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Thread: Anyone use Bulb or Octopus

  1. #1

    Anyone use Bulb or Octopus

    Moving on Monday and need to choose a new supplier. We have the latest solar system installed but sadly I won't benefit currently from a feed in tariff
    what's the thoughts on the 2 above
    FFF

  2. #2
    im with bulb swapped from eon bills are a bit cheaper , have no complaints app is easy to use swapping was painless, i have a referral link which will give both you and me £50 credit if you decide to go with bulb


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  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by mav112 View Post
    im with bulb swapped from eon bills are a bit cheaper , have no complaints app is easy to use swapping was painless, i have a referral link which will give both you and me £50 credit if you decide to go with bulb


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    Many thanks, will let you know

  4. #4
    Journeyman Bendigits's Avatar
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    Been with Octopus for nearly a year now and they have been excellent, customer service has been a dream compared with the major suppliers I’ve used before.


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  5. #5
    Craftsman
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    Just moved from octopus to BG mainly for the reduced bills and cashback from MSE.
    No problems with octopus, or bulb previously, but I generally swap yearly.

  6. #6
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Franky Four Fingers View Post
    Moving on Monday and need to choose a new supplier. We have the latest solar system installed but sadly I won't benefit currently from a feed in tariff
    what's the thoughts on the 2 above
    FFF

    Was with Bulb a couple of years ago. No problems, as far as I can recall, just moved away on cost grounds. Moved to Pure Planet - again no issues - but just moved to an EON fixed rate as the cheapest option for me. The Martin Lewis site give price comparison but also comments on customer service.

  7. #7
    Really happy with Octopus. Good prices, great customer service and...

    ...I put all my referral money into the TZUK fundraiser

    https://share.octopus.energy/olive-snail-74
    Last edited by Gyp; 2nd December 2019 at 22:29.

  8. #8
    Grand Master Rod's Avatar
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    We've just joined Bulb, no problems. They came out cheapest on Martin Lewis' Energy Saver site for us.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Bendigits View Post
    Been with Octopus for nearly a year now and they have been excellent, customer service has been a dream compared with the major suppliers I’ve used before.


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    Another happy Octopus customer here. Been with them for two years now on a fixed price tariff and can’t fault them on price or customer service.

  10. #10
    Master
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    Been with octopus for 3 years ish and they are superb. Constantly reviewing usage and changing tariffs when possible. Communication from them is also great.

  11. #11
    Grand Master Dave E's Avatar
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    Been with Octopus about 6 months and all seems fine. When I had a fairly big balance on my account, I was easily able to withdraw the credit, the website is easy to use. I'm on a fixed tariff for 2 years, so all fine so far!
    Dave E

    Skating away on the thin ice of a new day

  12. #12
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    We’ve been with Bulb for around two years without issue. To be honest I can’t ever recall a customer service issue with any supplier. Joined ‘lookaftermybills’ around a year ago and they haven’t been able to move me to a better deal so far.

  13. #13
    Craftsman
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    Just signed up with Octopus for my 3rd year now. My parents have also signed up again for their 2nd year.
    Very happy indeed. A couple came up cheaper on Martin Lewis but not by alot.

    Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

  14. #14
    Bulb have been very god - Octopus do my mum fine.

    However - just switched from Bulb due to a nice incentive offer from Igloo - same price as Bulb but £65 bill credit and £25 cash back

    I like Octopus for customer service - they were great with my late father on the phone - i'll be moving my mum away from them though now as the bills will drop massively without him being here and his need for constant heating.

  15. #15
    Master
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    +1 for Octopus. Not the cheapest but less likely to go bust either.

  16. #16
    Master KavKav's Avatar
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    Another + for Octopus, I have been with them for three years now, absolutely brilliant company!

