Switch Advice: Octopus Energy v Bulb Energy

Dawpal76

Hi All

We are currently on the 'EDF Blue + Fixed Price June 2018' tariff which reverts to standard on the 1st July. I have decided to switch and it has come down to two companies, Octopus and Bulb. The following is a quick review of both:

Octopus
1. Fixed for 12 months
2. Lower standing cost than Bulb for both fuel types (18.5p vs 24.9p)
3. Referral credit £50.00
4. No exit fees

Bulb
1. Variable for no set period
2. Unit cost lower than Octopus for both fuel types
(Electricity = 12.6p vs 14.8)
(Gas = 2.8p vs 3.4p)
3. Total costs cheaper by £153 (£1031 vs £1184)
4. Part of warm home discount scheme. £140. (Octopus is not part of the scheme)
5. Referral credit £50.00
6. No exit fees

Hence, all roads are taking me towards Bulb. I have just phoned them and they said they are due a price increase in August of 5-7% (which is roughly £51). They said they have historically had 9 changes (up or down) over the last 3 years (7 decreases and 2 increases). So even if they have 3 increases (at £50 each) I should be level with Octopus Energy and plus I would still have the bonus of the Warm Home credit. Am I thinking along the right lines? Slightly worried about the variable Bulb tariff as I have always been on fixed tariffs with some of the 'Big 6'

Should I take the Bulb 'variable' step or go with Octopus or maybe someone else?

Thanks in advance

System

Hi - welcome to the forum. You pose a question that only you can answer. FWIW, I was with Bulb and I am now with Octopus. Both suppliers managed the switch well, and billing etc has been spot on.

Jakubk

One thing we know is that past increases or their frequency mean nothing.

Can you please quote your annual kWh figures so a proper comparison can be made

Dawpal76

Thanks for the responses.

My current annual consumption is
Electricity 2724
Gas 18909
Monthly Cost: £83.00

Dawpal76

Can anyone please help on this one? Thanks in advance

PennineAcute

If it was possible to predict energy prices, I would have a nice bank account.

Zog's 2 year and 1 year gas are very similar in price. To me, this means that Zog are hedging their bets on gas prices dropping.

However, electricity prices are rising. Will this carry on, who knows?

Only you can make the decision on whether to go variable or fixed. For your info, I am on a fixed electricity and variable gas.

Jakubk

Dawpal76 wrote: »

Hi All
We are currently on the 'EDF Blue + Fixed Price June 2018' tariff which reverts to standard on the 1st July. I have decided to switch and it has come down to two companies, Octopus and Bulb. The following is a quick review of both:

Octopus
1. Fixed for 12 months
2. Lower standing cost than Bulb for both fuel types (18.5p vs 24.9p)
3. Referral credit £50.00
4. No exit fees

Bulb
1. Variable for no set period
2. Unit cost lower than Octopus for both fuel types
(Electricity = 12.6p vs 14.8)
(Gas = 2.8p vs 3.4p)
3. Total costs cheaper by £153 (£1031 vs £1184)
4. Part of warm home discount scheme. £140. (Octopus is not part of the scheme)
5. Referral credit £50.00
6. No exit fees

Hence, all roads are taking me towards Bulb. I have just phoned them and they said they are due a price increase in August of 5-7% (which is roughly £51). They said they have historically had 9 changes (up or down) over the last 3 years (7 decreases and 2 increases). So even if they have 3 increases (at £50 each) I should be level with Octopus Energy and plus I would still have the bonus of the Warm Home credit. Am I thinking along the right lines? Slightly worried about the variable Bulb tariff as I have always been on fixed tariffs with some of the 'Big 6'

Should I take the Bulb 'variable' step or go with Octopus or maybe someone else?

Thanks in advance

Dawpal76 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

My current annual consumption is
Electricity 2724
Gas 18909
Monthly Cost: £83.00

I ran your figures through uSwitch as it is easier for me to use than this site for just getting a clue of who to check out.

At first it confirmed that Bulb was indeed the cheapest saving £361 a year but that is only based on personal projection rather than what you were paying, when I put the figures through my own spreadsheet it projected at current usage

Octopus £1,190.16 / £99.18
Bulb £1,050.27 / £87.52

So then I ran the same check but with suppliers you could not switch via uSwitch and had to go direct to site of supplier.

It then showed 6 supplier tariffs that saved more than the £361 and two more very close with one of them you save £468.82 per year

NOW what you must realise is that all but one of the cheapest plans were variable, they can go up tomorrow and you would have to go through the hassle of the switch again, I found three plans that offer you very close to the £363 promised by bulb but they have benefit of being fixed

I went to Economy Energy site and it did ask me about the warm home discount scheme but said they had helped all they could for 2017/18 year, I think that means last year.

It did not seem to have a choice for for fixed and the figures differed from uSwitch and I got different plans when I put in different postcodes

I have pasted all the sites below but the other two fixed were

Angelic Energy
Together Energy

Try them and Economy Energy with your own postcode and see what you get.

Let us know what you got

Economy Energy
Switch Saver
There is no fee to leave this plan early
Variable
You save £468.82 per year


Usio Energy
Smart Green 0.5
There is no fee to leave this plan early
Variable
You save £400.33 per year


Igloo Energy
IGLOO PIONEER
There is no fee to leave this plan early
Variable
You save £373.51 per year


People's Energy
The People's Tariff
There is no fee to leave this plan early
Variable
You save £373.51 per year


Economy Energy
Direct Saver (Fixed) v1.0
You'll pay £25 per fuel to leave this plan early
Fixed for 12 months
You save £363.65 per year


Outfox the Market
Zapp! April Tariff (medium consumption)
There is no fee to leave this plan early
Variable
You save £362.36 per year


Pure Planet
100% Green
There is no fee to leave this plan early
Variable
You save £361.68 per year


Bulb Vari-Fair
There is no fee to leave this plan early
Variable
You save £361.06 per year


Together Energy
Together Fixed April19
You'll pay £30 per fuel to leave this plan early
Fixed for 12 months
You save £360.14 per year


Angelic Energy
Angelic Energy Winter Fixed V2
You'll pay £30 per fuel to leave this plan early
Fixed for 12 months
You save £351.25 per year