Bulb Energy

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I’m with octopus but have noticed there are a few which are cheaper like bulb and igloo. Octopus have been decent like. Just reading that above about apparent power is concerning considering I’ve got about 26 led spotlights in the roof.
 


Paddy O'Dors said:
I think the 100% renewable energy thing might not be 100% kosher mind.

Energy suppliers have no control over generation or distribution.
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I believe they can claim it because they fund renewable energy to the value of anything used. Obviously the source isn’t directly renewable but it’s like the carbon offsetting thing when they use that to claim something is carbon neutral.
I have no problems with bulb, been with them a year now. You have total control of your account online which is great. Can go straight on and change DD amount, date, account it’s paid from, can change meter readings and whatever. They only have the one tariff as well so you don’t need to remember to change every year or get ripped off (although still keep an eye on it, could spike in the future). No exit fees though so even if you have a bad time just tell them to do one and leave
 
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Had bulb for over a year, paying around £30 a month less than SSE.
Can’t fault them tbh, even her alerts saying I’m not using what I’m paying so I should lower my DD.
 
TravellingMackem said:
I believe they can claim it because they fund renewable energy to the value of anything used. Obviously the source isn’t directly renewable but it’s like the carbon offsetting thing when they use that to claim something is carbon neutral.
I have no problems with bulb, been with them a year now. You have total control of your account online which is great. Can go straight on and change DD amount, date, account it’s paid from, can change meter readings and whatever. They only have the one tariff as well so you don’t need to remember to change every year or get ripped off (although still keep an eye on it, could spike in the future). No exit fees though so even if you have a bad time just tell them to do one and leave
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How else do you expect them to do it out a wind turbine in ya garden?
 
Morse said:
Ah. The real reason power companies are pushing them is that they can be programmed to bill for ‘apparent power’ in the future. Its not power you’re actually using. It’s very technical and difficult to explain, but AC electrical devices all have a ‘power factor’. Basically, an ideal power factor is 1, which is where voltage and current waveforms are in perfect phase. Devices with poor power factor cause problems with the power distribution system, like harmonics, heating, etc. Smart meters can bill for apparent power...

Consider a basic LED spotlight. It might be rated to use 5 Watt/hrs of electricity. They often have notoriously poor power factors, as bad as, say, 0.2. Suddenly your 5 watt bulb is causing your smart meter to bill you for perhaps 25Watt/hrs of power you’re not actually consuming!

I’ve probably explained that badly, but that’s the gist.

You might have seen PC power supplies labelled ‘with PFC’ (power factor correction). The EU mandates PFC for all switch mode power supplies over, iirc, 60Watts. This is great, but there’s dozens of small devices in the average home that don’t have it, and would be more expensive to buy if they had to have it. These are where people are going to lose out.


It’s not paranoia! Just wait a few years...
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Commons select committee yesterday reckons about 15% of the population will probably refuse to install smart meters. It recommended that these people should be hit with higher charges to "encourage" them to change.
 
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