Bulb - Finally going into Administration

[Rannoch]

By how much? They wanted to change mine to £96 a month from £38.

From £56 to £120 or thereabouts.

 

[FoxEye]

Then improve the public sector then.

It's not true, anyhow.

Look at the rail franchise that improved under public ownership.

Look at all the local govs that tried to outsource their IT (a lot of it with BT) only to take IT back in-house when BT delivered a worse service at more cost.

The idea that the public sector can't be efficient or deliver a good quality of service is a viewpoint entirely derived from an ideology.

The ideology that the private sector must always be best. It's a belief; a faith.

There are lots of good people in the public sector, and lots of good public sector organisations.

He also said, "public sector is answerable to no-one", which is of course nonsense.

And I could turn around and say, with even more justification, that most of the private sector is only answerable to their shareholders. *Not* their customers or even their staff.

Whatever the private sector gains in efficiency, it loses in greed and the need to put shareholder returns about all else.

 

[Diagro]

I've started to reduce my daily electricity cost as much as possible.
I shut everything off at night apart from the fridge. According to the smart meter, I'm down to 1 or 2p per hour through the night.

Whilst my wife's at home with the boy, doing washing and what not, tv on and what ever else, it's an avg of 10p per hour for about 10 hours.

Before, we didn't even bother checking, or shutting anything off. Was paying quite a bit more per month in electricity costs each month compared to the past 3 months I've been paying attention.

At the very least, I've reduced my electricity bill enough to pay for I expect 50% of the extra gas bill over winter.

 

[PlacidCasual]

People suggesting hedging ahead for gas. It depends on the liquidity in the market that far out. You simply may not be able to buy the volumes that far out because the suppliers might also not want to over extend themselves. We’ve had times in the last few years when LNG tankers were literally sat in the Channel waiting to see which country’s price was highest. Sometimes the act of waiting forces the price up more than the waiting cost.

 

[cheesyboy]

People suggesting hedging ahead for gas. It depends on the liquidity in the market that far out. You simply may not be able to buy the volumes that far out because the suppliers might also not want to over extend themselves. We’ve had times in the last few years when LNG tankers were literally sat in the Channel waiting to see which country’s price was highest. Sometimes the act of waiting forces the price up more than the waiting cost.

If the Big 6 can all hedge, then the challenger companies can too.

Except their strategy was to buy most of their energy on the spot market, where you don't pay the hedging premium and, therefore, in normal circumstances you'll pay lower prices (you win some, you lose some, but overall it's cheaper).

Obviously, though, a big increase in price leaves you seriously exposed. But that was always the gamble, and that risk is why hedging carries a premium.

 

[cheesyboy]

This is **** analysis in the BBC article:

" Justina Miltienyte, an energy policy expert at Uswitch, said the failure of Bulb signalled the "tipping point" of the UK energy crisis.

"Ultimately this demise wasn't caused by a badly run business model. Instead, Bulb was choked off by the way the government decided to structure the current energy market with the price cap." "

They knew the risk and built their business model accordingly. Their good fortune simply ran out

 

[Energize]

This is **** analysis in the BBC article:

" Justina Miltienyte, an energy policy expert at Uswitch, said the failure of Bulb signalled the "tipping point" of the UK energy crisis.

"Ultimately this demise wasn't caused by a badly run business model. Instead, Bulb was choked off by the way the government decided to structure the current energy market with the price cap." "

They knew the risk and built their business model accordingly. Their good fortune simply ran out

Perhaps a bad take on this particular issue, but I do believe the government are largely to blame for the energy crisis, they are the ones who have continuously screwed nuclear.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Energy companies should only increase the DD by a certain amount if customer is in credit. If cost of energy goes up 10% then it should be only 10% max increase. Or if you are in debit by £240 for an easy example- then £20 plus 10%. My parents with one company were £180 in credit and wanted to increase their DD by £31 a month!
Ideally you should be in credit in spring/summer so that helps out in winter.

I don't want to be in credit at all I want to do is pay for what I use and nothing more can you imagine if amazon charged you in advance for goods you might purchase in the future? People would think they were crazy. Or simply using your money for capital investment/interest.

This is **** analysis in the BBC article:

" Justina Miltienyte, an energy policy expert at Uswitch, said the failure of Bulb signalled the "tipping point" of the UK energy crisis.

"Ultimately this demise wasn't caused by a badly run business model. Instead, Bulb was choked off by the way the government decided to structure the current energy market with the price cap." "

They knew the risk and built their business model accordingly. Their good fortune simply ran out

Yup, 100% correct govt deliberately capped energy prices for political profit. Bread and circuses and all that. Which is fine as long as the market remains stable but that makes the business model unworkable if the market shifts to something else then the model is unsustainable. They simply ran out of luck but as a limited company only the assets are at risk the shareholders etc will remain with whatever profits they previously accrued.

 

[Steampunk]

This is **** analysis in the BBC article:

" Justina Miltienyte, an energy policy expert at Uswitch, said the failure of Bulb signalled the "tipping point" of the UK energy crisis.

"Ultimately this demise wasn't caused by a badly run business model. Instead, Bulb was choked off by the way the government decided to structure the current energy market with the price cap." "

They knew the risk and built their business model accordingly. Their good fortune simply ran out

The Guardian article draws a different picture.

Bulb’s major strength was its marketing: it excelled at attracting new customers through lucrative referral payments and green energy claims, and managed to secure willing investors by talking up its credentials as a tech startup.

But Bulb’s rivals have long claimed that the company’s business model, green credentials and fundraising were all unsustainable because it relied on greenwashing, and “too good to be true” energy prices to help fuel its rapid growth.

