Not that I don't trust Shell or anything but...
https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/2...le-promise-highlights-the-problem-with-regos/
https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/2...le-promise-highlights-the-problem-with-regos/
Interesting but I suppose that this could apply to any of the firms offering 100% renewables.
Soldato
- Joined
- 6 Dec 2002
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- 3,400
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- North East
Trying to decide between Bulb and Utility Point...
Utility Point are cheaper but worried about how long they’ll be around? Any advice?
Utility Point are cheaper but worried about how long they’ll be around? Any advice?
has anyone got their smart meter from bulb, they've installed the SMETS2 the other day but the display is still pairing up to the meter, the chap who installed it said i might need to call bulb to have them push the pairing through
he also mentioned they connect up via radio rather than 3g
the unit looks like this i guess most suppliers are using this so it should be little hassle to switch supplier:
he also mentioned they connect up via radio rather than 3g
the unit looks like this i guess most suppliers are using this so it should be little hassle to switch supplier:
This isn't necessarily the case. You get punted to the appointed supplier on their most expensive standard tariff and they often take their time abut processing the switches as it's not as simple as a normal switch. Has happened a lot recently. Shouldn't of course, but does. And they may have meant that a lot of people overpay in the summer to offset their winter usage so have a credit balance which goes bye bye if they go bust.
Well IIRC Bulb are now the second largest of the non-big six if that makes sense and look to be a decent position financially by all accounts, although I guess who really knows. Ive been with them for nearly 3 years though and they have been great, particularly when I lost my job a while back and was struggling financially for a while, they were a very different experience to a lot of other companies Ive dealt with. Cant comment on Utility Point from a personal standpoint though.
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Incorrect - You do not lose any credit balances if the company goes under, energy suppliers are effectively risk free for the individual consumers. The only problem is with that is every consumer pays for this protection though their bills.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/...net-if-your-energy-supplier-goes-out-business
Fair enough my bad but you do need to go with the appointed supplier and then switch otherwise you may lose it so its certainly not ideal. Understandable for legal reasons of course but it's a bit of pain for consumers as usual.
I agree its less than ideal and perhaps a bit of a 'pain' but the risk is really quite low and not something you should really be concerned about the grand scheme of things.
When I say its a pain, it really isn't. You take a meter reading (only to check your bill is done accurately), wait for the new supplier to turn up and then spending 30 seconds online finding a cheaper one and starting a switch online. Possibly 10 minutes of work, most of which you should be doing regularly anyway to make sure you are still on the cheapest tariff and being billed correctly.
When I say its a pain, it really isn't. You take a meter reading (only to check your bill is done accurately), wait for the new supplier to turn up and then spending 30 seconds online finding a cheaper one and starting a switch online. Possibly 10 minutes of work, most of which you should be doing regularly anyway to make sure you are still on the cheapest tariff and being billed correctly.
I know, its a weird one isn't it. I mean I can sort of get the logic in sense of not wanting to fall behind and it evening out over the course of the year but why not just stick the extra 50 quid a month or whatever it might be in a savings account or whatever. Sure, it;s not going to make you much but surely even a couple of quid a year is better in your pocket than having it sitting with a company gaining literally nothing. It's maybe a generational thing too though as people around my age are much less likely, in my experience, to be like this than their parents were. My mum was a nightmate, when she died I had to claim refunds from BT/Bgas/Sky/Blah Blah as she just overpaid everything so she would never be in debt.
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I dunno I just got my bill recently for Jan through March and living in Scotland, in a really energy inefficient home, that was an OUCH!
I think you underestimate the amount of people that simply do not have any money, live pay check to paycheck and therefore need to pay the same each month.
I think I read something that 25% of British adults (50% of people between 20 and 29) have no savings what so ever, most of the reasons were that they were servicing debt or had sky high outgoings compared to their income.
A fair point. When I lost my job I was in this position and fixed monthly payments were certainly much easier at that time. But a lot of energy companies are pretty poor at offering timely monthly bills even when users are on the ball and submit regular readings, preferring to peddle the pay ahead trope even when it doesnt suit the consumer.
Soldato
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2008
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- 12,082
That's not my experience with Scottish Power and NPower.
I was with Scottish, then NPower, then Scottish again who I've just left. They adjusted the monthly DDs without prompting and at the point of the final bills the amount I was in credit wasn't worth worrying about (only £18 this last time).
I was with Scottish, then NPower, then Scottish again who I've just left. They adjusted the monthly DDs without prompting and at the point of the final bills the amount I was in credit wasn't worth worrying about (only £18 this last time).
I actually did start writing 'it is renewable energy too' before deciding to delete it. Ultimately, until the countries energy mix is all zero emissions, the energy you use might not be clean at the point of use. This includes Bulb who also use REGOs. However, at present the use of these agreements will encourage further investment to expand the countries clean energy supply.
That's a standard smets2 chameleon ihd3 (ppmid) what's wrong with it? The IHD is connected via Zigbee to the meter an encryptedBluetooth connection, the meter is connected to the DCC via mobile GSM (2G) connection. Does it still say downloading data?has anyone got their smart meter from bulb, they've installed the SMETS2 the other day but the display is still pairing up to the meter, the chap who installed it said i might need to call bulb to have them push the pairing through
he also mentioned they connect up via radio rather than 3g
the unit looks like this i guess most suppliers are using this so it should be little hassle to switch supplier: