Bulb energy

I'm seriously thinking of switching to Octopus now, they're coming out at £46 a month so only £1 more than I was paying before Bulb decided to hike up the prices. What's the score on them with regards to smart meters?
I'm in rented accommodation and it's really hard to get permission for one, plus I really don't want one anyway. The other companies that came out with cheaper quotes were all compulsory smart meter installs which is annoying so Octopus is looking like the best bet especially with the referral £50.
 
What's the score on them with regards to smart meters?
Don't think there's any requirement but I have one anyway. Just go through a referral link & get a quote, I'm sure it will tell you if you need one. I get this nag every time I log in which suggests it's not compulsory.

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My switch completed today.
 
Received my final bill from Bulb so went to pay it, only to find that they've removed the option from my account. Hunted around & couldn't find any options for payment anywhere so emailed them. Funnily enough, rather than the 10 day wait for my last query I received a custom link within two minutes. 😂
 
I'm too scared to look at my account in case it's gone shooting up 😔

I was with OVO before and they gave me the first generation smart meter (think that is what it's called) and it meant when I moved to bulb, I was able to keep that smart meter.

I never had any issues with it when I was with OVO and always found it really accurate and my bills were significantly less.

Now I'm just worried that bulb will sneakily increase my bill loads but I'll have to pluck up the courage to look at my account.

I get the winter warm discount due to being vulnerable which is a huge help but even if something goes up by a few pounds I'm massively affected and impacted.
 
Now I'm just worried that bulb will sneakily increase my bill loads but I'll have to pluck up the courage to look at my account.
You should have had an email detailing what the price increase will mean for you & how much they want you to pay. Mine was received on the 15/09.
 
You should have had an email detailing what the price increase will mean for you & how much they want you to pay. Mine was received on the 15/09.
Yes I got an email and it was the same increase as Miss Mandy's.

I'm just worried that they might sneakily increase it by more but that requires me to look at my account.

It'll be fine, I'm sure.
 
My payment had been put up to what was stated in the email, but I was able to drop it back down a bit. It's still £6 a month more than I was playing though.
 
Yes I got an email and it was the same increase as Miss Mandy's.

I'm just worried that they might sneakily increase it by more but that requires me to look at my account.

It'll be fine, I'm sure.

Not sure why a Company would or even could sneakily increase anyone’s Bill. All the Companies I deal with always let you know well in advance of price changes.
 
Just had my refund of £18 from bulb after my final bill last week :)
Let’s see what Avro are like for the next few months at least
 
I checked my bank balance this morning and noticed that my Bulb direct debit has leapt from
£99.00/month to £166.00/month. My naivety maybe but can they simply take whatever amount they want?

I’m using £118.00/month
Recommended minimum £149.00/month
Yet they’ve taken £166 this morning

Currenty £112.00 in debit which is probably the reason why...

Is this above board? They’ve also asked for a meter reading today.
 
I checked my bank balance this morning and noticed that my Bulb direct debit has leapt from
£99.00/month to £166.00/month. My naivety maybe but can they simply take whatever amount they want?

I’m using £118.00/month
Recommended minimum £149.00/month
Yet they’ve taken £166 this morning

Currenty £112.00 in debit which is probably the reason why...

Is this above board? They’ve also asked for a meter reading today.

You should have had an email about it last month explaining how much they were changing the payments and why. I got my email on 18th September.
 
I checked my bank balance this morning and noticed that my Bulb direct debit has leapt from
£99.00/month to £166.00/month. My naivety maybe but can they simply take whatever amount they want?

I’m using £118.00/month
Recommended minimum £149.00/month
Yet they’ve taken £166 this morning

Is this above board? They’ve also asked for a meter reading today.

In the past I have been frustrated by the pricing algorithms used by energy companies. My issues have been the reverse, where I am paying too much and then they knee-jerk to something stupid.

Like it is currently £150, I have been paying too much so I have a credit building up, so they say “we are changing your DD to £70”. I have to call them and say “no that is stupid, no way is it £70, make it £140 or £130 because that is more realistic”, they do it in the end but are very reluctant.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Ok I missed the email:

“Since our last price review, wholesale energy prices and the costs of supplying energy to your home have changed. So we have to increase our electricity prices, but we’re able to lower our gas prices. This means your energy statements, which show how much energy you've used and the cost, will be about £7.46 more each month.

Gas costs have come down
The cost of wholesale gas has dropped, so we’re able to pass savings on to you. We’re lowering our gas unit rate from 2.823p to 2.818p per kWh. We’re keeping our gas standing charge the same. We always drop our prices as quickly as possible, so we’ll drop our gas prices from 1 October.

