View Full Version : Bulb energy
Anybody else with Bulb? I've been with them about 2 years but it's not looking good:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58619418
Still, the energy minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, says we'll be fine and you can trust this government, right?
Oh, and Alok Sharma says not to worry about shortages and price hikes (I'm now starting to worry).
Indeed, lot's of talk about the situation on the meeja.
Big problem at the moment seems to be that the price cap means that any company taking over a discounted account from a failed "supplier" could not cover the new costs, having hedged and bought forward for their own requirements any additional demand would have to be new gas at the new inflated price.
I'm not sure whether any companies are "obliged" to take over failed supplier accounts, I get the impression they are not and it's done on a gentlemens' (ha!) agreement principle, in which case the grubbiment better have a plan ("Baldrick! Come quick, we need a plan, the more cunning the better!").
As for the assurances that there'll be no problem with supply of energy over winter ............. "Vladimir! Come quick, we need a plan!"
Price cap - a Labour suggestion that was derided by the Conservatives until it became expedient. Looks now that the Tories may have been right (never thought I'd say that). Still they implemented it anyway.
OFGEM will transfer you to another supplier, but the tariff may be worse, if your supplier goes bust.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/what-happens-if-your-energy-supplier-goes-bust
My gripe is that most are foreign owned. EDF are French, EON and Npower are German, Scottish Power are Spanish.
SSE are part of OVO and they are British as is British Gas (Centrica).
Luckypants
20-09-21, 10:14 AM
A big part of the shortfall in electricity capacity is unplanned nuclear plant shutdowns. For instance, Dungerness has been permanently closed 7 years early due to technical problems. Now I'd rather these are shut than risk an accident but we have no replacement capacity coming on stream. So we will have 5 of our 8 nuclear power plants closed by 2024 leading to ever greater reliance on gas. The current squeeze has been exacerbated in the UK by very low wind speeds since July, leading to a greater need for gas generation. I fear the 'security of supply' claimed by the minister will be a hope for a stormy winter.......
time to nationalise the utility companies again.... too much profit being made by foreign investors and not filtering back into the UK economy. this has been going on for decades just like the banks.
the Gov was told to invest in tidal energy as its "always on" but profits were not going to filter into MP's back pockets so that got sidelined.
for a more clearer view of whats going on money wise in the UK we need to get rid of the BOE offshore accounts e.g. tax havens where MP's and the like get back handers paid into.
redtrummy
20-09-21, 04:03 PM
+1 Bibo - and whilst they are about it also the railways!
Adam Ef
20-09-21, 07:06 PM
it's not just the energy you're using. Our water supplier is owned by a Japanese company. Yours is likely to be owned by a foreign company too. Is there anything overseas that the UK runs?
I was with Peoples Energy and just got an email saying my account’s being taken over by British Gas.
Tariff won’t be the same but will be competitive apparently. No cancellation penalties so I’ll just see how it pans out.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Biker Biggles
21-09-21, 07:45 AM
Just another symptom of the UK's inexorable slide down the league table. Banana Republic and the Third World beckon.
Only ourselves to blame as we vote for it.
SV650rules
21-09-21, 09:03 AM
Big part of the problem is the complete failure of renewables to supply energy, and the fact that we are using humongous amounts of gas to keep the grid going, even had to bring coal back online. Wind and solar farms get paid whether they produce or not, how does that make sense. Some 'renewable' energy suppliers are honest enough to put a hardly visible message on their tv adverts now 'your electricity is supplied by national grid' .
Truth is every renewable source is expensive for consumers and needs 100% backup from reliable sources, and we are note even supply many EV or all electric homes yet.
This is what happens when clueless green idealists decide your energy policies.... I believe in China they listen their engineers, which is why they are still building coal fired generation, India as well.
Biker Biggles
21-09-21, 11:20 AM
The biggest problem is the total Inability to look beyond the very short term. That applies to the industry as well as the deniers. The industry won’t invest in long term stuff like storage and the politicians won’t force them to. Meanwhile the deniers think it’s ok to just carry on burning coal until we destroy the environment. It’s not going to end well is it
The biggest problem is the total Inability to look beyond the very short term. That applies to the industry as well as the deniers. The industry won’t invest in long term stuff like storage and the politicians won’t force them to. Meanwhile the deniers think it’s ok to just carry on burning coal until we destroy the environment. It’s not going to end well is it
Exactly.
