Bulb and struggling to pay increased payments

molerat

Deleted_User said:

Each and every Bulb bill shows your estimated annual consumption:

Which, with most suppliers, must be produced by a random number generator and bearing no resemblance to reality.

3littlegems

[Deleted User] said:

Each and every Bulb bill shows your estimated annual consumption:

Yes i have those estimates which i have stated previously in this thread. They are not a true representation of what im actually using though are they?? Even though i send monthly readings why are they presenting it as an estimate. Im being told my DD of £132 is enough to cover my usage but in the same breath they are telling me to up my payments. See the details on my last post

3littlegems

pearl123 said:

Why don't you request to know what your  annual usage has been via email. When request is put in writing it's likely to get a better response. 

See my last post, i have done and was given details comparing what i had used last January compared to this January. I asked as plain as day 'please can you provide me with my total usage from Jan 19 to Jan 20" So i have asked again and am awaiting the reply. Why would they be dodging my request at actually providing me with my usage??

Gerry1

They are probably only on minimum wage, stressed out working from home, perhaps with young children driving them up the wall, so they won't have much time to go back through all your bills and get their calculator out.  They are probably under great pressure to handle 30 calls an hour or whatever, so if half an hour is spent with you they'll get a rocket for missing their target.  If it's not on their screen then they probably can't tell you.

You can easily work out your consumption by looking at the actual meter readings on your bills.

niktheguru

3littlegems said:

Ok so here is what i hate about Bulb and a little update 
Before paying i checked my online account which stood at - £311.50
My recent statement states my account is -£ 448.05
And a recent email says i need to pay £503.06 to bring my account into credit
So i messaged the person i had been in contact with yesterday asking for confirmation on what to pay. He confirms that its £311.50 to clear the account not the £500 i had originally been told, that amount included a credit being on the account which should be there for this time of year, he said. But i wasnt required to pay it
Ive paid the £311.50 without making any more debt
I ask him going forward will the £132.23 cover my usage, yes he says.
Looking at my online account just now and the DD is for £132.23 but it states to cover my usage i should pay £159.60 and at a minimum i can pay £143.64. So he is wrong telling me that the above amount will cover my usage!
I also asked him to tell me what my full usage was from Jan 19 to Jan 20 and he replied with only sending me what i used for each January and not the entire year. So ive asked again.
Why is it so difficult for them to provide their customers with their confirmed annual usage??? Its not even available online just what your spending.
So Bulb are happy to keep me on £132.23 knowing full well this is absolutely not covering my usage. I of course will up the DD until such time i can change suppliers but im not prepared to jump ship until i know exactly what my usage actually is. 

It’s very simple to work out. 

Take your latest bill and note down the meter reading, then get a bill from exactly a year ago, note that meter reading, subtract one from the other and that’s your annual consumption. Given that you take and submit regular meter readings this should be very easy and totally accurate.

then take this figure, multiply it by your unit rate and that’s your annual consumption cost, add on the (standing charge x 365) and that will give you a value of the electricity you’ve used this year, divide that by 12 and that’s what your average monthly payments SHOULD be.

I know bulb should work all this out for you, but don’t expect or take that for granted, often whoever you speak to won’t know or won’t work it out, it’s better for you to have ownership of it,

pearl123

3littlegems said:

pearl123 said:

Why don't you request to know what your  annual usage has been via email. When request is put in writing it's likely to get a better response. 

See my last post, i have done and was given details comparing what i had used last January compared to this January. I asked as plain as day 'please can you provide me with my total usage from Jan 19 to Jan 20" So i have asked again and am awaiting the reply. Why would they be dodging my request at actually providing me with my usage??

Via email, instead of chat?

[Deleted User]

3littlegems said:

Deleted_User said:

Each and every Bulb bill shows your estimated annual consumption:

Yes i have those estimates which i have stated previously in this thread. They are not a true representation of what im actually using though are they?? Even though i send monthly readings why are they presenting it as an estimate. Im being told my DD of £132 is enough to cover my usage but in the same breath they are telling me to up my payments. See the details on my last post

You are seriously overthinking this in the hope that you can see a way out of your problem. The annual usage estimate is just that as no supplier has a crystal ball. It is based on past usage and some average forecasting assumptions. If we have a Winter which is colder than average (which our present one is), then the annual usage estimate is flawed. I suspect that most of us are looking at increased annual usage estimates going forward. Understandably, your supplier wants to ensure that the amount owed to it is reduced through an agreed repayment plan. 

Given that two energy suppliers went to the wall yesterday, customers cannot really expect a supplier that made a £121M loss in 2019 to provide its customers with interest free loans until things improve. 

Finally, if you do decide to switch suppliers then the old supplier will demand immediate repayment of the amount owed, and the new supplier will want the first DD to be paid in advance of supply. This might add to your short term cashflow problem.

Please, please, please - walk away from this forum and seek appropriate advice from someone trained to deal with the unfortunate situation that you find yourself in.

niktheguru

I think littlegem has been quite clear that she is not seeking debt management advice, so I don't think people should keep telling her to seek external help as it will only annoy. (It's already been clearly stated throughout the thread)

She has asked some clear questions in frustration about the mixed answers she is getting from bulb about what she owes and how much she should pay in the future. She already stated that she has found a way to pay the amount to cover what is owing. I can understand her frustration that she isn't getting a clear answer from bulb.

Littlegem, I go back to my previous post that it is very easy to accurately work out how much you have used in the last year and therefore easy to project how much you should be paying over the next year (assuming your bulb balance is now cleared and at zero, and assuming you'll use the same amount of energy over the next 12 months....obviously you may use more or u may use less and that will vary the amount slightly.)

MWT

3littlegems said:

[Deleted User] said:

Each and every Bulb bill shows your estimated annual consumption:

Yes i have those estimates which i have stated previously in this thread. They are not a true representation of what im actually using though are they?? Even though i send monthly readings why are they presenting it as an estimate. Im being told my DD of £132 is enough to cover my usage but in the same breath they are telling me to up my payments. See the details on my last post

They are estimating what you will use over the next year, not telling you what you have used over the last year.

They can then use that estimate to set your monthly payments to try and cover the estimated cost.

In winter though that doesn't always keep your account in credit as you will use more power at this time of year so you can't just divide by 12 and get the right answer when you are in a peak consumption period.

Similarly when you look at your account balance there is one answer for what you have to pay to bring the account back to zero, another answer for what you have to pay on top of your regular DD to keep it at zero, and a third answer for what your DD should be right now to keep it that way...

Add in that the answers will change if your DD has recently been collected but the bill has not yet been deducted from the balance.

Yes it is confusing, but you are giving them monthly meter readings and you know your tariff information so you can work out the actual cost of your current consumption and perhaps adjust your payments accordingly for the next couple of months to stop things drifting negative again while you remain in the colder months... ?

pearl123

On every bill there should be an estimate of annual usage.