Bulb Energy (2022) review: A troubled supplier but good for green energy
Mediocre customer service and value for money but its green electricity and gas help to reduce your carbon footprint
Pros
- 100% renewable electricity and carbon-offset gas
- Buys green gas for UK homes
Cons
- Its future is uncertain
Despite only starting trading in 2015, Bulb Energy swiftly became one of the UK’s largest energy providers.
However, after the sharp rise in wholesale gas prices in September 2021, Bulb Energy collapsed and was placed into special administration by the government. This means it has been able to continue trading as normal up to now but it will be sold in the future.
It supplies 100% renewable electricity by buying it directly from generators and 100% carbon neutral gas. Around 3% of its gas comes from renewable sources such food or farm waste and it carbon offsets all the gas it supplies by funding projects that reduce emissions in the atmosphere.
Unlike last year when Bulb won highly commended awards in all but one category, in our Expert Reviews Energy Awards 2022 Bulb was only highly commended in one category for its bills. This isn’t surprising in light of its troubles over the past year.
In our survey conducted in conjunction with YouGov, only 39% of its customers said they would recommend it to a friend compared to 72% for the overall winner Octopus Energy.
READ NEXT: These are the best electric radiators you can buy right now
Bulb Energy (2022) review: Customer satisfaction and complaints
Customer service
Bulb was some way behind the top provider, Octopus Energy, for its customer service ratings. Around two fifths (42%) of its customers said they were very or fairly satisfied with its customer service. This compares with 69% for Octopus.
Value for money
It also had mediocre ratings for its value for money as just 33% of customers said they were very or fairly satisfied. This was 20 percentage points lower than for Octopus Energy (53%) but even Octopus only managed to satisfy around half of its customers following the huge increase in energy prices over the past year.
Clarity of bills
Bills was the one area where Bulb performed well as it was highly commended in this category, with 76% of its customers saying their last bill was very or fairly easy to understand. This was second only to Octopus where 86% of customers said their last bill was easy to understand. In third place was E.ON with 74%.
Complaints
Despite its mostly mediocre ratings in our survey, Bulb received a relatively low number of complaints compared to the other suppliers in our survey, according to data published by the energy regulator Ofgem for the second quarter of this year.
It had just 971 complaints per 100,000 customer accounts – the third lowest number of the suppliers we rated. It was good at resolving them too, with 67% resolved by the end of the next working day and 97% within eight weeks.
READ NEXT: Check out our favourite smart thermostats
Ofgem complaints data
| Complaints per 100,000 customer accounts | Industry average complaints per 100,000 customer accounts | Complaints resolved by end of next working day | Complaints resolved within eight weeks |
| 971 | 1,398 | 67% | 97% |
Notes: Data is for the second quarter of 2022.
Along with customer satisfaction and complaints, we normally evaluate energy suppliers’ tariffs but as you can’t currently save money by switching from your supplier’s standard variable tariff, which in most cases will be set at the level of the energy price guarantee from 1 October, comparing suppliers on price is no longer possible.
Bulb Energy (2022) review: Verdict
If you want to do your bit for the planet by reducing your carbon footprint from the energy you use at home, Bulb is a good supplier, offering both green electricity and gas. Its customers were not as satisfied with it as they once were, however, and it’s currently unclear what will happen to it in the future and how this will affect its customers.