Bulb is a UK energy supplier. Octopus does the same thing, but they are in a better financial position. They are suggesting that with 1 billion support from the UK government, they could take over.
Why is this a good thing? Well, firstly Octopus has a far higher green targets, and the ability for consumers to pay about £5 above to guarantee all electricity is from green sources (as well as offsetting gas emissions).
Given Octopus has 3.1 million customers, and Bulb has 1.6 million, Octupus would grow by 50% overnight with this merge. The government is already 2 billion in the hole for trying to help Bulb not go out of business, might a 1 billion loan to Octopus be a better bet, given the highly likely requirement for the government to put more money into Bulb?
Given the governments carbon reduction targets, and fines that might hit them should the UK fail to cut as promised, this could well prove to be a superb deal even without the money coming back.
It is small news in worldwide perspective, but it is symptomatic of a trend which seems to be continuing around the rest of the world.