[Finance] Another energy supplier into administration

[Cheshire Cat]

So would anyone with Bulb be advised to now cancel any Direct Debit? On the basis that whoever you are transferred to would contact you for the payment details.

Don't do that. Leave it as it is as whoever takes it over will be in touch (eventually).

You can't move to anywhere cheaper anyway, because there isn't anything out there that is cheaper.

 

[zeemeeuw]

... but it looks like Bulb will continue trading but under 'Special Administration' ... basically propped up by the taxpayer. So if you cancelled a DD, your payment would fail and you'd probably incur an admin fee.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Can anyone work this out:
I was nearly £500 in credit when Igloo went under last month.
Now Eon-next who I was put with by Ofgem are saying I'm nearly £300 in debt.
They both said before this cockup don't worry you are in safe hands the change over will all go fine

 

[Springal]

Can anyone work this out:
I was nearly £500 in credit when Igloo went under last month.
Now Eon-next who I was put with by Ofgem are saying I'm nearly £300 in debt.
They both said before this cockup don't worry you are in safe hands the change over will all go fine

Unbilled usage ? Or over/under payment that got squared up

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Can anyone work this out:
I was nearly £500 in credit when Igloo went under last month.
Now Eon-next who I was put with by Ofgem are saying I'm nearly £300 in debt.
They both said before this cockup don't worry you are in safe hands the change over will all go fine

Check the readings are accurate, and check the readings on your last bill.

 

[portslade seagull]

Can anyone work this out:
I was nearly £500 in credit when Igloo went under last month.
Now Eon-next who I was put with by Ofgem are saying I'm nearly £300 in debt.
They both said before this cockup don't worry you are in safe hands the change over will all go fine

Much the same for us. We were with Utility point and moved to EDF. Our credit was £175 but now we are paying 50 more a month with the credit seemingly disappeared

 

[Leekbrookgull]

How many suppliers are left in the UK market ?

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Much the same for us. We were with Utility point and moved to EDF. Our credit was £175 but now we are paying 50 more a month with the credit seemingly disappeared

Just a quick reply to the posters above.
Eon-next are looking into my query and will be in touch in a couple of weeks.
In theory I seem to have 'lost' nearly £800 in a month.
Obviously I understand I use less gas in the summer so I build up credit.
Then over the whole year things should even themselves out.
I assumed my £500 credit would be taken off what is owed now not added to it!

 

[Ludensian Gull]

Much the same for us. We were with Utility point and moved to EDF. Our credit was £175 but now we are paying 50 more a month with the credit seemingly disappeared

This is exactly why I refuse to go DD with these companies. I readyhe meter and pay the what I owe, nothing more nothing less.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

So would anyone with Bulb be advised to now cancel any Direct Debit? On the basis that whoever you are transferred to would contact you for the payment details.

I was with People's Energy who went bust back in Sept
My DD was taken [by PE] 1st Oct and 1st Nov and although I've had emails from British Gas to say my account has been transferred, I still don't have a BG bill yet to check against.
At least my Smart Meter readings are going into BG daily ...

 

[Thunder Bolt]

https://news.sky.com/story/collapse...leaving-taxpayers-to-take-the-strain-12477266

The taxpayer will hand over £1.7 BILLION to keep Bulb energy running.

 

[nickbrighton]

One of Bulbs biggest issues was that in order to expand the business they set initial DDs far to low, so people thought they were switching to a much cheaper deal. Once they have a few meter readings bills go up,to cover actual usage but what this meant that lots of people were paying say £50 a month when they should have been paying £75.

Thats all well and good IF people accept the bills going up, and IF the income covered the costs off the gas being bought.

When gas prices went through the roof, not only did it exceed the fixed rates that Bulb customers were on, because vast amounts of new customers were paying for a lot less gas than they had used there was a massive hole in bulbs bank balance meaning they simply couldn't pay the bills

How often on here have we seen people saying that their DDs have gone up hugely from Bulb or any small company after six months or a year- it was a deliberate tactic to get new customers- low DDs, cash back if you recommend a new customer etc- last year my facebook was inundated with people trying to get me to use the Bulb sign up codes. This has now all come home to roost as they simply dont have the cash avaialble to pay and loads of customers will have large debts when new suppliers actually get proper meter readings and work out what the DDs should have been

The lesson is simply look at the UNIT price per kwh when comparing suppliers- ignore the recommended DD amount that is just plucked out the air by an agent being hounded by managers to get new customers

All bills show the unit price along with your annual use. Dont rely on anyone else to do it- simply do it yourself and work out your own bills and then see who is cheaper and for gods sake give meter readings, its false economy to let under estimates stand.

