Give us back billions that bailed YOU out

Energy firm bosses should refund taxpayer, say MPs

THE founders of collapsed energy firm Bulb last night faced growing calls to pay back millions of pounds after a costly taxpayer bailout.

Hayden Wood and Amit Gudka pocketed a fortune after selling shares in the firm in 2018 but last year it imploded and had to be propped up by the Government.

Now MPs are calling for their gains to be recouped and want the Insolvency Service to get involved.

Alexander Stafford, a Tory MP and member of the Commons business committee, said: ‘Bosses responsible for major business failures cannot pocket multi-million pound pay packets and move on, while the taxpayer is left to pick up the pieces.’

Figures buried in autumn statement documents published last week show the rescue has cost taxpayers £6.5billion. The staggering sum amounts to £230 for every household.

Bulb’s ownership and 1.5million customers are being transferred to Octopus Energy. But questions are swirling around that deal, which involves the Government handing money to Octopus to keep Bulb going through the winter, to be repaid at a later date.

Mr Stafford said: ‘It is unacceptable that the collapse of Bulb has left taxpayers to foot a £6.5billion bill.’

He said the Insolvency Service, which deals with firms that go bust, must open an investigation into Bulb ‘to examine whether there was any wrongdoing from the founders and executives’.

‘If the company was mismanaged they should be banned from being directors and fined,’ Stafford said.

Nick Smith, a Labour member of the public accounts committee, which published a critical report on the Government’s handling of the energy sector earlier this month, was among those calling for action. He said: ‘The Insolvency Service should look into how Bulb was run, and if there was wrongdoing the millionaire founders should be punished or asked to pay back money.’

Bulb, which was founded by Mr Wood and Mr Gudka in 2014, was one of a number of smaller energy companies that imploded last year amid a surge in wholesale gas prices and unsustainable contracts.

Mr Wood and Mr Gudka had pocketed £4million each after selling shares in a 2018 fundraising and this spring it was revealed that the former was still earning a £250,000 salary five months after the firm went into administration.

The Mail was unable to reach the pair for comment.