Bulb's dubious logic on (not) sorting out my meter problem

gld73

I moved house in late November and gave my meter readings in to the supplier (Bulb) on moving in; the house is all electric and has the 2 meters for night time and normal rates, with the white meter timer (Scottish equivalent of Economy 7) set for the 7 hours of overnight off peak rate. The night storage heaters and hot water immersion heater heat up overnight.

After about a week I checked the meters to see how much I'd been using, given I'd tried to use as little as possible on the day rate, and was surprised to see the night meter hadn't changed at all. I then checked it that night and saw that even within the timings of the white meter for the night rate, it was still the day rate meter that was ticking up, so my electricity 24hrs/day was all going on the higher rate.

I contacted Bulb, who initially told me that there was unlikely to be a problem as 90% of people contacting them about meter problems didn't turn out to have a meter fault. However, they looked back at previous meter readings and found the night rate meter readings hadn't budged since near the start of 2022. (The house had been kept on by family members as a sort of holiday home for their own use after their parents had passed away, so it was probably different family members doing the readings periodically and not really noticing the problem).

Bulb said they would arrange someone from the meter team to come and investigate and asked me to provide photos of the meters and cabling,  replies to questions on parking, access etc, as well as my availability over the next few weeks. As it was a couple of weeks to Christmas, I assumed it might not be done before then, so also gave availability through January.

I've now had an email from Bulb saying that as they don't have anyone available to come out just now or immediately in the new year, they're cancelling the logged fault "so I don't get disappointed at the delayed timescales" and asking me to contact them again later in January to re-raise it as a new fault. 

What?!? Can anyone here explain that logic? My interpretation of that is that I'll be put to the back of the queue for a technician to come out ... and I'm a lot more disappointed at an acknowledged fault being blatantly shelved than I would be at knowing it's still in progress and a technician will be coming in a few weeks at least. I really can't see why they think I'd think this is a good thing - or is it that Bulb is trying to start a fresh sheet with Octopus and hiding all existing faults?

Meanwhile I've now got my heating turned off, rather than risk never getting this resolved and having all my bills at a high rate because of the fault, with no refund given ....

molerat

You need to escalate it as a formal complaint, that is the only thing that suppliers understand.

Galloglass

Register a complaint with them using their official process. You can escalate this to the Energy Ombudsman after 8 weeks.

It was announced on 22nd November 2021 that Bulb Energy were going into special administration. Bulb will continue to operate as normal and therefore we will continue to accept and consider complaints about the supplier.

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/providers/bulb-energy

--Energy Ombudsman

Often with these fob-offs people wait, and wait, and wait. Bulb (and their new owners) don't react to anything other than the EO and even then, the EO often finds them intransigent. But it is the best way forward for the moment as it puts time pressure and cost on Bulb.

[There is another way too. You local CAB may have an energy advisor who has access to a specialist direct line to Bulb to get these issues sorted. Two caveats though. The CAB may not have an energy specialist and secondly, Bulb may still be intransigent.]

[Deleted User]

Often with these fob-offs people wait, and wait, and wait. Bulb (and their new owners) don't react to anything other than the EO and even then, the EO often finds them intransigent. But it is the best way forward for the moment as it puts time pressure and cost on Bulb.

I think there is still a way to go before Octopus finally takes over Bulb. The ongoing case is expected to be heard by a judge in February and it is unclear what will happen with the transfer of customers if the deal is reversed by the courts. (Source BBC)

Any EOS costs etc will just be added to the £Bns that the Government has agreed to pay Octopus to takeover the Bulb customer base.