Government officials and ministers were also taken in by Bulb’s seemingly unstoppable success, and as one senior industry source said, and “loved them” because “they came in to challenge the incumbent suppliers and grew at scale”.

“As an energy challenger, having something which fundamentally differentiates you in the market is really important. I don’t think Bulb ever did,” the source said. “They were always greenwashing. They never had a tech proposition on a par with Octopus Energy or Ovo Energy.”

The stellar growth was useful in distracting investors from its limited success in developing its own technology, the source said. But as energy prices began to rise, and investor interest began to wane, Bulb’s ready supply of financial support began to run out.

“It was always a struggle to see how this company would be viable over the long term,” the source added.

 

[unwashed potato!]

should we not expect to have to pay prices linked to wholesale?

no, other wise there's no incentive for these companies to force wholesale down.

I don't want to be in credit at all I want to do is pay for what I use and nothing more can you imagine if anything else pre-charged you for what you might spend/use? Amazon charging you in advance for goods you might purchase in the future? People would think they were crazy. Or simply using your money for capital investment.

come on, you can see why charging a standard dd every month is beneficial surely? surely you are able to understand how houses other than yours work? i am happy to explain it

 

[Richeh]

Well this will be interesting for me. When I moved to a new house 3 years ago we switched to Bulb. There were quite a few issues as they were new builds and I think I had to send our gas/electric meter numbers (photos) about 3 times. After over a year I noticed that my credit had buiilt up to almost £700 so I contacted them, they seemed to be having issues with the account and told me they would look into it. I then received an email from them saying that my account needed further investigation (I kept this), so when I spoke to them I said that was fine but please refund any outstanding credit - when £700 has built up in credit something is definitely wrong. Received that within a week and have had no payments taken for almost 18 months!

I know it was bad form by me not to chase it up further but had a lot of stuff going and only realised they hadn't taken any payments about 6 months ago. Am sure I will probably have an interesting phone call coming soon!

 

[flea.rider]

we should never have gotten rid of coal .. (yes it was dirty) until a real substantial alternative was in place ..ie: at least another 2 nuke plants where operational

 

[MrM]

no, other wise there's no incentive for these companies to force wholesale down.

Surely wholesale prices are a result of supply and demand?

The price you pay at the pump (to a lesser degree than we would all like) goes up and down as the price of oil changes.

 

[Robert]

Because public sector is full of chocolate tea pots who can't deliver to time cost nor quality targets and are accountable to no one.

And the private sector is? Mostly the same…just better at hiding behind rigged stats.

 

[Demon]

I've been with Bulb for a while and it's a shame..

I'm on their EV Tarrif (5.68p off-peak, 20.11p peak) and this is still the cheapest around for me.

Good that OFGEM are dealing with it and so far seemingly will just be business as usual for customers.

 

[Diagro]

Well this will be interesting for me. When I moved to a new house 3 years ago we switched to Bulb. There were quite a few issues as they were new builds and I think I had to send our gas/electric meter numbers (photos) about 3 times. After over a year I noticed that my credit had buiilt up to almost £700 so I contacted them, they seemed to be having issues with the account and told me they would look into it. I then received an email from them saying that my account needed further investigation (I kept this), so when I spoke to them I said that was fine but please refund any outstanding credit - when £700 has built up in credit something is definitely wrong. Received that within a week and have had no payments taken for almost 18 months!

I know it was bad form by me not to chase it up further but had a lot of stuff going and only realised they hadn't taken any payments about 6 months ago. Am sure I will probably have an interesting phone call coming soon!

Lol

You are going to have uncontestable bill coming.

Not on them to chase, its also up to you to make sure you're paying your bills.

Bet your bill will be around 1.5k

 

[booyaka]

Well this will be interesting for me. When I moved to a new house 3 years ago we switched to Bulb. There were quite a few issues as they were new builds and I think I had to send our gas/electric meter numbers (photos) about 3 times. After over a year I noticed that my credit had buiilt up to almost £700 so I contacted them, they seemed to be having issues with the account and told me they would look into it. I then received an email from them saying that my account needed further investigation (I kept this), so when I spoke to them I said that was fine but please refund any outstanding credit - when £700 has built up in credit something is definitely wrong. Received that within a week and have had no payments taken for almost 18 months!

I know it was bad form by me not to chase it up further but had a lot of stuff going and only realised they hadn't taken any payments about 6 months ago. Am sure I will probably have an interesting phone call coming soon!

Have fun when you get a massive bill in.

Claiming you didn't realise you weren't paying as you were busy, isn't an excuse. With nothing to back up/meter readings etc - your going to be getting a bill for whatever amount and your going to have to pay it.

Call them now and sort it - don't wait

 

[dlockers]

And the private sector is? Mostly the same…just better at hiding behind rigged stats.

You mean income statement, balance sheet and cash flow? sure there are bone idol people in all walks of life. It's just that public sector systematically breeds them that way because they are totally unaccountable.

 

[cheesefest]

To anyone who was a Bulb customer, leave the amount you paid by DD when you work out bills. So when new supplier comes and you may get a large bill, use that amount to pay off the debit then start again.

 

[Marmot]

Have fun when you get a massive bill in.

Claiming you didn't realise you weren't paying as you were busy, isn't an excuse. With nothing to back up/meter readings etc - your going to be getting a bill for whatever amount and your going to have to pay it.

Call them now and sort it - don't wait

Remember to check your rights with regards to back-billing: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/informatio...ce-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules

If you've been correctly billed throughout, but haven't paid then yes it is your problem.