You would be amazed at the amount of people who refuse meter readers entrance to read meters and then complain about estimated bills

 

[maffew]

https://news.sky.com/story/collapse...leaving-taxpayers-to-take-the-strain-12477266

The taxpayer will hand over £1.7 BILLION to keep Bulb energy running.

This is obscene money, they have 1.7m customers so that is a grand per customer, how can that be!

 

[Dick Swiveller]

This is obscene money, they have 1.7m customers so that is a grand per customer, how can that be!

Don't know but I am looking forward to my cheque for £1000. I'll let you know what I spend it on.

Would be amusing if they decide to pass us customers on to Électricité de France. Sizzling gammon would power the country for a day or two.

 

[keaton]

One of Bulbs biggest issues was that in order to expand the business they set initial DDs far to low, so people thought they were switching to a much cheaper deal. Once they have a few meter readings bills go up,to cover actual usage but what this meant that lots of people were paying say £50 a month when they should have been paying £75.

Thats all well and good IF people accept the bills going up, and IF the income covered the costs off the gas being bought.

When gas prices went through the roof, not only did it exceed the fixed rates that Bulb customers were on, because vast amounts of new customers were paying for a lot less gas than they had used there was a massive hole in bulbs bank balance meaning they simply couldn't pay the bills

How often on here have we seen people saying that their DDs have gone up hugely from Bulb or any small company after six months or a year- it was a deliberate tactic to get new customers- low DDs, cash back if you recommend a new customer etc- last year my facebook was inundated with people trying to get me to use the Bulb sign up codes. This has now all come home to roost as they simply dont have the cash avaialble to pay and loads of customers will have large debts when new suppliers actually get proper meter readings and work out what the DDs should have been

The lesson is simply look at the UNIT price per kwh when comparing suppliers- ignore the recommended DD amount that is just plucked out the air by an agent being hounded by managers to get new customers

All bills show the unit price along with your annual use. Dont rely on anyone else to do it- simply do it yourself and work out your own bills and then see who is cheaper and for gods sake give meter readings, its false economy to let under estimates stand.

I'm sure that's the case for some but I've been with Bulb for 5/6 years and it remained a much cheaper deal than most

 

[Springal]

One of Bulbs biggest issues was that in order to expand the business they set initial DDs far to low, so people thought they were switching to a much cheaper deal. Once they have a few meter readings bills go up,to cover actual usage but what this meant that lots of people were paying say £50 a month when they should have been paying £75.

Surely the comparison is done on standing charges + unit costs? Not just a guestimate direct debit amount?

 

[nickbrighton]

Surely the comparison is done on standing charges + unit costs? Not just a guestimate direct debit amount?

yes u have to add in the standing charge , but when working out how much thats easy to do- problem is a lot of people simply don't bother and just go for the cheapest DD quoted and cant be bothered doing any "homework" themselves- and before anyone suggests that I am being to harsh on the general public- I was a manager for 12 years in energy supply and spent my working life sorting just this thing out

If you are paying £150 a month now and someone quotes you £70 something is very wrong , but people just see the headline figure and go for it, rather than think about it

This isn't the main cause of the current "crisis", thats the massive rise in wholesale gas prices, most of the smaller companies didnt stand a chance and would have gone under, but I think Bulb should have been able to whithstand this

 

[nickbrighton]

I'm sure that's the case for some but I've been with Bulb for 5/6 years and it remained a much cheaper deal than most

it may well have been, and when you joined I'm sure they set the DD at the correct amount, but I'm pretty sure that wasnt the case the past 2 years or so if all the ridiculously low DDs people were bandying around is anything to go by

 

[Audax]

One of Bulbs biggest issues was that in order to expand the business they set initial DDs far to low, so people thought they were switching to a much cheaper deal. Once they have a few meter readings bills go up,to cover actual usage but what this meant that lots of people were paying say £50 a month when they should have been paying £75.

That's incorrect. Bulb was relatively debt free until a few years ago, when they started using debt to fund expansion into non-UK markets. That debt weighed them down and they were already in trouble before the gas price crisis hit. They were in advanced talks with investors about getting new funding in to address the issue and continue their expansion plans, but as soon as the crisis hit the investors declined to invest and Bulb's fate was sealed.