Bulb, the collapsed energy company, could end up costing double initial estimates to rescue due to the impact of the Ukraine war on gas prices.
Government officials predicted the bail-out would cost £1.7bn when the firm went into administration in November, but that estimate has now risen to £3bn as gas prices have rocketed again. reports suggest.
Bulb was the largest independent energy supplier to fail due to the pressure of a price cap and soaring wholesale gas prices with around 1.7mln customers when the administrator was called in.
It still has around 1.5mln according to Sky News, which reported that costs are soaring because the government decided that the administrator, Teneo Restructuring, could not hedge the cost of gas.
UK gas prices currently are around ten times the level of a year ag with concerns over supplies from Russia sending the price rocketing again recently.
A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told Sky: "The Special Administrator of Bulb is obligated to keep costs of the administration process as low as possible, and we continue to engage closely with them throughout to ensure maximum value for money for taxpayers."
Bulb's collapse was considered too big for regulator Ofgem’s Supplier of Last Resort scheme that sees other suppliers bid for a failed group’s customer base, so it was placed into a rare kind of administration known as a SAR or special administration regime.
A SAR places customers at the front of the administration process.