Bulb Broke Rules and Overcharged Me!

1882

I received the email below today from Bulb:

Email subject: We’re refunding the amount you’ve overpaid

Hi 1882,

We noticed we’ve been taking payments incorrectly for your standing charge, which means you’ve overpaid. We’ve fixed this problem now and updated your tariff details, as of 28th May, so it won't happen again. We’re sorry for the mix up.

We’re crediting your account with £83.68, which is the amount you’ve overpaid.

This happened because we incorrectly interpreted a rule from Ofgem, the energy regulator. The rule was part of the Electricity Supplier Licence, which every energy supplier has to follow.

Most of our members only have one meter, and one Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) associated with that meter. But your property has multiple MPANs. Instead of charging you for one, we were charging you for each one individually.

We're currently talking with Ofgem about this issue and will get back to you in the next few weeks about compensation for the mix up. But we wanted to refund the amount you’ve overpaid as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience,

Team Bulb
I hadn't been happy about them charging me 2 standing charges for a single meter but didn't realise they were breaking the rules, as they apparently didn't either!
As it says they're going to give me compensation as well a a refund what would be a reasonable amount £25? more?

Takmon

1882 said:

I received the email below today from Bulb:

Email subject: We’re refunding the amount you’ve overpaid

Hi 1882,

We noticed we’ve been taking payments incorrectly for your standing charge, which means you’ve overpaid. We’ve fixed this problem now and updated your tariff details, as of 28th May, so it won't happen again. We’re sorry for the mix up.

We’re crediting your account with £83.68, which is the amount you’ve overpaid.

This happened because we incorrectly interpreted a rule from Ofgem, the energy regulator. The rule was part of the Electricity Supplier Licence, which every energy supplier has to follow.

Most of our members only have one meter, and one Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) associated with that meter. But your property has multiple MPANs. Instead of charging you for one, we were charging you for each one individually.

We're currently talking with Ofgem about this issue and will get back to you in the next few weeks about compensation for the mix up. But we wanted to refund the amount you’ve overpaid as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience,

Team Bulb
I hadn't been happy about them charging me 2 standing charges for a single meter but didn't realise they were breaking the rules, as they apparently didn't either!
As it says they're going to give me compensation as well a a refund what would be a reasonable amount £25? more?

What did they actually say when you got your first bill and contacted them to dispute about paying two standing charges when you only had one meter? 
I'm assuming you would have raised a complaint over this if they initially refused to refund the amount so how long did this go on for? 

1882

Due to other things going on at the time I was joining them I didn't contact them regarding this at all. I just thought it was somewhat a tad unfair.

Takmon

1882 said:

Due to other things going on at the time I was joining them I didn't contact them regarding this at all. I just thought it was somewhat a tad unfair.

With the amount they say they have overcharged you then it sounds like you have been with them over a year so i just thought you might have raised the issue with them at some point.

But as it seems they have resolved the issue without you needing to do anything and not spend any time on it i would say you aren't actually due any compensation now they have refunded the extra amount. So just accept whatever they offer because it's basically money for nothing.

But do make sure you come back on here and let us know what they do offer because it will be interesting to see what they think is fair.

eudora200

Bulb have also increased my monthly payments by £60.00pm.  Last month they told me that my account was in debit by £190.00 which I paid off in full. Today I received an email stating that my account was £433.00 in debit because of my gas usage in June!!!
It's worth noting that I submitted a meter reading ( of which I have kept a copy) on 5th June when gas usage was 6141 and submitted another reading on 29th June for 6148.  They failed to use the meter reading from the 5th stating that they haven't received anything from me since November 2019.  
They seem to be a real con outfit.

UnclaimedEnergy

Apart from the reading you submitted on the 5th June, was the previous reading submitted from November 2019?

If so then the extra 24 days don't really matter in this case if you had used a lot more gas compared to your estimated usage for the  previous 7 months.

To avoid these issues you should try to give readings every month to keep billing as accurate as possible.

Robin9

eudora200 said:

Bulb have also increased my monthly payments by £60.00pm.  Last month they told me that my account was in debit by £190.00 which I paid off in full. Today I received an email stating that my account was £433.00 in debit because of my gas usage in June!!!
It's worth noting that I submitted a meter reading ( of which I have kept a copy) on 5th June when gas usage was 6141 and submitted another reading on 29th June for 6148.  They failed to use the meter reading from the 5th stating that they haven't received anything from me since November 2019.  
They seem to be a real con outfit.

eudora - you have raised a different issue to the subject of this thread.  Could you raise a fresh thread please and give some more info. Back in  Nov 2019 what was the reading and what was amount of credit/debit at that time and what DD have you been paying.   I assume the bill is gas only.