  17. #17
    Master
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    Octopus are not coming out that competitive on price for me (though a lot better than my existing supplier OVO). The cheapest is People’s, with estimated savings of £1,033 per annum (about 30%). Bulb and octopus are both about £500 cheaper than my current deal. Even EDF are much cheaper at £823 less per annum.
    I can’t believe how uncompetitive OVO have become over the last couple of years.


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  18. #18
    Craftsman
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    Been with Bulb now for nearly a year, swapped from Ecotricity as they became quite inflexible with monthly payment (kept wanting to put prices up) Bulb have a good site, easy to put your own readings in, currently they are offering to reduce monthly payments but I might wait till winter over to see how it plays out. Cheers, John B4

    - - - Updated - - -

    Been with Bulb now for nearly a year, swapped from Ecotricity as they became quite inflexible with monthly payment (kept wanting to put prices up) Bulb have a good site, easy to put your own readings in, currently they are offering to reduce monthly payments but I might wait till winter over to see how it plays out. Cheers, John B4

  19. #19
    Master
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    Switched to igloo a few months back due to price no problems up to now and they’re paying 3% interest on any credit balance which is nice.

  20. #20
    Master senwar's Avatar
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    Been with both. Moved from octopus to bulb just under a year ago. Both fine and only moved to make use of cash back and referrals.

    Only thing I don’t like with bulb is bills being estimated. Octopus was monthly reading albeit I sent them myself but got reminders. Prefer smart/automated readings personally

    Prices are good though but I’ll look at moving again in feb when my year is up just for same reasons I joined.

  21. #21
    Master Templogin's Avatar
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    Bulb customer for 2 years +. They are really good. Friendly support staff. You can adjust your monthly payments on the fly, and they email you if they think that you are paying too much, so you don’t build up excess credit.

    One caveat though, they had a group photo of the staff and lurking at the back was someone with ginger hair. I felt it was my duty to report it to them in case they hadn’t noticed. They wrote back and said that he was fine, one of their best. I would keep an eye on him though. Gingers have a habit of moving in and taking over by stealth, well as much stealth as an orange haired person can have.

    I got a £50 credit when I got my other half to sign up, and so did she. Every customer gets a personal link that they can hand out to friends and family, and strangers on internet fora.

  22. #22
    Thanks for the replies, I've gone with bulb based on the fact that the woman I spoke to at Octopus was a snotty cow- perhaps she was having a bad day but it was hardly my fault I didn't know who the Current provider was that the builder is using. With bulb didn't get any of that, she knew it was ecotricity and I had the smet 2 box installed- simple. They were also a tenner cheaper a month, not sure how that will pan out over the year but hey.

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by stuie-t View Post
    Octopus are not coming out that competitive on price for me (though a lot better than my existing supplier OVO). The cheapest is People’s, with estimated savings of £1,033 per annum (about 30%). Bulb and octopus are both about £500 cheaper than my current deal. Even EDF are much cheaper at £823 less per annum.
    I can’t believe how uncompetitive OVO have become over the last couple of years.


    Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
    Your home must be huge or very inefficient!? Or both?
    The total yearly bill for my 1bed flat (all electric economy7) is £550 with bulb.

    They are offering a trial with a 3 rate plan that has a big x5 of cheap rate jump in rate for 4-7pm of about 40p a unit and then a mid rate outside of the cheap 12-7am rate. And cheap rate at weekends.
    I’m not taking it up as I cook properly rather than microwave or take-away for evening meal so probably not going to save.

  24. #24
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by senwar View Post
    Only thing I don’t like with bulb is bills being estimated
    I've been with Bulb for a few years now. The referrals are excellent as they are fairly competitively priced but I wondered how long their business model can continue where they are effectively paying £100 for each new customer (£50 referral each way). I've had so many referrals, which I donate all to charity, that the charity has had well over £7,000 from me (after gift aid) in the last two years.

    If you keep sending Bulb meter readings, then their estimates fall into line, or simply send meter readings regularly enough to be billed correctly. They have told me I'm eligible for a smart meter but I'll stay as is for now.

