That’s a fair point. For me it was useful (ish) as I do pay electricity (only ish because I recently switched) but I like the concept- I guess it didn’t feel like an advert to me but I assumed it was more targeted.
Interesting to read that some people were more expensive with bulb. They were the cheapest in my area when I checked which is how I found them in the first place! However I would probably be happy to pay a small premium for them because I like the way they work.
A single rate for starters. Hopefully good customer service, simple to use and easy to understand. And they just launched an app which is interesting, albeit on iOS. I guess they just feel like a modern energy company which is built for modern people. I think about how complicated British Gas is and wonder why. They only provide 2 products!
However not sure I like the idea of a link popping up in my bank statement. Perhaps in a section where I could compare offers. I noticed revolut had a mortgage comparison that recommended a mortgage 50% more expensive than the one I was taking. Seriously loses trust if the recommendations are not fair and open.
They’re clearly not going to ‘stop it’ since this has been part of their revenue planning since day 1. I believe ‘Opt out’ options will be/are available, however.
Bulb have a higher standing charge than other providers, so people who have very low usage will find them more expensive. They have mentioned in this forum thread that it’s partly intentional to reduce the number of customers who use virtually no energy https://community.bulb.co.uk/discussion/1553/lower-standing-charge As their fixed costs come down with extra scale then the standing charge will reduce and has done several times in the past.
When I done a comparison before switching to Bulb, they weren’t the cheapest overall (a few other non-100% renewable tariffs were cheaper), but were the cheapest renewable with interest in renewable gas. The proportion of gas and electric used will also be a factor.
I was previously with Ecotricity who used to be one of the cheapest for my usage for renewables, however no longer the case. I’d rather invest in renewables and get a return on the money than pay one company.
Monzo aren’t the first to have offers showing in the feed. The Halifax rewards also show up my account transactions attached to certain transactions. Here’s an example of shopping at Sainsbury’s giving a £3 cash back offer when spending £30 at Waitrose.
That’s exactly the kind of thing that would annoy me, esp. since the nearest waitrose is miles away… it’s just a competitor attaching their adverts to sainsburys (and I bet halifax were paid a lot of money for that).
Attach sainsburys offers to sainsburys, and it would make sense.
I think that’s the key which I forgot to mention. They might not always be the cheapest overall but they would most likely be the cheapest 100% renewable electricity.
Santander 123 account shows ‘related’ offers in exactly the same way on transactions screen and mostly offers Waitrose and Morrisons if I use my card at Tesco or Sainsbury’s. And then they have a separate offers section which is offering £50 cashback for a switch to First Utility.
Some of these aren’t personalised. Hello Fresh (whom I actually rate and would recommend) offer discounts to new subscribers constantly. It’s their basic loss-leader business model. I would guess this offer isn’t in any way personalised to each Santander customer (I’ll bet it’s just get x% off first order) in which case you’re just being served another pointless channel of advertising.