UK government pledges up to £4.5bn to fund Bulb takeover by Octopus

Support comes on top of £1.1bn paid to handle collapsed energy firm’s administration costs

The UK government has committed to provide up to £4.5bn to fund the takeover of the collapsed energy company Bulb by its rival Octopus.

Bulb spent more than a year in a state-handled administration and its 1.5 million customers transferred to Octopus on Tuesday night.