Major energy supplier with two million customers SOLD to rival – what it means for your bills

A MAJOR energy supplier with around two million customers has agreed to sell the business to a huge rival.

Shell plans to sell its domestic home energy arm to Octopus Energy.

Right now, Shell provides domestic gas, power, and broadband services to approximately two million customers.

The suppliers expect to complete the deal in the fourth quarter of 2023 but the buyout would be subject to usual regulatory approval.

In the meantime, tariffs and offers will remain unchanged for all existing energy customers.

Octopus Energy has said that there will be a smooth transition and no disruption to customer energy supply.

All Shell energy and broadband customers will be contacted about the next steps following regulatory approval.

Customer credit balances are protected, and will automatically get transferred to their new account with Octopus together with their existing direct debits. 

Octopus Energy recently completed the transfer of 1.5million Bulb customers in just six months – an industry record.

Greg Jackson, chief executive and founder of Octopus Energy Group, said: "Following a stringent process, we are pleased to be acquiring Shell Energy Retail in the UK and Germany.

"Our commitment to customers is paramount and we will do whatever it takes to deliver the Octopus promise when we welcome these new customers too."

Affected customers are usually given several months' notice before their accounts are transferred over to the new supplier.

If the deal is approved it will catapult Octopus Energy to become the UK's second largest energy supplier with 6.5million customers.

The news comes after Shell confirmed that it was looking for a buyer back in June this year.

In January, Shell said it was looking at options for the future of its UK energy supply business.

It came just five years after the home energy business was born out of Shell's acquisition of First Utility in 2018.

The last major supplier to place its domestic arm up for sale was SSE back in 2019.

SSE Energy Services which provided gas and electricity to 3.5million households was acquired by Ovo Energy in January 2020.

Octopus Energy said in October 2022 that it would take on all 1.5million Bulb customers after the troubled energy supplier fell into administration back in November 2021.

At its peak, Bulb was the country's seventh largest energy firm and provided gas and electricity tariffs to 1.7million households.

But it was the biggest provider to go under after several other smaller firms failed to stay afloat.

Unlike, the smaller suppliers which went bust with hundreds of thousands of customers, Bulb had over one million.

This meant that Ofgem couldn't simply get another supplier to take on all its customers, as it has done with the 28 other firms that collapsed in 2021. 

Instead, Bulb was placed into special administration - which meant that it was allowed to operate as normal and customers don't need to do anything.

In this format, the company was kept afloat thanks to the input of £4billion worth of taxpayer cash.

But in October last year, Octopus announced a deal with the government to buy Bulb and take on its 1.5 million customers, backed by the Government.