‘The house should understand that we do not want this company to be in this temporary state longer than is absolutely necessary,” said Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, when he authorised the nationalisation of Bulb, the failed retail energy supplier, last November.
Was it such dreams of a quick sale and a rapid return to the private sector that persuaded the government that there was no need to put in place hedging contracts to cover the cost of buying energy for Bulb’s 1.4 million customers? If so, the decision was a shocker. Nine months later, Bulb still sits on the state’s books and the price of running an unhedged operation increases with every spike in the gas price, up about 20% since last Friday.
