You can now switch energy supplier through Monzo!

Yeah I am with them and they have been really good. I remember a little while ago hearing from MSE about energy prices increasing. The email below that was from Bulb saying they were lowering theirs

Yeah - although I think it worked out that I’d save £2 a year!

Would be interested to know if any customers were contacted by Monzo as a result of having switched to them through the marketplace beta - I certainly wasn’t.

I’ve discussed it elsewhere on the forum, but it makes me really uncomfortable when the “marketplace” offering is only a couple of suppliers, and no talk of offering more. It introduces and element of doubt and need for trust that isn’t needed when it’s a full marketplace - but then I am fairly cynical…

Why was Bulb not included - perhaps someone from Monzo could explain? @simonb?

I guess it dpends what you expect.

For me ‘Mrketplace’ means ‘a place where you sell stuff’ and not ‘a place where you sell everything’ so I’d be quite comfortable with partial market coverage like this. But then I’m not looking for Monzo (or anyone else) to do all my comparisons for me at this point. That wouldn’t be a ‘Marketplace’ service for me, that would be something else entirely.

It’s semantics of language, I know.

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Well for me it means what Monzo have been extremely vocal about previously, and represents their entire marketplace mission – access to a full marketplace which removes the conflict of interest that’s inherent among being the middle man.

The facts are:

• Bulb was trialled
• Bulb is cheapest (for me, and others who have posted on this forum)
• Bulb is easily as green/renewable as the other two
• Bulb has a Trustpilot score of 9.6 (again, comparable if not better than the others)
• Bulb is a technology driven energy supplier (Tom has commented highly on Bulb during an interview a while ago with respect to this)

So why wasn’t it selected? If it was for technical reasons and the two were unable to agree integration routes etc. then that’s one thing. If it was because Monzo couldn’t get the commercials to be as attractive, so they went to Ovo and Octopus, then that’s a whole different kettle of fish, and goes completely against Monzo’s marketplace mission.

They are supposed to be offering suppliers to get us the best deals, not only including those that perhaps are giving them the best deals. If they go down this route they lose all credibility about being a bank for the customer. Which as I say, makes me very wary.

Nobody is expecting the marketplace to be complete straight off the bat – but no explanation at all as to why they didn’t work out? As I say, it introduces an element of doubt and trust in Monzo that isn’t needed if they offer a full market.

@simonb can you comment at all?

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I’s still early days. :man_shrugging:

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Yes, and Bulb were there at the very beginning…

I feel a marketplace does, to me anyway, imply more than 2 though - even if not everything
But I accept it is early days

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They might not always be the cheapest on the market, but we’ve chosen them because they offer competitive pricing with the level of customer service you expect.

Let’s be real here, the electricity coming to my home is going to taste the same no matter who supplies it.

Similar to @hailstorm I get my energy quotes from MSE’s Cheap Energy Club and grab the one that costs me the least per kW.

Seriously. It’s the same electricity. Off-brand power isn’t going to make your TV dimmer. Why pay more?

Once the 2nd gen Smart Meters roll out every single supplier’s method of usage retrieval is going to be basically identical and the only difference between all of them will be the little picture next to your Direct Debit entry (and of course, the little number).

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[/quote] I agree a comment on why would be great[quote=“J11, post:221, topic:66624, full:true”]
Can we have a custom app icon to match our new card colour?
[/quote]

That already exists

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Loads of people would pay more for energy from renewable sources. You know, saving the planet and all that.

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I moved to Pure Planet which is 100% renewable and it was still cheaper than Bulb for my flat.

It shouldn’t be on individuals to pay to offset the destroying of the climate by large companies.

At the end of the food chain, it’s indiciduals who pay for everything large companies do. If it’s not visible as an overt price difference up front, that doesn’t mean that someone else is paying for it. There is no-one else.

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Exactly, it isn’t even a choice when it’s the same price, hell even if it’s a bit more expensive I’d rather pay for clean energy. Without a planet, the whole argument is moot anyway! :slight_smile:

Clean energy is certainly an interesting consideration, and the biggest reason it’s an attainable consideration is because clean energy companies can match the lowest price - realistically the only way sustainable energy can be sustainable is if it’s a) cheap and b) it’s easy, because you want people who can’t afford a lot (dare I say, the 99%) to still be able to afford your service.

Look at public transport: in my area at least, all of the buses have changed to renewable energy without raising the prices or asking anyone’s permission. The company has decided that from now on, the default method of transport is renewable, and everyone with a bit of spare change can afford it.

On the flip side, Elon Musk wants to save the world and has said himself the only way to make Tesla profitible is to make an affordable Model 3 that the masses can afford, but refuses to make anything significantly under ~£40k because he can’t stop himself from adding toys and performance mods to all of his cars. Lo and behold, he’s living in a permanent state of almost-bankrupcy.

The only way to save the planet is to make clean energy affordable, and the tiny handful of clean-energy companies that are offering power from renewable sources at close to the lowest price are proving that it’s possible.

We all want to do the right thing, and a lot of people will if they can afford it. But ultimately the companies and suppliers have a responsibility to not make ethics a luxury.

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To be fair, Tesla are having troubles because they can’t build enough to keep up with demand, not due to a lack of demand.

I don’t necessarily agree with this.

If renewable energy costs more with current technology then energy companies offering 100% renewable energy will be more expensive.

It’s up to the people buying the electricity to show companies that they want renewable energy using their wallets. Then the technology will get more investment, which will bring prices down and enable people, who couldn’t previously afford to do so, to also buy renewable energy and the process repeats.

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I’m happy with bulb but I had a look at the quotes in the Monzo app but I couldn’t find a section to input annual usage for an accurate quote.

The quotes based on the estimates in the monzo app for me were unrealistically low so I checked on their website with actual usage and they came out more expensive than what I’m paying with bulb.

I think it’s a bit irresponsible to be promoting switching without encouraging a quote based on actual usage.

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I have the option to input my actual usage after the initial quote

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Ah good, glad they have that.

I think I stopped just before that stage.

It would be good if the flow included the TCR (Tariff Comparison Rate) or preferably for me a table of the actual Standing Charge and Unit Rates as part of the quote page.

Edit: I just realised my meaning isn’t that clear here. I appreciate that the tariff information is available for the providers if you click “Learn More > About This Tariff” but it would be helpful to put these side by side on the quote landing page.

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