    The only hiccup I had with Bulb is trying to get a second account for my annexe which has it's own meter. I had to use a spare email address and my gf's name for the account but bill to my main current account to get round their odd restriction, but hey, two lots of commission (referrer and referral) to the charity!

    If they go too far away from being cheapest, then I'll switch. I use the excellent monitoring service at MSE's Cheap Energy Club.

  25. #25
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by MrSmith View Post
    Your home must be huge or very inefficient!? Or both?
    The total yearly bill for my 1bed flat (all electric economy7) is £550 with bulb.

    They are offering a trial with a 3 rate plan that has a big x5 of cheap rate jump in rate for 4-7pm of about 40p a unit and then a mid rate outside of the cheap 12-7am rate. And cheap rate at weekends.
    I’m not taking it up as I cook properly rather than microwave or take-away for evening meal so probably not going to save.
    A good size (200sqm), but mostly just very inefficient! It’s a 3 story detached Victorian townhouse so lots of uninsulated external brickwork, high ceilings and big windows. We have done what we can with double glazing, loft insulation and efficient boiler etc.
    Hopefully gas use will go down a bit as the house is now empty during the day a couple of days a week, but on the flip side we’re getting an electric car in January so the leccy bill will go up, hence the need to switch to a better supplier!


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  26. #26
    Moved to Octopus recently from SSE, mainly due to the price difference and upon recommendation from the in laws who have been customers for over a year now.

    Seem to be very competitive price wise and the switch was a doddle and they handled everything. Customer service and communication seems excellent.

    This is my referral code if anyone wishes to switch? We share £100.

    https://share.octopus.energy/amber-rain-501

    Thanks

  27. #27
    Master Templogin's Avatar
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    If anyone wants to use my Bulb referral code, we share £100, I will give my £50 to the fundraiser. Just PM me.

  28. #28
    Master ingenioren's Avatar
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    Take a look at Avro, and re solar, speak to ecotricity

    (Just the voice of the woman advertising Octopus puts me off )

    Cheers, Peter

  29. #29
    I'm with bulb and can't fault them. Very up front and honest.

    Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

  30. #30
    Administrator swanbourne's Avatar
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    Been with Bulb about 3 years (coincidentally, submitted my readings this morning) and no problems at all. I do find they're rather keen to increase my direct debit when they don't need to, I'm currently about £400 in credit.

    Eddie
    Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".

  31. #31
    Master
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    I wouldn’t go too much in credit in case they go bust.

  32. #32
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slamdoor View Post
    I wouldn’t go too much in credit in case they go bust.
    I often withdraw my credit (referral fees that go to charity), just email them and they do it same day, you just need to leave the equivalent of a months payment in the account, so best do the withdrawal the day after your payment goes in.

  33. #33
    Craftsman Jpshell's Avatar
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    Been with bulb just over a year. They put our monthly bill up pretty soon after we joined so initially thought here we go but to be fair, after a few months they reduced it again. Other than being a bit hasty increasing the bill, no other issues and the App is informative and easy to use.

  34. #34
    Craftsman
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    Been with bulb for a couple of months now signed up our other house to receive our £50 invite a friend. Since joining I have had Scottish power and another random call me up,but as soon as you mention bulb they both said “oh they are a good company and we won’t beat them”

  35. #35
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    With Bulb I pay slightly less by DD than I use monthly. About every 3 or 4 months I make a payment to correct the outstanding balance - it's only ever £20 to £30. I don't want to keep a large credit balance with them for the reason stated above; if they go bust it's gone.

  36. #36
    Been with bulb since the 24th December and have to say they’re a shower of t**ts

    Issue after issue with them from day one- you can never get in contact with them- never open weekends- they take about 5 hours to reply to their online chat systems
    Different people follow up on emails
    Staff send you emails and then I’d imagine they’re on a long rota and take 5 days to get back to you.

