Bulb Energy in Special Administration

Bulb Energy started in 2015 and was one of the first utility providers to offer renewable electricity and gas to consumers. Unfortunately Bulb has gone into special administration due to the spike in wholesale prices.

With the administrators now appointed - Bulb can continue to trade until the time is right for the company to be sold under the terms of special administration.

So what should Bulb Customers do, as gas engineers and plumbers have you got any insider info that can help out members who may be in this situation, or other similar scenarios?

 

[Chuck]

Was with Symbio (electricity) and Daligas (gas) until they went under and now am with E.ON (electricity) and Shell Energy (gas).

The new 'capped' variable tariffs are considerably more expensive than my previous 12-month fix from March (about 50% up overall) and, of course, the higher prices kicked in just in time for winter so they have the biggest possible impact.

It's another example of the "A warranty is worthless if the underwriter goes bust." rule.

 

[cjg]

scotish power gas/leccy been there some time now waiting till things carm down then change

 

[hometech]

I was the octopus and I asked if they could assure me that the electricy coming into my home was green and renewable and only produced by local windmills as I did not want any other kind of electricity contaminating my circuits. They actually promised this in an email, I Rubbish you now.

 

[Gasmk1]

British Gas dual fuel and electric vehicle special night tariff was with money plus but they went and was transferred to BG

 

[thomasar]

We've been with Octopus Energy for a few years now and have had no issues. Unfortunately anyone coming off a fixed price tariff will experience a pretty sharp rise in prises, ours went up by 35% in Sept but are still lower than most according to the comparison sites I checked at the time.
Looking forward, heating and energy use will be a serious consideration for many households. We have had cheap energy for a long time and in some ways sat back and enjoyed it without considering what would happen if it rises. Most people spend more on their TV and Internet services than heating and hot water! I have lost count of the jobs people have complained about boiler repair costs while passing a 60in" TV in every room! Ha, rant over.

Cheap energy. You must be joking! I was paying £160 month before this crisis which was much more than for TV or internet and the difference is that I need energy wheras I can do without TV out internet if I have to. Energy and fuel has always been hugely expensive in this country compared to the USA and has never been cheap. Now the prices are ridiculous!

 

[Ric2013]

Yeah. Cheap. Trouble is our generation hasn't seen expensive energy.

My (rural) grandparents' generation used to cut wood by hand and carry it down the hills on their backs or on huge sledges. Even today, with motor vehicles and chainsaws, a couple of cubic metres of stacked firewood would probably take me a couple of days (if I were any good at it), plus better housing and more efficient heating means you don't need so much fuel in the first place and yet we can have a whole house at 20 degrees if we want. Back in the day of axes and open fires, wood was the best part of the winter's work and most of the house would have been cold, except the kitchen. Even then I'm told they usually got up and started work a long time before anyone would stop to light a fire.

Before switching to a green tariff, I was with Ebico and could earn my fuel bills in less than 2 weeks in a minimum wage job. Around £500 a year. I call that pretty darn cheap.

 

[ontheup]

Was Igloo, but transferred to EON

 

[thomasar]

Yeah. Cheap. Trouble is our generation hasn't seen expensive energy.

My (rural) grandparents' generation used to cut wood by hand and carry it down the hills on their backs or on huge sledges. Even today, with motor vehicles and chainsaws, a couple of cubic metres of stacked firewood would probably take me a couple of days (if I were any good at it), plus better housing and more efficient heating means you don't need so much fuel in the first place and yet we can have a whole house at 20 degrees if we want. Back in the day of axes and open fires, wood was the best part of the winter's work and most of the house would have been cold, except the kitchen. Even then I'm told they usually got up and started work a long time before anyone would stop to light a fire.

Before switching to a green tariff, I was with Ebico and could earn my fuel bills in less than 2 weeks in a minimum wage job. Around £500 a year. I call that pretty darn cheap.

Maybe you think we should go back to living in caves! My parents first house was a small terrace with an outside toilet. Not something I would want to go back to on freezing evenings in the north! No problem for you as a plumber as you can just stick another £10 on your charges to cover any increase. Not quite the same for people already struggling to make ends meet.

 

[IND_Nick]

The cost of everything is unfortunately constantly increasing, more so at the moment and the foreseeable future. My point was simply that as an overall household cost energy has been relatively competitive for years, especially in comparison to the rest of Europe. It will now be something that has to be properly budgeted for and considered when renovating homes to make them more efficient.
I really feel for anyone struggling financially at the moment as there isn't much light at the end of the tunnel. I have been in the position where the decision between food or energy had to be made and it is pretty miserable.

 

[Ric2013]

Maybe you think we should go back to living in caves! My parents first house was a small terrace with an outside toilet. Not something I would want to go back to on freezing evenings in the north! No problem for you as a plumber as you can just stick another £10 on your charges to cover any increase. Not quite the same for people already struggling to make ends meet.

To be honest, what I earn as a plumber (and it isn't a lot actually - yet to make plumbing a profitable business) is none of your business, but I have a very good idea what struggling to make ends meet means, and I am still very frugal (currently in a room heated to 15.2°C if the room thermostat in here is to be believed). People don't forget their backgrounds easily.

My point was that had we not had cheap energy, we wouldn't have developed a society (out of caves, if you like ) that allows us to have fully-heated homes and our generation has been very lucky to live in such times thus far. I think most people can afford £10 a week to heat and light a house (I shared the costs with a housemate anyway). For those that can't, there is obviously a lot wrong with our society, but my point is that the issue is not the price of gas and electricity as such.

