Collective Energy Switch - BULB

Photosoxx

I read the following in Martin's Money Tips and it played a small part in persuading me to switch to Bulb via the Collective Energy Switch:

Q. Is there a credit check? BG and E.on yes (unless you're an existing customer), Green Star and Bulb no.

However, today I received my welcome pack from Bulb and on Page 8 I read:

3.20. To make sure we can continue to offer the best possible prices to all our members, we will do checks with a credit reporting agency to ensure you are able to pay your energy bills.

Which is to be believed?

System

Hi. I think that you already know the answer. The clause that you quote is part of your contract with Bulb. The CEC is only a referral site.

FWiW, most of the energy suppliers will carry out a credit check on new customers and reserve the right to ask for a deposit.

footyguy

With them charging £115 p.a standing charge per fuel and anotther £100 for those supplied via an IGT. (I'm sure my IGT only charges about £35 pa to the supplier.), I would say believe the supplier.

You probably are going to need a good credit rating to keep up with their charges.

Photosoxx

Thanks for the response, but no, Hengus, I didn't already know the answer, and I still don't. The question is why would Martin's Money Tips say Bulb don't do a credit check if the energy supplier says that they do? Which is correct? I really only posed the question on the forum because I wanted to alert Martin Lewis to the fact that it looks as if some of the information he provided could well be wrong, but I have no idea how to communicate this to him except by posting on the forum.
Thanks footyguy, but I am not with an IGT, so I am not going to be charged for that, and from my calculations I'll be paying Bulb no more than I already do with E.on. I was attracted to Bulb mainly for their green credentials, and a little bit because they were said to not carry out a credit check. I know my credit is good, I just don't want it checked unnecessarily. Anyway, I've got 14 days to change my mind about switching.

MSE_Dan_L

Photosoxx wrote: »

Thanks for the response, but no, Hengus, I didn't already know the answer, and I still don't. The question is why would Martin's Money Tips say Bulb don't do a credit check if the energy supplier says that they do? Which is correct? I really only posed the question on the forum because I wanted to alert Martin Lewis to the fact that it looks as if some of the information he provided could well be wrong, but I have no idea how to communicate this to him except by posting on the forum.

Hi Photosoxx

Bulb have told us in its collective contract that it doesn't credit check at present.

I imagine the T&Cs highlighting this are written in a way so that they wouldn't need to be amended should it change its processes as it grows.

Hope this helps.

System

MSE_Dan_L wrote: »

Hi Photosoxx

Bulb have told us in its collective contract that it doesn't credit check at present.

I imagine the T&Cs highlighting this are written in a way so that they wouldn't need to be amended should it change its processes as it grows.

Hope this helps.

I apologise to the OP.

Dan - if would seem to me that if suppliers are going to change their standard terms and conditions for collective switches then they should be requested to make these available to potential customers before any application is made to switch. Is it correct, for example, that Bulb has an IGT charge? I couldn't find any information about this on Bulb's website.

PS the list of suppliers not carrying out credit checks has not been updated on the MSE CEC website for 2 months.

MSE_Dan_L

Hengus wrote: »

I apologise to the OP.

Dan - if would seem to me that if suppliers are going to change their standard terms and conditions for collective switches then they should be requested to make these available to potential customers before any application is made to switch. Is it correct, for example, that Bulb has an IGT charge? I couldn't find any information about this on Bulb's website.

PS the list of suppliers not carrying out credit checks has not been updated on the MSE CEC website for 2 months.

Hi Hengus

It isn't so much that there has been a change to standard terms and conditions, more that Bulb's T&Cs allow it to credit check, but in practice it doesn't do so.

The IGT charge isn't related specifically to this collective - the charge of £100 per year is for all Bulb tariffs.

I'll flag your point on the credit checks to our editorial team.

Thanks

Will_at_Bulb

Hi everyone,

Hope I can clear up some things:

MSE_Dan_L wrote: »

Bulb have told us in its collective contract that it doesn't credit check at present.

I imagine the T&Cs highlighting this are written in a way so that they wouldn't need to be amended should it change its processes as it grows.

This is correct. We are not performing credit checks on members who join during the MSE switch.

Hengus wrote: »

Is it correct, for example, that Bulb has an IGT charge? I couldn't find any information about this on Bulb's website.

We do have an IGT charge of £8.33 a month. I've just written up an FAQ article about it based on your prompt, so hopefully no one else will have this confusion. Good spot and thanks for pointing it out.

Hope this helps,

Will

System

Will_at_Bulb wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We do have an IGT charge of £8.33 a month. I've just written up an FAQ article about it based on your prompt, so hopefully no one else will have this confusion. Good spot and thanks for pointing it out.

Hope this helps,

Will

Thanks.

Dan - this information needs to be included on the MSE CEC site. This additional cost would add over 25% to my annual gas bill.

footyguy

Will_at_Bulb wrote: »

...



We do have an IGT charge of £8.33 a month. I've just written up an FAQ article about it based on your prompt, so hopefully no one else will have this confusion. Good spot and thanks for pointing it out.

Hope this helps,

Will

Thanks for adding that as an FAQ to your website. I thought it already was hidden somewhere (I got the £100 figure from somewhere, and I knew it was charged monthly. £8.33 x 12 =£99.96)

However, I've just seen according to your terms: (my highlighting)

3.26. Under some circumstances, you may incur additional one-off charges under this agreement. We will always tell you prior to applying the charge.

3.26.1. If your home is provided gas by a distributor other than National Grid (known as an Independent Gas Transporter), you will be charged a connection fee to switch your gas to us. This cost reflects the additional costs involved in supplying properties serviced by Independent Gas Transporters including their direct fees and charges to us and our general additional costs of administration.

https://bulb.co.uk/terms

Perhaps you could explain more about this too, please?

I wasn't aware my IGT (Independent Pipelines/GTC) charged any specific fee for switching supplier, and as I indicated earlier, the ongoing service charge is only about 1/3 of what charge you are asking consumers for; if I'm correct, that seems like some hefty costs of administration.

Will_at_Bulb

footyguy wrote: »

Thanks for adding that as an FAQ to your website. I thought it already was hidden somewhere (I got the £100 figure from somewhere, and I knew it was charged monthly. £8.33 x 12 =£99.96)

However, I've just seen according to your terms: (my highlighting)

https://bulb.co.uk/terms

Perhaps you could explain more about this too, please?

I wasn't aware my IGT (Independent Pipelines/GTC) charged any specific fee for switching supplier, and as I indicated earlier, the ongoing service charge is only about 1/3 of what charge you are asking consumers for; if I'm correct, that seems like some hefty costs of administration.

The one off fee that you highlighted in 3.26 is in our terms to cover any additional charges that may or may not arise from managing an IGT. It doesn't relate to anything that we plan to charge anyone, but it is there just in case. We're not in the business of trying to squeeze every penny out of our members. If we ever did use this clause we'd be in full communication with the member every step of the way I'm sure.

Your current supplier is likely able to offer IGT management for less due to economies of scale. IGT management is pretty manual and takes quite a bit of our time. Bigger businesses are able to have dedicated teams for IGTs which is efficient when you have a lot of them. We only have a small number of IGTs so proportionally each IGT we manage costs us more. Hence £100. If and when IGT management becomes proportionally less expensive for us we'll definitely reevaluate the IGT charges. We're dedicated to dropping our prices in line with wholesale prices (we've dropped them 3 times so far this winter), so this won't be any different. If it's costing us less then we'll be able to charge less.


All the best,

Will