Bulb energy - UK's biggest green supplier - becomes Octopus energy

[editor]

I've been with EDF Energy for ages by default - like most people I couldn't be arsed to change - but I finally did some looking around and switched to Bulb who work out cheaper and are much, much greener too.

There's a comparison on this page that shows the percentage of green energy from each supplier and EDF are right down the bottom next to npower, the bastards.

I'm annoyed with myself that it's taken me so long, but if you fancy taking the plunge I warmly recommend you to sign up. If you use this link you get a £50 Brucie Bonus too (and so do I) but that's up to you.

I know there's other green suppliers around, but this lot were very competitive and it was a piece of piss to change. And yes it does read like an advert, but if I get people to get off shitehawks like EDF and npower and on to any other green company, that's a result. They pay the Living Wage too.

Here's their guff:

The biggest green supplier
We're proud to be the UK's biggest green supplier. We provide our members with 100% renewable electricity from solar, wind and hydro. Plus, our gas is 100% carbon neutral. 10% is green gas produced from renewable sources like food or farm waste. And we offset the rest of the gas we supply by supporting carbon reduction projects around the world.

Independent generators
We buy our energy from independent renewable generators from across the UK, like Gail and Miles from Old Walls Hydro in Dartmoor. Wherever possible, we have direct relationships with these generators to purchase their electricity. We buy the rest from the wholesale market. We source our energy from solar, wind and hydro. They're a pretty impressive bunch, our generators.

Bulb - Making energy simpler, cheaper, greener

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I recently switched to Coop energy - not too expensive and I will part be a member so partly own it. 100% green electric too.

 

[editor]

I recently switched to Coop energy - not too expensive and I will part be a member so partly own it. 100% green electric too.

Anything but the huge, barely-green big boys has to be good!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Anything but the huge, barely-green big boys has to be good!

Agreed. Ad the customer service can't possibly be any worse than the big companies - its amazing just how shite they can be.

 

[Badgers]

Can we all post up our £50 referral codes? I got my referral from colacubes a while back.

Started on Bulb a few months ago. There are several smaller and better options out there but would certainly recommend Bulb from my experience.

Customer service and app are really good. One word of warning is that the estimated savings were nowhere near (for me) what they suggested. Still cheaper than EDF which I was on before.

 

[JimW]

If you want green energy you should go with Ecotricity so Dale Vince can keep chucking money at FGR.

 

[planetgeli]

You pay in advance with them. Didn't fancy that bit.

 

[aqua]

Another bulb customer here too if anyone wants a referral link.

 

[Cid]

I had a bit of contact with Bulb's customer service (due to a weird error in the my flat had been listed), they were excellent. I'm on Octopus now though, which were a bit cheaper, still offer good green services and also have excellent customer service.

Octopus Energy is owned by Octopus Investments, which funds solar panel sites, wind generation and anaerobic digestion. It claims to have funded enough solar farms to power a quarter of a million homes.

I'd be interested to see how the claims of these companies match reality mind you...

 

[mauvais]

I'm a Bulb customer and as per the other thread, I'm offering to donate any money I get from referrals to charity. Even better if the other person does the same, but I don't really care.

PM for a link if you want to do this.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I’m also with Bulb, although I was irritated to discover that the savings are not what they said they would be.

They sent someone to read my meter because I asked them to - I’m disabled and find it difficult to access them because they’re in the depths of my cupboard under the stairs - who came up with an impossible reading that Bulb realised was impossible so they guessed what it was supposed to be and got it wrong. And didn’t tell me that this had happened until I challenged them overcharging me.

I’m not impressed! I now get a friend to read my meter for me.

 

[pug]

I think the price comparison websites are shite, if you want to know who offers the best deal then you need to compare the standing charge and unit price but the comparison websites don't provide that info straightup so like others the projected savings that the comp site estimated were just complete bs.

But anyway as I said on the other thread i've been with bulb a few months and they seem ok although they have started off by undercharging me it seems pretty simple to change, I am concerned that their customer service is likely to suffer due to the speed of expansion though.