Assuming the problem is with no wind blowing, surely someone could have predicted that and built in some redundancy. Why are we so reliant on the interconnectors from Europe? It makes sense for emergencies but not to be needed regularly. Why did we close the "Rough" gas storage facility (under North Sea).
The Conservatives have been in power for 11 years and still don't seem able to run the country, instead we stagger from crisis to crisis. I don't want to hear "well, Labour would be worse", Labour are not in power, the Tories are.
What would make sense is for the party in power to talk to the opposition and come up with a coherent plan looking 10/15 years ahead which they agree on and can't change without both sides agreeing if there's a change in government. What we get instead is jobs for Conservative friends and off-the-books meetings between ministers and Party donors.
(I'm starting to rant again, sorry)
garynortheast
21-09-21, 02:35 PM
The biggest problem is the total Inability to look beyond the very short term. That applies to the industry as well as the deniers. The industry won’t invest in long term stuff like storage and the politicians won’t force them to. Meanwhile the deniers think it’s ok to just carry on burning coal until we destroy the environment. It’s not going to end well is it
Yay, coal! Lovely, let's bring back asbstos and thalidomide while we're at it, maybe put all that tasty lead back in petrol. Hey, we could even see if we could get rickets re-introduced.
Luckypants
21-09-21, 02:40 PM
Hey, we could even see if we could get rickets re-introduced.They've already done that. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rickets-symptoms-and-treatment_uk_5c751e8ae4b0bf16620310a8
I don't suppose the pandemic has improved this situation.
/Derail
Back to the energy discussion.
Exactly.
Assuming the problem is with no wind blowing, surely someone could have predicted that and built in some redundancy. Why are we so reliant on the interconnectors from Europe? It makes sense for emergencies but not to be needed regularly. Why did we close the "Rough" gas storage facility (under North Sea).
The Conservatives have been in power for 11 years and still don't seem able to run the country, instead we stagger from crisis to crisis. I don't want to hear "well, Labour would be worse", Labour are not in power, the Tories are.
What would make sense is for the party in power to talk to the opposition and come up with a coherent plan looking 10/15 years ahead which they agree on and can't change without both sides agreeing if there's a change in government. What we get instead is jobs for Conservative friends and off-the-books meetings between ministers and Party donors.
(I'm starting to rant again, sorry)
Most of the Tory crisis to crisis have been of their own doing, and lining their own pockets (that of friends).
This energy policy is another one string in the bow for them. And its the public who will inevitably pick up the bill again. More companies will follow suit inevitably and you'll be stuck with limited options again, and high costs.
redtrummy
21-09-21, 05:48 PM
Think ahead? That will be the day. True democracies just don't do it. A totalitarian regime might, but then they have there own vices (corruption)
if the public give the politicians free reign then they will do as they please. so its not the governments fault.
if the public want to blame anybody they should be blaming the advisers and civil servants. political parties come and go but civil servants are still there messing things up and we dont get to vote for who is in charge and making a mess.
also blame the queen for not telling the prime minister to do things better for her subjects.
ethariel
23-09-21, 07:53 AM
Think Ahead.....
So the UK has spent billions on 'Saving The Planet', reducing our CO2 and GHG emissions is such a marvellous way, crippling our electricity production and making us wholly dependant on International Gas imports.
And we have achieved... about a global 0.1 to 0.2% reduction in GHG production.
If we went carbon zero overnight that would result in less than a global 1% reduction..........
But no we keep flogging the 'Reduce emissions' and will end up like a 3rd world country with blackouts and brownouts rife outside the major cities to come.
Who to blame?
The NIMBY brigade who both protest that filling valleys with water for Hydro or building Nuclear is bad (and that out of sight offshore wind is a great idea - till the wind is too soft or too strong) or the environmentalists that block hydro and tidal as it may affect an orchid or a newt.