    Been unable to set up an in house display from ecotricity, told me it would be compatible only to find it wasn’t.
    They sent me a new unit and set a date for commissioning but it never worked
    That’s still ongoing!
    Told me I’d be auto enrolled to their export tariff which was rubbish, sent me a link which doesn’t work..... list goes on
    I’m going to give them another month and I’ll try octopus


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  37. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by Franky Four Fingers View Post
    I’m going to give them another month and I’ll try octopus
    If you do, don't forget 100% of all my referral money goes to the TZ-UK fundraiser:

    https://share.octopus.energy/olive-snail-74

  38. #38



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  39. #39
    Master
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    Had lots of issues with Bulb as well and there lack of customer service.
    When moving it was all positives but as soon as a problem arose, then became instantly useless, they have had a couple of weeks now to sort a simple billing error out but cannot seem to do it.
    The lack of weekends and no after six options limits my ability to call them, and if you do ring them various departments seem to shut at 5 or 5.30 as the people I need to speak to are never there.

    Let's try octopus.

    Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

  40. #40
    Used bulb with no issues but moved myself to igloo mainly for incentives as price was same

    Just moving my late fathers account from Octopus to a cheaper provider now for my mum - they’re coming in about £20 a month higher now than others
    However - their service has been excellent

    With most good deals dealing via apps - service calls are few and far between

    Quidco offering £50 for my mum too

  41. #41
    Grand Master mart broad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nigel306 View Post
    Just moved from octopus to BG mainly for the reduced bills and cashback from MSE.
    No problems with octopus, or bulb previously, but I generally swap yearly.
    As above moving from Octopus to Avro on a yearly fix without early exit penalties regarding Bulb and Octopus had no problems with either supplier
    I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE

  42. #42
    Craftsman T1ckT0ck's Avatar
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    Anybody got a referral link for bulb please? PM

  43. #43
    Used Igloo for a couple of years now, as someone said, they pay 3% interest on any credit balances. Though frankly, I need to withdraw some of mine, it's currently at £500 from memory.

  44. #44
    Grand Master Rod's Avatar
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    An update from me regarding Bulb. They are upping their tariff with us (not sure if it's a general increase) so we have just joined 'People's Energy' for a cheaper rate on Gas & Electric.
    Bulb's service was a bit sparse with us possibly due to the pandemic. We had a smart meter fitted and despite several calls regarding the 'In House Display Unit' not working, the issue still hasn't been dealt with.
    They kept telling us that the meter was 'half commissioned' and to follow their instructions......... all to no avail.

  45. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by T1ckT0ck View Post
    Anybody got a referral link for bulb please? PM
    pm sent


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  46. #46
    Master Templogin's Avatar
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    Bulb have just jacked their prices up by 11% so look around

  47. #47
    Master
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    Also just been hit with a large price rise.
    When we first moved the customer service was great, but had an issue in January and the service was shockingly bad.

    Sent from my IN2023 using Tapatalk

  48. #48
    Grand Master Onelasttime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Templogin View Post
    Bulb have just jacked their prices up by 11% so look around
    I've just switched to Green. Energy after being with Bulb for three years.

    Bulb were good thoughout but we'll see how quicky they process my credit refund.

  49. #49
    Grand Master Andyg's Avatar
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    Bulb user here. Submit readings each month by taking a photo of the meter. Unlike Eddie I have had 2 requests to reduce my direct debit (which I did) but still have a £120 surplus.

    I did however get an email yesterday saying that the unit and daily Standing charge was set to increase.

    Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
    Friedrich Nietzsche


  50. #50
    Master
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    I've renewed again with Yorkshire Energy which was setup by someone on here. Been with them 2 years to date with no issues. Just send a monthly reading in and that's it. The renewal was slightly cheaper than the year just gone. The new one has no exit fees and runs to Sept 2022. So I can always change if required. Spoken to them once when renewing last year and they were prompt and helpful on the phone but normally it is just done online.

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