Family Reviews: Bulb - The energy company
Back billing: Why are Bulb trying to charge me for energy used 21 months ago?
After receiving a bill 5 times more than expected - we switched from Bulb shortly before the company failed and went into administration.
21 months of energy usage in 1 bill - this is not allowed under ofgem back billing rules
You can’t be charged for gas or electricity used more than 12 months ago if you have not been correctly billed for it, or informed about it via a statement of account, before.
Timeline
As well as all the emails sent and received from Bulb to try to resolve this complaint and receive an accurate final bill - I also made a large number of phone calls, some but not all are shown here - calls were always to re-iterate my request for a final bill taking back billing rules into account - or to try to stop threatend debt recovery action.
Monthly bill received for £747.10 (usual monthly billing amount was £144.50).
This bill took the £139.33 credit from my account and the new £144.50 monthly payment and required a monthly bill increase (over double) in the following month to £301.14 and an additional payment of £295.18 to clear the outstanding balance.
Payments totalling £885.32 in less than 3 months.
Your account is now £295.18 in debit. We've attached your statement with more details.
Don't cancel your Direct Debit yet
As suggested in the email - I contacted Citizens Advice, and discussed the large bill that had resulted from the estimated readings Bulb has used for 21 months - I also asked for more details of back billing rules, I was advised to request a revised final bill from Bulb.
As per the email below we'll debit the final payment from your account within 14 days and I'm unable to ensure anything otherwise.
I was concerned that I had overpaid for energy - but was told the final payment would be taken within 14 days.
After the payment for £295.18 left my account - I contacted Bulb about my chat with Citizens Advice and concerns I have been charged too much for energy used a long time ago - they agreed to refund the £295.18 payment.
Thanks for getting in touch with me today. I've checked your account and it doesn't look like the payment of £295.18 has come in just yet, I'm going to check again tomorrow morning and request a refund for you.
Hi John – the payment for £295.18 was taken on the 9th of August – the amount has not yet been returned to my account.
Please let me know how this is progressing – I am awaiting my revised final bill, the payment taken is contrary to back billing rules – reply advise as soon as possible.
We are still trying to process a refund of £295.18 to you.
Thanks for your reply – the bill is incorrect, I have spent a great deal of time and money trying to get this resolved.
Please ensure the refund is completed by 5pm today or phone me on xxxxx xxxxxx before 5pm.
I cannot waste any more time on this so if I hear nothing – I will calculate the amount of energy used in the last 12 month and submit a small claim for the overcharge plus phone call costs, time costs and interest.
A refund has now been issued.
The refund was received just under 1 month after being requested.
I understood that the £295.18 refund (an amount automatically drawn by Bulb to clear the final balance) was made in order to check amounts billed in relation to my complaint about a potential back billing overcharge. I was expecting a new final bill to take account of back billing - but instead received the same bill and constant demands (and threats of escalation to debt collection) for the £295.18 that Bulb considered was outstanding.
I have never received a final bill that considered back billing or the significant price increase for Electricity at the point charged in relation to the point used (21 to 13 months earlier).
I have now calculated the billing overcharge for Bulb as they were unwilling to do so.
I hope you're well, just following up on my previous email. Please do let me know how you'd like to proceed with your complaint and what we can do to resolve it.
If we don't hear anything in 6 days, we'll consider your complaint closed.
You recently closed your Bulb account but you haven’t made your final payment of £29518* yet. We sent your final bill on September 2nd 2021.
If you use the button below to pay, there’s no need to call us. Please pay your final bill of £295.18 before Saturday 2nd October:
*Note: I assumed they missed a decimal point here.
Bulb (Oliver) at help@bulb.co.uk - also sent to missed.payments@bulb.co.uk (Payment Request email)
On Sat 25/09/2021 10:03 – I received an email shown below.
I cannot make any payment at this time as I still have not received an accurate final bill.
I was advised by a member of your staff to cancel the direct debit – which I have done.
Please send the final bill based on our previous correspondence or I am happy to end the contract now if no bill is made available – if this is the case please confirm that the account balance is 0.
The new final balance is -£295.18 in debit.
Please can you call us to confirm your payment plan arrangements.
I have replied a few times to say this bill is incorrect as it includes energy used over 12 months prior to the final bill date.
Please take this into account in producing an accurate final bill – I have calculated the amount that the new final bill should show based on energy back-billing rules.
I await this bill – no payment will be made and no attempt to take payment should be made until this is in my possession and agreed.
We’re sending this email to let you know that we’ve reviewed your complaint and we’d like to offer you our final position on it.
What happened so far is that a payment was taken for the final balance that was incorrect.
We refunded this back to you, and requested that a payment plan be set up, as this is the correct final bill.
We are sorry for how long this took to process.
