Energy Supplier Bulb Refunding Consumers £1.76M After Overcharges, Switching Issues

Thousands of Bulb customers have received refunds after being overcharged or being blocked from switching to the company.

Bulb has refunded almost £2 million to 61,000 customers after the company’s failure to comply with guidelines established by energy regulator Ofgem, Currency.com reported. According to the energy watchdog, the 61,000 customers were affected by Bulb’s failures between 2017 and 2020.

Bulb’s overcharges and blocking of switches have forced them to pay out £1.76 million in refunds to affected customers, according to Currency.com.

The package of redress was established after Ofgem discovered that Bulb was charging households too much and stopping customers from switching to their service. The £1.76 million refund includes a goodwill payment of £157,350 to the energy industry to help vulnerable customers, according to the Express and Star. 

On top of overcharging, Bulb was found to be preventing 3,800 customers on Restricted Meter Infrastructure (RMI) from switching to the company, preventing them from saving money on their energy bills, Yahoo! News reported.

Ofgem also said as many as 11,400 customers on RMI were overcharged by a sum of £699,000.

Many of the affected customers were in the most vulnerable situations.

Bulb has reportedly also removed approximately 46,500 susceptible consumers from a list that gives them priority service during times of lost power, according to The Sun. The top priority register helps those who need additional assistance, including extra warning of scheduled power outages and bills designed for the seeing impaired.

“Bulb overcharged some customers, and risked leaving vulnerable customers without access to essential network services, when it failed to comply with Ofgem’s rules, Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said in a statement. “Our rules are designed to protect consumers, and suppliers must make sure they have the processes in place to comply with them if they are going to give their customers good service. Bulb has since put things right with affected customers and put processes in place to make sure it can meet Ofgem’s rules.”

Bulb, a five-year-old renewable energy supplier and Big Six challenger, touts that it supplies green energy at a lower cost than its competitors. The Big Six challenger boasts approximately 1.7 million customers and the company has begun expanding. So far, Bulb’s reach has expanded from the U.K. to France, Spain and Texas, according to Yahoo! News.

Ofgem has been busy regulating Britain’s Big Six challengers this year.

There have been two other incidents involving problems with energy suppliers: Ovo was subject to an £8.9 million fine and Utility Warehouse paid a £650,000 fine, according to Currency.com.

Over the last decade, the U.K.’s market of energy suppliers has endured momentous changes with several new Big Six challenger companies emerging. 

While more people remain at home, energy bill estimates during the coronavirus lockdown show that bills have increased by around £32 a month, The Sun reported. Ofgem gave notice that households that are struggling to afford gas and electricity will receive emergency credit to assist them. 

Bulb has contemplated how to improve and overcome this issue. The company has stated it has fixed some mistakes on behalf of affected customers by refunding overcharges and addressing the blocking problem.

The Big Six challenger published a statement of apology on its website.

“We pride ourselves on the quality of our systems and technology, but in these instances we needed to improve,” Bulb wrote. “To do so, we’ve strengthened the relevant teams, introduced new processes and training and introduced more checking and verification. We’d also like to express our thanks to the energy regulator Ofgem for working with us on these issues. Energy customers should know that Ofgem are working hard on their behalf. We’re sorry. We will do better.” 

You are a Bulb customer? Did you face any challenges caused by the energy supplier? Let us know in the comments.

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