Billions spent for a global 0.2% (Best case) reduction in CO2 and GHG in UK (and most of that is made up of the drop in the carbon calculation of electricity due to 'renewables in the grid).
Want cheap(er) power and reduced bills? - Re-open the coal mines, and build 20 big coal PowerStation's next door to the mines.
As long as 50+% of the UK's power generation is based on imported gas we are all stuffed.
Want cheap(er) power and reduced bills? - Re-open the coal mines, and build 20 big coal PowerStation's next door to the mines.
Going back to the 1960s isn't a good idea. CO2 isn't the only issue, people seem to have forgotten when the Drax power station was coal fired (largest in Europe) and the Trent Valley power stations were merrily burning there way through tons of coal, the lakes in Sweden were slowly approaching the acidity of vinegar from the sulphur from our coal burning. Anyone recall acid rain?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/nature-the-winner-as-pit-closures-help-to-reduce-acid-rain-power-generators-switch-to-gas-cuts-sulphur-dioxide-emissions-nicholas-schoon-reports-1428309.html
This is a better idea:
https://www.rolls-royce.com/innovation/small-modular-reactors.aspx#/
Still got the NIMBY problem though.
SV650rules
23-09-21, 08:34 AM
Think Ahead.....
So the UK has spent billions on 'Saving The Planet', reducing our CO2 and GHG emissions is such a marvellous way, crippling our electricity production and making us wholly dependant on International Gas imports.
And we have achieved... about a global 0.1 to 0.2% reduction in GHG production.
If we went carbon zero overnight that would result in less than a global 1% reduction..........
But no we keep flogging the 'Reduce emissions' and will end up like a 3rd world country with blackouts and brownouts rife outside the major cities to come.
Who to blame?
The NIMBY brigade who both protest that filling valleys with water for Hydro or building Nuclear is bad (and that out of sight offshore wind is a great idea - till the wind is too soft or too strong) or the environmentalists that block hydro and tidal as it may affect an orchid or a newt.
Billions spent for a global 0.2% (Best case) reduction in CO2 and GHG in UK (and most of that is made up of the drop in the carbon calculation of electricity due to 'renewables in the grid).
Want cheap(er) power and reduced bills? - Re-open the coal mines, and build 20 big coal PowerStation's next door to the mines.
As long as 50+% of the UK's power generation is based on imported gas we are all stuffed.
Great post, virtue signalling is now officially the largest UK export, and is the preserve of rich developed countries where people have been brought up in comfort, with plenty of food, plenty of electricity, jobs etc. People in poorer developing countries have different things to worry about, like having no electricity, no food and no job, they are not going to say no to Chinese built coal fired power stations to give people a better living standards and grow their economies while the west spend £billions on useless fans on sticks .... Just hear the squeals from the zero carbon sheep the first time the grid shuts down on freezing cold but wind less winter days. My mate used to say ' greenies, I hope they freeze to death in the dark' but the trouble is they will take us with them.
ethariel
23-09-21, 08:35 AM
Going back to the 1960s isn't a good idea. CO2 isn't the only issue, people seem to have forgotten when the Drax power station was coal fired (largest in Europe) and the Trent Valley power stations were merrily burning there way through tons of coal, the lakes in Sweden were slowly approaching the acidity of vinegar from the sulphur from our coal burning. Anyone recall acid rain?
However we are a net importer of CO2, returning to Coal Power, we would have an excess of CO2 production and become an exporter.
Advances in technology since the 1960 make the scrubbing of exhaust gasses of Coal use a much more viable prospect and the fact we have 2 to 4 centuries worth of coal (conservative guess) under our feet.
But it all comes down to how long people will put up with the rising energy prices and even then considering you will be looking at 3-10 year builds to bring anything online we are already over the proverbial barrel with our trousers down.
we have 2 to 4 centuries worth of coal (conservative guess) under our feet.
coal is our future fuel. energy is energy and coal is packed full of it but its extracting that energy cleanly is the problem. you dont have to burn stuff to extract the energy. water is the perfect fuel but its being able to extract the hydrogen and combine it with the oxygen again with a passive catalysis thats the problem. with a closed system you dont even use any water or very little as top ups.
today people laugh at the technology 100 years ago so in another 100 years they will laugh at our fuel/energy/technology. if Moore's law is an example then it might be as little as 40 years.
redtrummy
23-09-21, 02:34 PM
China has just committed to not building any more foreign coal powered stations. If we cannot come up with 'clean energy' we may well have to do without it for certain periods of the day, its not a God given right.