If you’re happy with our response, and you accept it to close your complaint, then that’s great - just reply to this email letting us know.
If you are still unhappy with our proposed solution to your complaint, you may use this email to escalate your complaint with Ombudsman Services: Energy for them to decide the next steps.
Note: Ombudsman link provided in the email was missing a dot - "Through their website at wwwombudsman-services.org"
Threat 1
You need to pay this before Thursday 16th December or we'll have to escalate your account to our debt collection agency.
Spoke to Chris about the threat email and the fact I am still awaiting a final bill to take into account back billing rules.
ref: 19509202
Spoke to Sam about the threat email and the fact I am still awaiting a final bill to take into account back billing rules.
Debt recovery on hold until 07/03/2022.
Threat 2
You need to pay this before Monday 14th March.
If you don't get in touch, we'll transfer your account to our debt collection agency. This may impact your personal credit score.
Spoke to Vee about the threat email and the fact I am still awaiting a final bill to take into account back billing rules.
Chris will look at this again, debt recovery on hold until 11/04/2022.
Threat 3
You need to pay this before Monday 18th April.
If you don't get in touch, we'll transfer your account to our debt collection agency. This may impact your personal credit score.
Spoke to Kaylan about the threat email and the fact I am still awaiting a final bill to take into account back billing rules.
After 1 year - no final bill, asked for the outstanding amount to be written off on the grounds of business incompetence and continued harassment and threats (that are affecting me physical and mental heath).
Told that Deadlock email was sent on 6/10/2021 - and I should go to the Ombudsman.
Kaylan confered with Mali Harrison - operations, bulb
He was unwilling to take the time to speak to a customer - who has explained they are feeling mentally and physical unwell.
Debt recovery is not on hold.
Threat 4
You need to pay this before Tuesday 26th April.
If we don't hear from you by Tuesday 26th April, we'll transfer your account to our debt collection agency. They'll be in charge of recovering the debt and this may affect your credit score.
Also sent to: help@bulb.co.uk, hello@bulb.co.uk and missed.payments@bulb.co.uk
Acknowledgment received 21/04/2022 - as at 05/05/2022 - no reply received
Oliver – thank you for your email.
I have now been asking for a final bill taking into account back billing regulation for just under 1 year.
No final bill have been provided – and the last sent is incorrect having included charges for energy used 18 month ago.
Bulb have threatened recovery action many time and the most recent email says:
“If we don't hear from you by Tuesday 26th April, we'll transfer your account to our debt collection agency. They'll be in charge of recovering the debt and this may affect your credit score.”
The complaint has been raised with the Ombudsman Service – so the fact that you intend to continue recovery action whilst the Ombudsman are involved is a disappointment.
The time and money I have spent in trying to resolve this back billing error by Bulb – now will require reimbursement, I intend to begin small claim action against bulb for these costs – as soon as the Ombudsman return their decision.
Please consider putting your aggressive recovery action on hold until the Ombudsman return their findings based on the very detailed case notes and communication with Bulb details I have submitted.
Please phone me on xxxxx xxxxxx if you wish to discuss this further.
Spoke to Lazerus about the threat email and the fact I am still awaiting a final bill to take into account back billing rules.
Made no progress in resolving the complaint with Lazerus whilst he confered with manager Msizi Maseko - the staff member at Bulb hung up on me before out conversation finsihed.
Debt recovery is not on hold.
Threat 5
we are passing your account to our debt collection agency. This may impact your credit score.
You can prevent this from happening by paying your bill before Sunday 1st May.
Electric and Gas Bills
No Electric Meter Readings used for 21 months (from 8 July 2019 to 15 April 2021)
Electric
13 June 2019 78117 Estimate
8 July 2019 78288 Read
13 July 2019 78347 Estimate
Gas
13 June 2019 15138 Estimate
8 July 2019 15138 Read
13 July 2019 15142 Estimate
This was the last Electric meter reading used by Bulb until 21 months later on 15 April 2021.
All bills received from July 2019 to June 2020 contained estimated Electricity meter readings.
An actual Gas meter reading was taken and applied to the account in January 2020, but no reading was applied for the Electricity meter.
Monthly Bills: June 2020 to April 2021
Electric
13 June 2020 83080 Estimate
13 July 2020 83434 Estimate
Gas
13 June 2020 16463 Estimate
10 July 2020 16615 Read*
13 July 2020 16497** Estimate
*In a phone call to Bulb - a staff member said the reading was ignored (automatically by the system) - as it was assumed to be incorrect due to the large increase!
** Note that despite the increase in the actual meter reading on 10 July 2020 - Bulb made an estimate 3 days later that was much lower!
At that time, most families were spending more time at home due to the lockdown and so using more energy such as gas.
