer satisfaction and word of mouth. By 2021, it had become the UK's seventh-largest energy supplier with 1.7 million customers and 650 employees.

Bulb's growth strategy depended on a stable wholesale energy market. It sold customers fixed-rate tariffs that were priced below the incumbents, but it did not hedge sufficiently against future price increases — a calculated risk that paid off while gas prices were low and stable. The company was also running at a financial loss while pursuing growth, which is typical for challenger suppliers but left it with no buffer when market conditions turned.

Starting in the summer of 2021, global wholesale natural gas prices surged due to post-pandemic demand recovery, reduced Russian supply, and low European stockpiles. Bulb's fixed-rate tariffs became deeply unprofitable — it was buying gas at wholesale prices well above what it could charge customers under the terms it had sold them. By September 2021, Bulb was seeking a government bailout. When investors refused to inject further capital, Ofgem concluded that Bulb was too large to simply transfer customers to another supplier (as it had done with 27 smaller failed suppliers that year).

On 24 November 2021, Bulb became the first UK energy company to enter the Energy Supply Company Administration (ESCA) — a special administration regime. The government set aside £1.7 billion to cover trading and administration costs while Teneo, the appointed administrator, managed the company. In October 2022, Octopus Energy agreed to acquire Bulb's 1.5 million remaining customers and 650 staff, completing the acquisition in December 2022. The government ultimately recovered most of its costs, with a net cost of approximately £6.1 million.