 

[thomasar]

To be honest, what I earn as a plumber (and it isn't a lot actually - yet to make plumbing a profitable business) is none of your business, but I have a very good idea what struggling to make ends meet means, and I am still very frugal (currently in a room heated to 15.2°C if the room thermostat in here is to be believed). People don't forget their backgrounds easily.

My point was that had we not had cheap energy, we wouldn't have developed a society (out of caves, if you like ) that allows us to have fully-heated homes and our generation has been very lucky to live in such times thus far. I think most people can afford £10 a week to heat and light a house (I shared the costs with a housemate anyway). For those that can't, there is obviously a lot wrong with our society, but my point is that the issue is not the price of gas and electricity as such.

Well my gas and electricty costs before the latest increases were around £1700 a year and I don't think that is cheap so we'll agree to disagree. Also it's a good few years since any plumber charged me less than £40 an hour labour (maybe I'm unlucky!) which even on a standard 35 hour week equates to £70,000 a year which is about double the amount of my pensions and my pensions are final salary and relatively good.

 

[Ric2013]

Well my gas and electricty costs before the latest increases were around £1700 a year and I don't think that is cheap so we'll agree to disagree. Also it's a good few years since any plumber charged me less than £40 an hour labour (maybe I'm unlucky!) which even on a standard 35 hour week equates to £70,000 a year which is about double the amount of my pensions and my pensions are final salary and relatively good.

If your plumber gets paid for each and every hour of his 35-hour week, he's very lucky indeed. Have you considered that out of that £40 there are overheads and lots of time spent working that isn't actually chargeable? Your pension is roughly double what I've ever earned in any job, it's well above what most 'normal' people have to live off and and I suppose it's what I'd aspire to earn if I can get the business truly thriving. I have had a family member who earnt roughly that much (though he was a workaholic didn't know how to spend it), so it still seems rather a lot to me. £70000 as a plumber is pie-in-the-sky unless you want to work nights and very long weeks and even then is probably only possible in specific areas.

But you're still using three times as much energy in your home as I am. My house takes about 4500kWh of gas and 500kWh of electric for one or two people. If you have a massive household with an extended family, then I do get it, but the cost/usage per person will at least be relatively low. If not, then the fact that you presumably choose to live in a relatively large or relatively thermally inefficient house suggests that whether or not you think energy is cheap, your action of choosing to use such a large quantity shows it hasn't been expensive enough to make you reduce your energy usage due to cost. Hope you see where I'm coming from: it's not about agreeing to disagree - it's about different perspectives (which I suppose is the same thing, now I think about it). In any case, it's all relative to other times in history (past, and probably future).

 

[Chuck]

my pensions are final salary and relatively good.

Lucky you.

I infer from that you have not had to run your own small business and therefore won't be aware that the overheads will take 50% of the £40 you pay for a job before the plumber who does the work sees anything. And they'll need to put about £5 of the £20 that remains in a pension scheme in order to have enough pension to support a 'modest and prudent' lifestyle when their knees pack up and they have to retire.

 

[Ric2013]

Lucky you.

I infer from that you have not had to run your own small business and therefore won't be aware that the overheads will take 50% of the £40 you pay for a job before the plumber who does the work sees anything. And they'll need to put about £5 of the £20 that remains in a pension scheme in order to have enough pension to support a 'modest and prudent' lifestyle when their knees pack up and they have to retire.

50% overheads? Take it that's for a gas fitter who pays into trade association/competent person schemes and not just a general plumber? It feels like a high estimate, though it's entirely possible the only reason I can keep costs down is my turnover is quite limited in the first place and once that increases time becomes money. Oh dear, we're going rather OT - almost like the good old days

 

[thomasar]

If your plumber gets paid for each and every hour of his 35-hour week, he's very lucky indeed. Have you considered that out of that £40 there are overheads and lots of time spent working that isn't actually chargeable? Your pension is roughly double what I've ever earned in any job, it's well above what most 'normal' people have to live off and and I suppose it's what I'd aspire to earn if I can get the business truly thriving. I have had a family member who earnt roughly that much (though he was a workaholic didn't know how to spend it), so it still seems rather a lot to me. £70000 as a plumber is pie-in-the-sky unless you want to work nights and very long weeks and even then is probably only possible in specific areas.

But you're still using three times as much energy in your home as I am. My house takes about 4500kWh of gas and 500kWh of electric for one or two people. If you have a massive household with an extended family, then I do get it, but the cost/usage per person will at least be relatively low. If not, then the fact that you presumably choose to live in a relatively large or relatively thermally inefficient house suggests that whether or not you think energy is cheap, your action of choosing to use such a large quantity shows it hasn't been expensive enough to make you reduce your energy usage due to cost. Hope you see where I'm coming from: it's not about agreeing to disagree - it's about different perspectives (which I suppose is the same thing, now I think about it). In any case, it's all relative to other times in history (past, and probably future).

I do see where you're coming from and obviously I appreciate your point re hours are not all workable.
I'm pretty careful about getting the best prices I can for things like car and house insurance but the one thing my wife and I won't skimp on at our ages is being warm so you are correct in that we could turn the heating down in winter. We also do have a reasonably large house and my son still lives at home so we have 3 adults using the shower regularly. We do have double glazing, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and use LED bulbs but we still used 4063 Kwh of Gas and 615 Kwh of Electricity for the 2 months of October and November!