 

[Treacle Toes]

I have a referral code if anyone wants it.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

I'm annoyed with myself that it's taken me so long, but if you fancy taking the plunge I warmly recommend you to sign up. If you use this link you get a £50 Brucie Bonus too (and so do I) but that's up to you.

fund the boards people - if you're going to use an affiliate link - use editor's

 

[Leafster]

I've been with Bulb for almost a year now and I'm very pleased with them. Definitely much better to deal with than NPower and EDF who were my previous suppliers.

Guineveretoo When I signed up with Bulb they estimated my usage based on the type of property I lived in but that didn't factor in that I work from home most days so their estimate of my monthly cost and therefore the original direct debit was significantly lower than my actual usage. However, it's still cheaper than I was paying before.

 

[skyscraper101]

I’m with Bulb too. Such a simple switching process, and like editor I was annoyed at myself that it took me so long to switch.

And thanks to A380 for referring me, I got us both a nice £50 bonus.

 

[dervish]

I would use Bulb but we are with Ovo and I don't know if there are any compelling reasons to switch. They seem about the same price and I know that Ovo's customer service is excellent.

 

[editor]

I would use Bulb but we are with Ovo and I don't know if there are any compelling reasons to switch. They seem about the same price and I know that Ovo's customer service is excellent.

Here's one reason:

 

[editor]

I’m also with Bulb, although I was irritated to discover that the savings are not what they said they would be.

They sent someone to read my meter because I asked them to - I’m disabled and find it difficult to access them because they’re in the depths of my cupboard under the stairs - who came up with an impossible reading that Bulb realised was impossible so they guessed what it was supposed to be and got it wrong. And didn’t tell me that this had happened until I challenged them overcharging me.

I’m not impressed! I now get a friend to read my meter for me.

They'll be offering smart meters soon.

 

[Leafster]

They'll be offering smart meters soon.

I think you may even be able to sign up for a fast tracked installation of a smart meter. I'm not sure how much quicker you'd get it though.

 

[editor]

I think you may even be able to sign up for a fast tracked installation of a smart meter. I'm not sure how much quicker you'd get it though.

I just got one off EDF and then swiftly switched after the fuckers made it nearly impossible to pay the bill on their shitty website. That was the final straw but I wish I'd moved ages ago.

 

[gentlegreen]

Done
I was in the mood - having just seen British Gas CEO's 44 percent pay rise.
I was pissed off with EDF's Smart Meter SPAM too...

 

[farmerbarleymow]

That was the final straw but I wish I'd moved ages ago.

It's classic inertia isn't it - I've thought about moving for a few years but never mustered up the energy to do it.

 

[Pickman's model]

It's classic inertia isn't it - I've thought about moving for a few years but never mustered up the energy to do it.

you never muster up the energy to do more than the bare necessities of life

when you say you've thought of moving, i'm sure it's not moving house you have in mind but getting up or moving an elbow

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I've been with Bulb for over a year now and they have been good, although they did allow my account to go £1400 in credit....

 

[editor]

It's classic inertia isn't it - I've thought about moving for a few years but never mustered up the energy to do it.

I don't like my bank, but I've been with them since I was a kid. Maybe this will spur me on!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I don't like my bank, but I've been with them since I was a kid. Maybe this will spur me on!

Me too - had the same account since I was 13.

 

[xenon]

Switched electric and gas for the first time ever the other week. Went on to Bristol Energy's green tarif. They were cheaper than E-On who I was with, greener, more CSR, according to the blurb.

 

[joustmaster]

I've got questions...

What does it actually mean? Do they produce power themselves? Do they own a wind farm or whatever? Or are they reselling it?

Do they include biogas, or nuclear fuel power generation? Are they green?

What if loads of people switch to them? So more than a third of power consumption is through them, more than the total green power available?

What if no one uses them, does the same amount of green power go in to the grid anyway?

Are they just paying some of their earnings back in to green power development?

It sounds great. And I was with Ecotricity ten years ago. But something seems to not quite fit with my understanding of the grid.

 

[xenon]

I was thinking about leaving anyway and phoned to get my meter code. I asked E-On about an accessible smart meter. It's an accessible smart meter panel that reads out the values. Others I think you can read with an app. They knew nothing about one but still tried selling me the benefits of a smart meter and would I like to make an appointment to have one installed. Er, no. Why would I want you to come round and fit one that I can't use when I know there are models on the market that I could. Not my problem that E-On don't stock them. Bye.