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Luke Rainbird

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'Sup f**kers.

Now we're all old and boring, it seems like this kind of thing might be more relevant to us than BITD.

We've been with nPower since moving into our place a couple of years ago largely because we were too lazy to switch at the time, but they'd been relatively competitive vs the rest of the big 6 since, to a point. Worth noting we were on their cheapest tariff and despite a decent sized house, we're pretty low users. More recently they upped their prices again and I'd meant to switch out but changing jobs, wedding etc got in the way and I forgot.

I had another quick look this afternoon and have just switched across to Bulb for both gas & electric and fairly impressed by their offering so thought I'd share it here. They provide 100% renewable electricity and 10% green gas, so the environmental side of things is pretty decent and their rates are better than most other places too. Best part of it was they pay for any exit fees from your old provider (£40 in our case) and also do a referral system where referrer & referee both get £50 credit, which isn't too shabby either. If you're considering switching here's my link, hook us both up: https://bulb.co.uk/refer/luke4461

Does anyone else on here have much experience with Bulb, or any other "green"/renewables-based providers? 

I quite like the idea of going as self-sufficient for energy as possible both for the environmental and financial win, though finding cost-effective ways to do it seem tricky; solar panels seem too expensive up front, and utilising rainwater is a great concept but seems a pain to implement. Would be keen to hear from anyone with experience there too!

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Solar PV isn't worth getting ATM unless you're going for a battery storage system too. If you go down this route look into Therm IQ infrared heating panels too, they only draw about 400w. 

Also have a look into Micro CHP (Combined Heat & Power) Boilers. I assessed an old Victorian solid brick built property about 6 week ago and the property gained an A Rating in its Energy Performance Assessment which was achieved mainly by the boiler.

Hope this helps.

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Had a quick look through the bulb quote and they seem a lot cheaper than my current supplier.

With scottish power and paying £127 a month for dual fuel, bear in mind we are a family of 5 with minimum 3 people home at any one time, the range is always running, washing and tumbledrier get used at least once a day.  Having said all that I'm currently £432 in credit according to their online account portal which is a nice thing for christmas, they've always been quick to refund monies in the past.

Will discuss switching with the boss and see what she says (although I pay 100% of the utilities/mortgage/bills) and use your link so there may well be 50 quid winging your way :)

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I was pretty impressed. I know my folks have just moved over to Iressa and had a decent saving too so might be worth checking out too (Y)

We're relatively low users as there are typically only 2 of us there and we don't use half the house often, though when we're home we tend to have 1 or 2 devices of some sort running (laptop/PC/TV/xbox/etc) and the washing machine gets used once every other day so a decent rate would make less difference to us than it would to you guys. I think parents have saved themselves somewhere in the order of £400 for the year by switching (bigger house, less energy efficient building, more active use etc)

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We're looking for someone to swap to so cheers for the heads up Rbird.

Our last quater with Eon was £920! I usually expect around 350ish but according to there meter readings that was our usage, that was a dual fuel. We're quite heavy users I guess as we've always got the underfloor heating on in the conservatory and the jukebox is on pretty much all night every night but that seems rediculous.

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We're pretty light users it seems. Currently with Co-op Energy paying £64 a month and still £180 in credit at the moment. Bulb says it could save a bit of monies but the actual rates are higher than Co-op (unit price and daily standing charge jobbie) so not sure how that works! Will have a look again in February though when our fixed deal finishes.

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Yeah it's definitely worth doing the maths. IIRC, Bulb were cheaper than our previous nPower tariff (some Forces/Emergency Services discounted one) on Gas for standing and unit, but only one or other (I forget which) for Electricity. We ran the numbers and it made about £2 real world difference annually to us so still a fair saving overall, but for heavier users it'd certainly be worth double checking that. Don't take any of their advertised numbers for granted as I'm sure they all have some spin on them. I was able to pull up my last annual bill from nPower to use as a reference.

Iressa were different again, so might be worth a look for you, Dave. Plus I think they also pay any exit fees from your current suplpier, which would save you having to wait until the end of your current contract (Y)

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I currently pay £117 p/m with npower (bunch of idiots) thats on a 3 bed detached bungalow with the wife home most days so pretty heavy usage.  Unfortunately i'm stuck with npower until January (due to their inability to setup a direct debit in the past) but i'm looking to jump ship then.

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Funnily enough we switched to Bulb at our new place about 4 hours after you went to them yesterday Luke.  If only I'd checked out TF beforehand!  As is always the case, TF coming up with the goods...

As Luke said, Bulb offer to pay your exit fees from your current supplier so you can theoretically breeze whenever you want.

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Bulb have just increased their referral credit to £100 each for new customer and referee. I used a £50 link, but 2 minutes on the webchat has just seen both myself and the guy who referred me get another £50 each no questions asked.

For anyone who's thinking about it, here's mine again. Hook us both up yeah? ;)

bulb.co.uk/refer/luke4461

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41 minutes ago, Luke Rainbird said:

Bulb have just increased their referral credit to £100 each for new customer and referee. I used a £50 link, but 2 minutes on the webchat has just seen both myself and the guy who referred me get another £50 each no questions asked.

For anyone who's thinking about it, here's mine again. Hook us both up yeah? ;)

bulb.co.uk/refer/luke4461

How did you go about that Luke?  We wouldn't mind getting a piece of that too :P

EDIT:  Done.  Too easy!

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Yeah, had a similar deal with them just now.  I need to check they've actually credited our account, but noises were positive.  (EDIT:  Having just had a look, do you know whereabouts you can find that credit online?)

Hadn't realised how cheap their night rates were until just now.  Our place is electric only, so we have to f**k around with storage heaters (luckily don't need to use them yet as our place is warm anyway, especially as we're on the 2nd floor so get some heat from floors below) and immersion heaters (which we put on in the night).  Should save us a chunk (Y)

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They've estimated the cost to be 84 quid a month, that's with me saying that the insulation is average (it's actually pretty damn good for the age) and the electricity is used all day long (well it is, but not massive usage draws).  Bearing mind I've been paying 127 a month and perhaps with more accurate meter readings they might be cheaper still.

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I put in as much info as their "detailed quote" or whatever they called it would allow and it wasn't too bad. As a point of interest I pulled up our last annual bill from nPower and compared the like-for-like costs and it worked out better than they'd implied online. The rough quote was always going to be out as we have a relatively large place but just the two of us in there, so our unit charges currently make up a lesser total than most. Sure that'll change down the line though!

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So they don't actually pay your exit fee, they credit your account... wee bit more to do than what you've made out. 

On 07/11/2017 at 6:07 PM, Luke Rainbird said:

'Sup f**kers.

Best part of it was they pay for any exit fees from your old provider (£40 in our case) and also do a referral system where referrer & referee both get £50 credit,

 

IMG_0077.PNG

Edited by Ross McArthur
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40 minutes ago, Ross McArthur said:

So they don't actually pay your exit fee, they credit your account... wee bit more to do than what you've made out. 

Unless your current supplier are going to run you for hundreds, it's a minor difference. That said, I had a letter through from nPower yesterday to say that everything was in place for the switch, and they'd send a copy of the final bill (inc. exit fees) to both myself and Bulb. Given nPower are notorious for being a bunch of bastards, that was a pleasant surprise. Imagine other suppliers would do something similar.

George - They've always been pretty good on the webchat when I've used it, but from a few reports they're relatively quick on email too (Y)

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