I am old enough to remember the smog's we had to endure as a youngster. Those days are gone, time to move on and find cleaner solutions before its too late.
I have not really seen BoJo and his mob actually do a lot anyway, apart from talking the talk (but not seen much walking the walk.)
Whether a greenie or not, if sea levels keep rising there will be even less land left to flood the valleys, and living in low lying London could become a little precarious. ( But I am ok Jack I live 550ft above sea level.)
I also enjoy breathing clean air and hope to do so for many years to come
SV650rules
23-09-21, 03:47 PM
Is there actually any real evidence of rising sea levels due to MMCC, the bottom of north sea used to be a forest and stone age tools and spear heads found there, so sea levels have been rising for a long time as we are in an interglacial period, also certain places that used to be closer to sea now far above it.
Returning to the thread topic of collapsing energy firms. It seems the Tories have had another "no one could see this coming moment" like the fall of Kabul.
Only they were warned 18 months ago by OFGEM:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/energy-companies-bust-labour-letter-b1925601.html
They are just not very good at this running a country thing, are they?
SV650rules
23-09-21, 04:59 PM
This crisis can be traced back to before conservatives, politicians have been dragging their feet on nuclear for many decades, and Labour more opposed to nuclear than Tories. To leave important decisions in the hands of politicians is always a mistake, and always will be until we get some with knowledge of other things besides lining their own pockets. Using vast amounts of gas to generate electricity to the be used for heating was never a good idea, but gas powered generators are the only ones with quick enough response to deal with the obvious glaring deficiencies of wind and solar..
This crisis can be traced back to before conservatives
doesn't alter the fact they've had 11 years to come up with an energy plan nor that they warned 18 months ago about the possibility of this current mess.
redtrummy
24-09-21, 08:37 AM
Is there actually any real evidence of rising sea levels due to MMCC, the bottom of north sea used to be a forest and stone age tools and spear heads found there, so sea levels have been rising for a long time as we are in an interglacial period, also certain places that used to be closer to sea now far above it.
Well the water from the Greenland melting glaciers, plus those in the Alps has to go somewhere (usually downhill.) In Switzerland they have covered a glacier with white reflective sheeting to try and preserve it, thats extreme.
I read an article recently that suggested the Gulf stream is weakening, that in itself is a major concern as the affect on this country , paradoxical causing us to suffer from a colder wetter climate.
Dogger Bank did connect us to Europe and it was after the last ice age that it became the North Sea, but the time scales involved are the problem, these changes took years to come about, not just the last 200 odd years as we are seeing now. (Since the start of the Industrial Revolution.)
You could argue its not MMCC that's the cause, but the bulk of evidence strongly suggests it is.
Even if the ice (that's sat on rock) wasn't melting sea levels would still rise through thermal expansion as the planet warms up.
Well that's confirmed then, Bulb is bust. It appears that it is indeed too big (1.7M customers) for the direct transfer to the big six and it will go into some form of special administration. Basically a fudge.
The model under which the supposed free market competition was set up was clearly built on sand, unable to withstand a real stress test.
Guess who will eventually pick up the tab.
Well that's confirmed then, Bulb is bust. It appears that it is indeed too big (1.7M customers) for the direct transfer to the big six and it will go into some form of special administration. Basically a fudge.
The model under which the supposed free market competition was set up was clearly built on sand, unable to withstand a real stress test.
Guess who will eventually pick up the tab.
I'm with Bulb and received a long email from them last night. I didn't know they also had businesses in France, Spain and Texas too, which aren't affected. They also had a scheme where £2 was donated towards fighting climate change with each new member signing up. I joined because they advertised that their energy was all from renewable sources (gas supply was from a credit exchange plan). I've been satisfied with them and have never had any issues - I've been paying about £650/yr for a 4 bed dormer bungalow although I keep it fairly cool in the winter. It had just been raised to £840 (and I'm £175 in credit).
