OCTOPUS GREEN LIGHT

A High Court judge has given the green light for the proposed sale of collapsed energy company Bulb to Octopus Energy to be able to proceed, despite new legal challenges from rival suppliers.

Mr Justice Zacaroli set a date of December 20 for the completion of an asset transfer, in the face of arguments that he should delay his decision.

It came as Scottish Power, British Gas and Eon lodged an urgent High Court bid to challenge the decision-making over the Bulb transaction.

Scottish Power previously told a judge the marketing of Bulb – bailed out at a forecasted cost to taxpayers of £6.5billion – was “defective” and should be rerun to allow for alternative bids.