Bulb energy advice please

mrpinc

I've literally just read that Bulb are "going under" and this is likely to happen as soon as next week. I'm trying not to panic as I don't know if it's possible to accurately predict this kind of thing, but I am concerned about imposed changes resulting in a significant increase in my payments. I am aware that recent advice has been not to swap providers as you will inevitably pay more by doing so in the current climate, however, if bulb IS going into liquidation (or whatever the correct term is) would I be better swapping immediately and choosing my supplier or hanging on and being forced to go with whatever replaces bulb? I'm on benefits and only have electricity so winter being around the corner is already a worry with the energy price hikes that have happened. I would welcome any informed advice. Thank you

slipthru

You are better of doing nothing and if/when they go bust you will be moved to the variable rate of a new supplier which are the cheapest tariff's available currently.

mrpinc

Thanks for your reply, but how do you know they'd be the cheapest tariff? Wouldn't it be a case of whoever steps in to take over the company setting the tariff? I'm sorry I'm totally clueless about this!

wittynamegoeshere

You won't get a better deal than you'd get after they go bust anyway, so it's not worth worrying about.  Almost all suppliers aren't accepting voluntary new customers anyway, so you don't have any choice.

Basically you'll end up paying the capped variable rate, a bit more than Bulb, until April next year, unless prices drop before then.

The only other that I know of that's below the capped price and accepting new customers is Neon Reef, but they are very likely to go bust any time.  There may be others that are "green" and charge more than the cap, they might be your thing if you want to voluntarily spend more for feelgood factor.

Otherwise doing nothing and not worrying is probably the best course of action.

JJ_Egan

Transfer may not happen , depending upon timeline re what happens with Bulb .

Whatever rate you are on now with Bulb will increase significantly if moving .
likewise if Bulbs accounts are taken over .

Sea_Shell

If you give an idea of your usage and current bulb tariff, someone here can probably give you an estimate of what your new costs will be by comparison.

mrpinc

Ah well, seems like I'm on a sticky wicket either way so I'll go with the advice and "when in doubt do nothing." Seems like the world is getting scarier by the day with chaos crowding in on us 

wittynamegoeshere

From my little knowledge of Bulb's tariffs I don't think they were charging that much less than the maximum anyway.

Basically you'll either be transferred to another provider or the government will take over running Bulb.  Whatever happens you will not pay more than the maximum price, the same prices as lots of others are paying.

Your price will go up, but perhaps not by a huge amount. You'd need to state what tariff you're on to get a good comparison.

It shouldn't really be scary, just fairly annoying!

wild666

mrpinc said:

I've literally just read that Bulb are "going under" and this is likely to happen as soon as next week. I'm trying not to panic as I don't know if it's possible to accurately predict this kind of thing, but I am concerned about imposed changes resulting in a significant increase in my payments. I am aware that recent advice has been not to swap providers as you will inevitably pay more by doing so in the current climate, however, if bulb IS going into liquidation (or whatever the correct term is) would I be better swapping immediately and choosing my supplier or hanging on and being forced to go with whatever replaces bulb? I'm on benefits and only have electricity so winter being around the corner is already a worry with the energy price hikes that have happened. I would welcome any informed advice. Thank you

Take daily readings then if/when a SoLR takes over you can give meter readings from that date.