When a company is forced to sell a product for less than what they have to pay for it the end result will always be a collapse. The Conservative Party (and free market enthusiasts) were the ones that capped energy prices although Labour were for it, too. Suppliers were buying gas at 50p/Therm at the beginning of this year, now its 214p/Therm after briefly hitting 304p/Therm.
The spring price cap jump is going to be huge.
SV650rules
23-11-21, 09:31 AM
The unreliability of so called 'renewables' like fans on sticks, and solar ( only really viable for garden lights in UK, and then not really much use ) has splintered the market. The electrickery that comes through your meter is a mix of everything that supplies the grid. If customers of so called green energy companies had been disconnected when wind and solar failed to perform it may have made them realise that our grid is mainly fed from nuclear, biomass ( not in any way green ) and gas generations, and even coal at the moment.
The unreliability of so called 'renewables' like fans on sticks, and solar ( only really viable for garden lights in UK, and then not really much use ) has splintered the market. The electrickery that comes through your meter is a mix of everything that supplies the grid. If customers of so called green energy companies had been disconnected when wind and solar failed to perform it may have made them realise that our grid is mainly fed from nuclear, biomass ( not in any way green ) and gas generations, and even coal at the moment.
Irrelevant and off topic.
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Bulb energy has gone into administration simply because they and others had to buy natural gas at a much higher rate than what they were allowed to sell it for. They were selling it at a capped price through government policy so lost money on every cubic metre.
Since the government closed the Rough storage facility we have little buffer against fluctuating prices plus the natural gas market price has gone through the roof because of the opening up of world economies and the shortfall of deliveries from Russia. Europe's strategic gas storage had not been topped up either so every country is scrambling for limited supplies.
The US has plenty of natural gas but their capacity to liquify it is limited by refinery capacity, China has swept in and contracted the US supply for an extended period meaning that Europe is dependent on Russia and Norway.
I may misunderstand things but I was of the impression that the final breaking point has been the limited ability of the smaller companies to hedge and buy forward due to smaller free capital/funds, they relied on a short term cash flow to sustain them assuming relatively stable wholesale pricing. It's very analogous to the banks failing and the subsequent revision of the regulations concerning minimum capital buffers being held.
I didn't know Bulb had those multi-national interests, sounds like the UK arm was separated from the parent.
It's always likely to be a problem when governments interfere and apply somewhat arbitrary constraints on what probably ought to be free market industries. I can't imagine that the price cap is anything other than a politically biased random number plucked from the air, something to give the impression that the government is "looking after" the consumer. I wonder how far the price cap was actually stress tested itself, did the economists/Ofgen/whoever consider what happens to the industry if the wholesale prices rise well above the cap?
Bulb was the biggest to go under so far, and the first considered too big for the distribution of customers to other suppliers to be viable. I believe it is the 23rd so called "supplier" to fail up till now. What is the future? Back to the big 6?
The price cap was introduced because, at the time, there was a feeling that the big 6 energy companies were running a cartel. They were all raising their rates (at roughly the same time) above the rate of inflation and irrespective of the energy market costs. The price of natural gas had seemed pretty stable so it seemed to make sense, now, not so much.
One issue I have with the big 6 is that they are all foreign owned (except British Gas). Letting a foreign country own your infrastructure is crazy, imho, yet energy, railways, water are all mainly owned by foreign countries.
SV650rules
23-11-21, 12:29 PM
Irrelevant and off topic.
______
Bulb energy has gone into administration simply because they and others had to buy natural gas at a much higher rate than what they were allowed to sell it for. They were selling it at a capped price through government policy so lost money on every cubic metre.
Since the government closed the Rough storage facility we have little buffer against fluctuating prices plus the natural gas market price has gone through the roof because of the opening up of world economies and the shortfall of deliveries from Russia. Europe's strategic gas storage had not been topped up either so every country is scrambling for limited supplies.
The US has plenty of natural gas but their capacity to liquify it is limited by refinery capacity, China has swept in and contracted the US supply for an extended period meaning that Europe is dependent on Russia and Norway.
