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?

 

[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!

 

[thomasar]

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.

I did run my own one man company for several years but in a totally different area which was IT in which there were negligable overheads and lots of tax and travel benefits although I believe the rules have changed considerably since I was working. I also didn't add to my pension when I ran my own company because I already had a good final salary pension from a previous long employment which was a bad mistake as it is a hugely tax advantageous thing to do. I didn't realise a plumbing business had such high overheads so I apologise for that mistake and that obviously makes a considerable difference. I agree with you that I was very lucky in having a final salary pension and you make valid points.

 

[buff69]

Hi we’re now with Shell energy as our one went bust (pure planet)

 

[Phil Potts]

We are with EDF. Used to be with Bulb, but moved to a new home with GEC Nightstor heating so needed a really cheap Economy 7 rate. Fixed for 2 years back in June so got in just before all was going to mad.

 

[Lawrence Brown]

I've been with Octopus for 3 years, they've been brilliant.

 

[JaMMiRF]

Octopus for gas and electric. Their app is relatively poor (relative to good software not relative to other energy providers), but generally like the company.

This thread has been useful - I didn't know Ovo (based in Bristol - which is my nearest town) did 3 to 5% on credit balances - that's actually quite appealing for the inevitable credit balance in summer. Saves having to adjust direct debit... Tempted to switch just for that.

Due in January 2022.

 

[Limecc]

I'm a heavy user £240/m dual fual, switched from EON to EDF for a few years, recently back to EON (NEXT) on a two year fixed deal. I always go with the cheapest big name.

 

[gmartine]

@ Limecc. Ouch...how come, big house lots of kids, showers and gadgets?

Was with Green (liked them) been moved to Shell.

 

[Adrian Swain]

We're with Ovo. Whenever we've done a "compare", they seem to do alright. Fixed price contracts are always a gamble but then again so is variable rate. In my experience, price aside, most companies seem good until something goes wrong - then most seem bad. Working "in the industry" for many years dealing with energy suppliers, some offices do seem more "professional" and competent than others but all of them go as far as they can cutting costs (automated/online self-service systems or outsourced overseas call-centres, minimal training/support for staff) and only revert back when their cost-cutting backfires.

At the end of the day, energy companies have one prime objective - to maximise profit/make the shareholders richer.

 

[JordyStephoGasMan]

Shell here, although can't comment on how good they are, haven't bothered to compare for years!

 

[Gasmk1]

@ Limecc. Ouch...how come, big house lots of kids, showers and gadgets?

Was with Green (liked them) been moved to Shell.

£250 a month for gas and electric. Heavy electric use for us as wife’s business uses a lot for kiln and oxygen concentrator’s working with glass

 

[jamille]

Used to be with bulb but found customer service left a lot to be desired. I jumped ship before bulb went into administration and joined octopus energy.

I'm currently on their tracker tariff.