Origin Energy could receive a windfall far greater than the market had expected if the British electricity retailing business it has invested in spins out a highly lucrative technology play for $US10 billion ($15.4 billion).

That’s the view of analysts and investors, who said they were surprised by the high valuation for Octopus Energy’s Kraken arm first floated by the Financial Times at the weekend. Origin shares jumped almost 7 per cent on Monday, the first day of trade after that report was published.