It may just be me, but it seems stupid to rely on imported fuels for your energy needs when we have 400 years of coal in UK. Relying on imported stuff, and from countries that are not allies for strategic stuff like energy just shows how stupid our policy makers are, taken hostage by the green zealots. Germany presently runs 75 Coal fired power stations, and this reduces their need for Russian gas, although they still need it. As usual it is the people who can least afford it who are paying for this zero carbon malarkey - the British public.. The reason gas prices are sky high is that it is considered a 'green fuel' ( but so are woodchips, but that is another story ), and UK is burning humungous amounts of it to prop up unreliable renewables.. They even think it is a good idea to make everyone go electric while power stations burn gas to supply the ( expensive ) electricity to heat homes with crazy and expensive airsource heat pumps, which give marginally more energy than they consume when ambient temperature is low ( and you need the heat the most ), in summer airsource heatpumps give a reasonable return - but then you do not need the heating then.
The price cap was introduced because, at the time, there was a feeling that the big 6 energy companies were running a cartel. They were all raising their rates (at roughly the same time) above the rate of inflation and irrespective of the energy market costs. ....
Good point well made.
It may just be me, but it seems stupid to rely on imported fuels for your energy needs when we have 400 years of coal in UK.
This is a thread about Bulb energy remember.
Anyway coal is dirty, a simplified formula is something like this:
C137H97O9NS for bituminous coal and C240H90O4NS for high-grade anthracite.
That's a lot of carbon to combine with the air during burning and thus make a lot of CO2. As can be seen it also has Sulphur (which will form Sulphuric acid during combustion and mixed with rain, it also causes cardio-vascular diseases), it also has Nitrogen which will form Nitrous dioxides (brown smog). We can capture the Sulphur, the Nitrogen and the CO2 hmm, not so much
We have no long term proven methods of capturing CO2 guaranteed to be permanent. If you don't believe in the ability of CO2 to warm the planet and destabilise the climate then burn away. If you believe in science, unless a proven carbon capture at source can be made to work coal is a no-no.
Natural gas is mainly methane CH4, a lot less carbon to burn and make CO2.
Every rotation of a wind turbine means that much less energy needs to be expended by a fossil fuel. Bad news on calm days, of course, but good news on windy days. Is it a final solution, no.
We should have started this 20 or 30 years when we were first forewarned not when the horse is out the barn and half way across the paddock.
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But Bulb energy went into administration because of the price cap, to get back on track. I liked Bulb - UK owned, great customer service, fair prices and they seemed ethical.
redtrummy
23-11-21, 03:54 PM
'We should have started this 20 or 30 years when we were first forewarned not when the horse is out the barn and half way across the paddock.'
Totally agree its a human trait to react when its nearly (hopefully) too late
i thought the uk struck a deal with china for our power. there was supposed to be a deal struck that our wholesale power prices would not rise above £xx.
ethariel
23-11-21, 04:41 PM
The issue being that all the 'Energy Companies' have been taking the consumer for a cash ride for the past couple of decades.
Charging absurd amounts of money on your 'metered unit' compared to the wholesale price and pocketing the difference.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot and the wholesale price is above the maximum allowed consumer unit price and after lining thier pockets for decades and paying off every penny of surplus into dividends and bonuses for board members (not keeping a warchest for hard times) it's far more economical to just fold it all up and let the Gov take the hit. (Then when things stabilise, start all over again when there is money to be made again - rinse and repeat).
Capitalist state at its best/worst
You will probably find the energy companies outside the big 6 that last longest bought options to buy at a specific price point further into the future than the ones that folded early.
Purchasing spot (at the time prices) is often considered risky, so a lot of companies would be purchasing 3, 6 or even 12 months ahead so when that 'relatively cheap 6 month option' runs out it's time to close the doors.
i thought the uk struck a deal with china for our power. there was supposed to be a deal struck that our wholesale power prices would not rise above £xx.
There was a finance deal struck with China and EDF to build Hinkley Point nuclear power station that guaranteed that the electricity generated would be bought at almost £100/kWatt/hr which was, at the time, outrageously expensive, today it looks like a bargain.
