Bulb energy

[Seeker]

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).

[embee]

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!"

[Seeker]

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...lier-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]

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.......

[Bibio]

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]

+1 Bibo - and whilst they are about it also the railways!

[Adam Ef]

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?

[TamSV]

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.


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[Biker Biggles]

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]

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.