Should I increase my payments to Bulb?

sallysnowchick

Hello!  I am currently only paying £33 per month to Bulb for gas / electric.  This is not because I'm super energy efficient unfortunately.  It's because I had about £400 credit last year, so I thought I'd reduce my monthly payments.  However, I'm now back in debit.  But they are still only taking £33 per month.  I'd like to keep in credit and raise my monthly payment to them to match my usage (I can afford it).  But when is the right time to do this?  Now?  Or after the price cap thing?  I know they are in administration, but should this make a difference?  Can I still change how much I pay them?  Thank you for reading!

Swipe

I believe you can do that online in the Bulb portal. Being in administration should make no difference at all. You can either increase your payment or hold the cash separately in a savings account. It's entirely your preference.

EssexHebridean

You can indeed do it in the portal however unless things have changed in recent months you may find whenyou go in they will only let you change it to something ludicrous which will leave you back in masses of credit in no time (and which, in the current climate,may not even be  affordable for you). 

You might consider making top-up payments to the account - a lump sum once a month or so designed to align your account with the shape you would expect it to need to be in by next winter, allowing for the price increases to come? I suspect Bulb WILL want an increased DD at some stage regardless, but it will at least give you a decent argument if they decide that increase should be twice what you are able to afford!

danco

If you can't change to a reasonable amount direct from the portal, try live chat and asking their representative to set the debit at the amount you want. That worked for me, but I had a good argument why their figure was too high (my heating comes through a communal supply, not my main energy supply, so winter/summer differences in usage are not relevant).

And you are probably better being slightly in debit permanently in case Bulb actually closes down. If they do, any credit will be passed on, but it's obviously better not to be in credit if that happens.