Bulb energy - anyone else currently with them???

[SpamandSparkle]

Any one else Checking the news every couple of hours just in case they've gone bust?

Oh my goodness, I think I've been living under a rock!
Just last night I increased my direct debit because they said I should, despite having £80 in credit with them...
Urggg

Oh good lord.

Thanks for the thought about keeping documentation. I've just downloaded statements up to date, and screenshotted my credit.

@cbatoday I thought you had to wait to be moved over at this stage?

Dd student houseshare is with Bulb. I don't think they can easily change supplier.

I am, but I switched at the beginning of last week so am in the process of changing.

I'm a few hundred in credit with them and very much hoping I get it back as that is my winter buffer...

I’m with Bulb, not too worried at the moment, but I guess it changes daily. They put a statement out about the situation yesterday.

@Spaghettio you're in debit? So you owe them a few hundred but think they're being grabby because they're going under?

[quote userxx]@theneverendinglaundry Do you have the app on your phone ? I did a screenshot earlier on today.[/quote]
I just tried again and can now see everything.

They are now also asking me to increase my payments by £50 a month despite the fact I am £300 in credit!

@AnyFucker

Yep. And they have £300 of my money in credit.

Get it back now just in case

[quote daisyjgrey]@Spaghettio you're in debit? So you owe them a few hundred but think they're being grabby because they're going under?[/quote]
Our DD is quite substantial (large house with single glazing) and it would have covered the debit with a small amount in credit at our next payment.

Because of the way their billing system works, we appear in debit when we receive the statement then a few days later our DD puts us into credit again. But by the time we receive the next bill we've used more energy and appear in debit again.

So, yes I do think that asking for our account to be a couple of hundred pounds in credit is cheeky, when their records will tell them that we'll be in credit within days.

Get it back now just in case

If only it were that easy

Switched 2 weeks ago to Octopus from Bulb. £250 in credit and they want to increase my Direct debit by 80pm. I'm now anxious for the money back as my credit and they are still hassling me to pay another £140 this month despite the credit in my account telling me it's to cover my final bill.

There is no way that an company with a price hike on costs will let people in credit just take it out easily.

They can't.

They have a cash flow issue.

Letting money go out will put them under.

They are asking for more money for a reason. Cash flow.

Its not a good sign.

(I've worked as a bookkeeper and that's a flashing red warning light. Conversely I would be resisting resolving money owed and delaying payments left right and centre if I worked for them.).

I am with bulb - thank you for prompt to download statements and proof of credit.

I’d be happy to switch to octopus if anyone could kindly pm me a referral code?

A price comparison site suggested moving to Utilities Warehouse but they’re a bloody MLM so not touching that with a barge pole!

The advice is not to switch if there is an imminent risk of the company going under. Any “glitches” are more likely if you are mid-transfer and more risk of you having difficulty tracking where your money is.

Martin Lewis says hold on and wait until Ofgem moves you to another provider, make sure any credit has come with you then look to consolidate elsewhere is indicated

Yes, I am. I had an email from them yesterday to say the Smart Meter is not working and they'd need to replace it.

Thanks to this thread I've just been checking and downloading statements and realised that my electricity usage has been estimated since the start of the year! No one told me that the Smart Meter wasn't working or asked me to submit a reading. I've just done a reading which is over the estimate so no doubt I'm going to be hit with a big bill.

I'm kicking myself that I've not been checking statements more carefully but I stupidly thought that I could rely on the Smart Meter to send my readings on. They might have told me at some point in 9 months that the meter didn't work though!

Anyfucker I'd caught Gloria Hunniford's😄 programme one morning, ages ago before I thought it would be relevant to me, saying you couldn't swap while awaiting the automatic transfer via Ofgem for administrative reasons .
(I can only imagine it's chaos working for them atm.)

I have an octopus code if anyone would like one

@AnyFucker

Get it back now just in case

If only it were that easy

I rung them yesterday and got the credit refunded.

We're with Bulb too and also about £300 in credit. As with others, they have suggested we increase our monthly payments.

We are not planning to do that but we are planning to have solar panels fitted soon, along with a battery, so that should help keep costs down in future. Hope it will be done by the end of the year.

We are with bulb, and somehow they are telling us that we are using 10 times as much gas as this time last year. Last month, nearly 40 times as much. 🤔

@cliffdiver

Some thrive on drama

Same here. All well

Omg I must have been living with my head in the clouds as I didn't know they were in trouble!! Funnily enough I was complaining about them to my DP yesterday! We've been with them since Feb 2020 and they've put the prices up 3/4 times since then. Our account is £60 in credit but they've been emailing telling me I have to put £160 in "to get me through the winter" which doesn't makes sense as they don't use the credit in your account towards the bill, they just take the direct debit and the credit builds up in your account. It only goes down if the estimated bill is more than your direct debit. When we submit meter readings our bill is only about 40/50pcm yet the absolute lowest direct debit amount I could set up was £88. I don't find them to have good customer service, they've messed us around a lot in the past, I was considering leaving anyway and tbh this thread has made up my mind!

I shall stick with Bulb for now, but keep all my documentation up to date and not allow too much credit to build up.

I thought that Bulb were tipped to be the next one to go.