Octopus Energy recently sealed a deal to buy Bulb, its collapsed rival which has been run with billions of pounds of UK Government support for nearly a year. Over the weekend, Octopus announced it is taking on Bulb’s 1.5 million customers after the firm was placed into special administration in November 2021.
Bulb customers will not experience any disruption to their energy supplies as part of the transfer to Octopus and consumer champion, Martin Lewis, told viewers on his weekly Money Show Live on Tuesday night that credit balances will also be protected. However, the financial guru also issued urgent advice to the 1.5m customers involved in the move this month.
He explained: “You will automatically be moving to Octopus in November, now let me just be plain - your credit is safe, you do not need to cancel your Direct Debit, your supply and price won’t change because you’re on the price cap - basically, you don’t need to to do anything.”
The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com also said lots of people had been asking him if this was a ‘decent result’ for Bulb customers.
He said: “In my view, Octopus has a really high customer service rating in polls I’ve done and i did a lot of research and surveys on which companies were best at transferring customers and who made it as painless as possible and Octopus came top.”
But he added: “That doesn’t mean it’s great for everyone, but compared to the others, it did very well so I actually think Bulb customers have a decent result here.”
It is also worth noting that Bulb will continue to make the monthly Energy Bills Support Scheme payments as usual.
The £66/£67 payments and vouchers will continue to arrive in the first 10 working days of the month, whether you pay by Direct Debit or top-up a pre-pay meter.
Eligible Bulb customers will also receive the Warm Home Discount as planned. The scheme is now open in Scotland for British Gas, EDF and Octopus customers and opens in England and Wales on November 14 - find out more here.
Octopus announced earlier this week that 320,000 of its customers have signed up for a programme to help them save on their energy and reduce the risk of power cuts this winter.
The firm said around a quarter of the 1.4 million households who were eligible have applied to join the scheme which is expected to launch this week,
The participants will be paid if they reduce their energy use on some days during peak hours. This will help take stress off the electricity grid at a time when supply is expected to be tight this winter.
The supplier says that households could save around £100 on their bills by signing up to the scheme. It does not cost them anything, and they do not get punished if they decide to use electricity during the periods when they are asked to reduce usage.
The scheme is backed by National Grid, and was expected to launch on Tuesday, however, the official launch has not yet been confirmed.
Members of the Daily Record Money Saving Scotland Facebook group have shared text messages they have received from Octopus inviting them to join the scheme.
It was unclear how many suppliers have signed up to the National Grid scheme, however, OVO Energy is launching a separate programme with a similar goal.
OVO said that a quarter of its eligible customers have signed up to its scheme - around 7,000 households. The supplier is reaching out only to households that it thinks will benefit the most from the scheme.
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