The fly in the ointment is that this 3rd gen (EPR) reactor has never been shown to work and its forerunner at Flamanville has many issues and is 10 years behind schedule and 4 times over budget.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a33499619/france-nuclear-reactor-epr-expensive-mess/
The Finnish EPR build started in 2005 (EDF again) and won't produce power until 2022.
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I thought Bulb was ethical but from what stories are now emerging they may have been greenwashing some of their environmental claims. Nice website though :)
(ref Etharial's post above)
It's beginning to look like Bulb simply didn't hedge forward far enough (typically 3 months compared to a more normal 12 months for the industry) and sustained gradually increasing losses as a consequence of a flawed business strategy. Giving fixed low price contracts to customers without assuring they could purchase at that price was playing poker.
If it ends up with the rest of us taxpayers footing the bill for £1.7 Bn it will be very reminiscent of the banking crash. Plus ca change ..........
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/1-000-per-customer-why-the-uk-is-counting-the-cost-of-keeping-bulb-s-lights-on/ar-AAR6QwY?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
If it ends up with the rest of us taxpayers footing the bill for £1.7 Bn it will be very reminiscent of the banking crash. Plus ca change ...
...plus the other 22 suppliers that have gone bust. Another success story for privatisation. I guess we'll be heading back to the (mostly) foreigned owned big 6 cartel.
Not only will we have pay to support the SOLR (supplier of last resort) scheme, bail out Bulb but also the Spring price cap rise is going to be huge because the October cap rise didn't fully take in the price rises that were already in the system.
In a twisted kind of way though it is amusing to watch the Conservatives effectively nationalise Bulb. The "Free Market" party who introduced the price cap are now nationalising... :)
As a Bulb customer, I thought they were a great, ethical business but now it seems they were fly-by-night rogues or maybe just gamblers hoping the natural gas price wouldn't spike.
Edit - another 2 suppliers have gone bust - Entice and Orbit bringing total to 25.
I've always thought that privatisation and de-regulation together are a recipe for disaster.
Privatisation per se isn't intrinsically a problem, but the idea that people running big businesses can be trusted to act ethically and honestly without tight regulatory oversight is a joke. Unfortunately the politicians who decide on the regulatory framework look at it with a view to using the system to the advantage of their peers, too many of them (not all) come from the same mould. They do what they think they can get away with, not necessarily what is right, too much lust and greed.
It's only when the stuff hits the fan good and proper that they are forced into looking again at the regulation of sensitive business sectors.
What they need to do with these sectors is make the people running the company financially responsible. So if the firm goes bust due to poor running of the business and vast sums of cash being drawn out - they (managing directors and the alike) foot the bill from their last pay check/dividend payment/stocks sell off etc. Once they've paid, they get banned from being on a board of directors/company management.
What they need to do with these sectors is make the people running the company financially responsible. So if the firm goes bust due to poor running of the business and vast sums of cash being drawn out - they (managing directors and the alike) foot the bill from their last pay check/dividend payment/stocks sell off etc. Once they've paid, they get banned from being on a board of directors/company management.
no..they should serve a minimum of five years in prison without time off for good behaviour, no iffs no buts, do not pass go do not collect massive payout. if it were the average person in the street they would be jailed without hesitation.
privatisation of services, transport and utilities is NOT WORKING..... it cant. if the Gov were to run the services and utilities like they were private the extra cash the Gov would make would pay off our debt in no time. private health care should also be abolished, that way the NHS would have to be a lot better. also private schooling should also be abolished, again making it all round better and no more "school tie club".
it was greedy individuals that got us in this mess thinking they could make a quick buck by buying something they already owned. idiots...... due to this greed we are now ALL paying for it... thanks a bunch you greedy barstewards.
Biker Biggles
25-11-21, 08:52 PM
Your gonna need a bigger prison
redtrummy
25-11-21, 11:12 PM
In a twisted kind of way though it is amusing to watch the Conservatives effectively nationalise Bulb. The "Free Market" party who introduced the price cap are now nationalising... :smile:
Done it with the railways as well!:D
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