The most shocking number in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement was not in the statement at all. It was in a single line in the report from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which informed forensic readers that the cost of rescuing Bulb was estimated at £6.5 billion. Even by the standards of today’s bloated numbers, that’s a serious sum. It’s about £200 per household, and it’s coming to you, another electric shock to your energy bills.
Bulb was one of those exciting new suppliers which were going to teach the existing providers how to do it. Having been goaded by the media into believing that the old six were effectively a rip-off cartel — evidence for this was thin, at best — Theresa May’s administration encouraged these disrupters, and dozens rushed in. It was an unmissable opportunity. The beauty of it was that they could offer slightly cheaper gas and electricity than the big boys, arguing that they had no big head offices to support and — this was key — then set up direct debits at a level designed to ensure than they always owed the customers money, rather than the other way around.