Electricity costs have increased
Our electricity rate will increase from 14.203p to 16.076p per kWh. And we’re increasing our electricity standing charge from 19.592p to 19.886p per day. We’ll hold off until 18 October before changing our electricity rates.

These numbers all include VAT.

We don’t like increasing our prices, but because our tariff is low and reflects the true cost of energy, we have to change our prices when costs change. And we’ll still be well below the price cap after these changes.

We’ve attached a letter with more info on how our prices are changing. And we’ve written a blog post with more information on how energy prices have changed this year.


We'll increase your payments to £166.00 each month
We think you need to increase your payments because they're lower than the cost of the energy you use each month and your account was in debit at your last statement. This means you’ll go even further into debit over the winter as you use more energy during the colder months.

Based on your historical usage, we think you will use £117.94 of energy each month, but your current payments of £99.42 won’t cover that. Your account was £124.32 in debit at your last statement, and based on your usage you should have £164.02 of credit at this time of year to cover your higher usage during winter”

All seems ok then...
 
All seems ok then...
If you're happy then I guess that's OK. But where they are going "wrong" is by deliberately placing accounts in debit for a day or two before the DD hits the account. They then use this phantom debt combined with your monthly statement to arrive at a wholly fictitious "debt" that you have to clear with increased payments. I tried to resolve it by bringing my DD date forward a few days so that the account would be in credit on the day of the statement. They nullified that by also bringing the statement date forward without my permission so I was in "debt".

As a gas user there is some merit to them wanting extra from you to counteract winter peak usage. I only use electricity (oil for heating) so my winter usage barely changes. They still wanted to bump my payments up to cover the phantom extra winter use.

You should have the option to vary your DD amount on their web site but they also set a minimum you can't go below. In mine & others cases it was simply still too much so I switched to Octopus.

There are a couple of options, You can ask the bank to return the DD as an unauthorised amount under the DD Guarantee scheme. You can cancel the DD & then pay the monthly bill by CC. But who needs the pain of either? So the other option is to switch.

My switch to Octopus completed on Thursday. The DD left my account then & was credited yesterday. This morning I had an email confirming my referral bonus from @BB3Lions. So as long as there were no issues with your switch, your credit from my referral should be with you soon. :)
 
I switched on Sunday, there's no credit on my account from your referral yet but I thought I'd wait to query it as my DD isn't due until the 2nd.
 
I switched on Sunday, there's no credit on my account from your referral yet but I thought I'd wait to query it as my DD isn't due until the 2nd.
Octopus said:
When do I get paid my referral credit?
Understandably, this is one of the most common questions we get asked. The answer is that credit is paid once the new user is on supply and their first month’s direct debit has been successfully taken. Our referral system automatically pays you after both these events have happened, and the whole process typically takes around four weeks (although this can be longer if the previous supplier delays the switch).

So using my case there was a four day delay (inc. weekend) between the DD leaving my account & appearing as credit. The referral bonus appeared the next day. So I wouldn't expect yours to show much before 6th.
 

Its sending that email that allows them to charge payments.

They increased my payment from £44 to £56 despite my bills being £45 a month in winter and my account being over £50 in credit. I was able to reduce my payment sightly, but they wouldn't let me go below £50. That was taken today and I've just done my meter readings today too so I'm just waiting for my new bill to be drawn up before jumping ship.
 
Its sending that email that allows them to charge payments.

They increased my payment from £44 to £56 despite my bills being £45 a month in winter and my account being over £50 in credit. I was able to reduce my payment sightly, but they wouldn't let me go below £50. That was taken today and I've just done my meter readings today too so I'm just waiting for my new bill to be drawn up before jumping ship.
Likewise I’ve done and submitted a reading. It seems like they are trying to inflate the books pre sale perhaps?
 
My naivety maybe but can they simply take whatever amount they want?
Even without the email you received, a Direct Debit allows the company to request any amount they want from your bank.
 
Well there are rules as part of the DD guarantee....

What is the direct debit guarantee?

Any organisation that wants to collect payment by direct debit will need to sign up for the Direct Debit Guarantee.
This is essentially a vetting process carried out by the banking industry which ensures that any company using direct debits complies to a set of rules including:
  • Informing you at least 10 working days before any changes to the amount, frequency or date of your Direct Debit are made
  • Agreeing that you can cancel a direct debit at any time
  • Offering a full refund if an error is made by the company, bank or building society
You should be provided with a copy of the Direct Debit Guarantee whenever you set up.

So they should give you 10 days notice (which was in the email) but they don't specifically need your approval for it to change so if you miss the notification as you did, they can still take the different amount.
 

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