Bulb - underquotation

chrisl-1410

Morning all,


Apologies if this is in the wrong place/already been covered however I could only see a BG related issue and that didnt have a clear resolution.


I joined Bulb last January. When we obtained the quote we cited our estimated usage in kwh.


We have had 7 bills, so are 58% of the way through the year.


We have used 59% of the electricity we said we would.


We have used 40% of the gas we said we would.


I would say we are therefore on track to use exactly what we said we would.


However, we have already paid 98% of the annual charge Bulb said we would face.


Bulb charge for what has been used and so we have not accrued a buffer and it will not all balance out by year end.


I appreciate there have been 3 increases this year however the initial 2 were only minor and the latest has yet to take effect.


I have contacted Bulp however after 3 lots of back and forth they seem to be missing the issue; be it through my lack of clarity (which i dont think is the case) or their hope that i will leave them alone.


Our position is that we have been misrepresented the cost of the gas and electric and would be seeking some sort of reduction/reimbursement.


Does anyone have experience of this issue?
Does anyone feel there is a case to answer here?
Am i missing something?


Many thanks for your time in advance

wavelets

chrisl-1410 wrote: »

Morning all,


Apologies if this is in the wrong place/already been covered however I could only see a BG related issue and that didnt have a clear resolution.


I joined Bulb last January. When we obtained the quote we cited our estimated usage in kwh.


We have had 7 bills, so are 58% of the way through the year.


We have used 59% of the electricity we said we would.


We have used 40% of the gas we said we would.


I would say we are therefore on track to use exactly what we said we would.


However, we have already paid 98% of the annual charge Bulb said we would face.


Bulb charge for what has been used and so we have not accrued a buffer and it will not all balance out by year end.


I appreciate there have been 3 increases this year however the initial 2 were only minor and the latest has yet to take effect.


I have contacted Bulp however after 3 lots of back and forth they seem to be missing the issue; be it through my lack of clarity (which i dont think is the case) or their hope that i will leave them alone.


Our position is that we have been misrepresented the cost of the gas and electric and would be seeking some sort of reduction/reimbursement.


Does anyone have experience of this issue?
Does anyone feel there is a case to answer here?
Am i missing something?


Many thanks for your time in advance

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74780609&postcount=279

Hope this explains
https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/115003405632-How-do-Bulb-payments-and-statements-work-

chrisl-1410

Thanks for the link :beer:
From what I can see though, it doesn't explain why they quoted our annual fuel cost to be, say, £500 yet, despite using exactly what we have said we would, it looks like it will cost over £900; nor whether anyone has had a similar issue and resolved it

wavelets

Let's not talk in riddles.

When you applied to switch to Bulb in January, what did you tell them would be your estimated annual consumption figures in kWh for gas and electricty?

What was the unit prices and daily standing charges of the tariff at that time?

What was the anticipated annual cost you were given based on those annual usage figures and the tariff as it was at that time.

How much have you actually paid Bulb Energy in monthly charges so far?

JJ_Egan

How did they misrepresent the cost ??
Did they not give unit costs and standing charges .
Are those units not what you are being charged .


Seems as your argument is based upon an Estimate of probable yearly cost . Not based upon wrong charges for units .
Generally a wrong estimate is based upon user input as to usage .Even if not its usually obvious that its to cheap and does not tally with estimated usage times unit costs .

PixelPound

It's a variable tariff and the initial projection will have assumed no increases, but as they have that's why it cost more. If you have used as expected, then its due to the price rises. If you wanted to pay what was expected you needed a fixed not variable tariff. Don't think you have any come back, they are clear its a variable, don't charge exit fees and give notice for price changes.

As I tend to use MSE CEC, when I did a comparison in Sept 2017 bulb was £800 for the year, this month it's £1200+ for next 12 months

Raxiel

You say you feel they have misrepresented the cost of the gas and the electric. The only contractual value beyond the standing charge is the unit rate, not the estimated total.

Have Bulb been billing you against the correct unit rates at the correct period?
Have Bulb definitely been calculating your bills (and credit/debit balance) against actual reads rather than estimates?
Have either you or Bulb factored in the 'referral bonus' into the total, and could that explain some or all of the discrepancy?


When you chose Bulb, did you compare their unit rates with the rates of other suppliers or just the annual total? If it's the former, even if you end up paying more than expected, you're no worse off than you would have been elsewhere even if it feels that way. If you multiply the estimated consumption by the rates you were given when you joined, do you get the same total?



I suspect that the issue is the gas. My guess is that they expected you to have used less than 40% by this point, since usage isn't even over the year, but last winter was a lot colder and dragged on for far longer than previous years.


It's hard to say without figures though. If you can provide:
Start reads, a current read, and reads around each of the price rises, rates at the start and after each rise, your projected usage and their suggested total.


I can check the sums for you.

chrisl-1410

Thanks all,


We went on uswitch and gave an annual usage of 2100 kWh for electricity and 1500 kWh for gas when obtaining our quote.


The Bulb quote for the annual charge based on the above specified usage was £449.37 per annum.


As at our bill for the end of August (bill 7) we have used:-


Electricity 1246 kwh against the quoted 2100, so 59% of our cited annual usage.


Gas 606 kwh against the quoted 1500 kwh, so 40% of our cited annual usage.


To date, in 7 months (58% of the year) we have paid to Bulb £443.54. This is 98.7% of the annual charge bulb said it would be.


I do not have the individual unit prices at sign up to hand though obviously can source if required.


I accepted the quote on face value, assuming they had based their calculations on the clear figures i gave them. Perhaps this is my error and everyone else actually carries out their own calculations. In which case, I am happy to concede an error in approach here and wouldn't make the same again.


However, are we saying that no-one accepts the quote without doing the sums themselves? This seems unlikely to me.


It seems to me the actual Bulb quote should have been roughly £800 and not £449 and therefore the quotation is not representative of the actual charges.


Again, I appreciate it is variable and there have been 2 small increases this year but these were only small increases.


As it stands, I am just over halfway through the year having used just over half the energy I said I would and yet have already hit my annual amount hence the concern

PixelPound

So did you have a DD set up based on your original usage quote and has it changed. If the DD is the same as it was set up, then you must have misread something as it will be based on the usage they quoted. If it has increased, did you not think of querying how cheap they still would be?

wavelets

The OP is still talking in riddles despite simple questions that would ordinarily have simple answers

I'm out!

PixelPound

It's not unusual to use less gas - for most people who's main consumption is heating, then its expected to be a lot less over the summer months (in May-Sept I used less gas in total than I did in a winter month like January.

Do Bulb give you estimated annual usage on the bills based on what you have used?