Electric
13 July 2020 83434 Estimate
13 August 2020 83868 Estimate
Gas
13 July 2020 16497 Estimate
13 August 2020 16526 Estimate
Electric
13 August 2020 83868 Estimate
13 September 2020 84311 Estimate
Gas
13 August 2020 16526 Estimate
13 September 2020 16560 Estimate
Electric
13 September 2020 84311 Estimate
13 October 2020 84790 Estimate
Gas
13 September 2020 16560 Estimate
13 October 2020 16634 Estimate
Email received from Bulb on 10/10/2020 stated: "A meter reading every three months is enough to keep your estimated meter readings accurate. You last sent us a meter reading on 10th July, so it's time for another one now." - acknowledging receipt of the meter reading they did not use and continued to used estimates now 15 month old.
Electric
3 October 2020 84790 Estimate
13 November 2020 85343 Estimate
Gas
13 October 2020 16634 Estimate
13 November 2020 16773 Estimate
Electric
13 November 2020 85343 Estimate
13 December 2020 85947 Estimate
Gas
13 November 2020 16773 Estimate
13 December 2020 16980 Estimate
Electric
3 December 2020 85947 Estimate
13 January 2021 86618 Estimate
Gas
13 December 2020 16980 Estimate
13 January 2021 17241 Estimate
Electric
13 January 2021 86618 Estimate
13 February 2021 87251 Estimate
Gas
13 January 2021 17241 Estimate
13 February 2021 17504 Estimate
Electric
13 February 2021 87251 Estimate
13 March 2021 87799 Estimate
Gas
13 February 2021 17504 Estimate
13 March 2021 17710 Estimate
Electric
13 March 2021 87799 Estimate
13 April 2021 88363 Estimate
Gas
13 March 2021 17710 Estimate
13 April 2021 17882 Estimate
Electric
13 April 2021 88363* Estimate
15 April 2021 91149* Read
13 May 2021 91766 Estimate
Gas
13 April 2021 17882* Estimate
15 April 2021 18190* Read
13 May 2021 18310 Estimate
Bill received on 13/05/2021: You've used £747.10 of energy since 13th April. Your account is now £607.77 in debit. We've attached your statement with more details.
*The monthly bill of over £747.10 was the result of 21 months of estimated readings being used by Bulb - even though at least 1 actual reading was available.
We’d expect your balance to be £39.15 of credit but at your last statement you were actually £619.83 in debit. So your account is £658.98 behind.
Electric back billing
8 July 2019 78288 Read15 April 2021 91149 Read
21 months - 12,861 units used / 21 = average of 612 units per month
The May bill charged for 3403 Electricity units - this included 2786 units used between 8 July 2019 and 15 April 2021.
(Actual 15 April 2021) - (Estimate 13 April 2021)91149 - 88363 = 2786
The 2786 units were charged at the current unit price of 16.27p/kWh - even though at the point of consumption - Electricity was at 13.81p/kWh for the first 9 months and 14.62 p/kWh for the next 7 months.
As at the bill date 13 May 2021 - Electricity charged for but used before 13 May 2020 should be excluded from the bill.
If the back billed 2786 units for Electricity are split between the 21 months since an actual meter reading was applied to the account - on average this would equate to 132 units per month.
Exclude amount for Electricity: 9 months before 13 May 2020 bill = 9 x 132 = 1188 (at 16.27p/kWh = £193.28)
It should also be noted that over half of the remaining units charged at 16.27p/kWh - would have been priced 14.62p/kWh if billed at the time of use.
It is very concerning that Bulb are ignoring actual meter readings which clearly can and do result in problems for customers which include over-charging.
Gas back billing
The back billing of Gas was also an issue but to a lesser degree - so is not documented at this time.
Bulb Terms
Terms and Information
Section: When we’ll use estimates: What happens if I give you a meter reading after a long time?
How do estimated meter readings work?
When you give us a meter reading, we’ll correct your billing in the following month’s statement to reflect your actual usage.
This did not happen, billing in the following month continued to use an estimate.
Section: Terms & Conditions We’ll calculate the charges for your energy using:
4.2.4. If you have a credit meter, any meter readings you've given us, meter readings we have been provided by the meter reader or, if no up-to-date meter reading is available, we will use estimated meter readings (using industry standard methods).
This did not happen, a meter reading had been provided but charges for energy usage were based on an estimate.
4.4.8 If you have a traditional credit meter and we have not received a meter reading from you, we will try to take a meter reading in person by inspecting the meter every 12 months and reflect this in your bills.
Inspecting the meter every 12 months did not happen, the account was left using estimates for 21 months.
Section: Guaranteed Standards of Performance
Terms: 19.1. Our ‘Guaranteed Standards’ section of our website sets out some minimum standards we must meet in supplying energy to you, and the compensation arrangements that apply if we fail to meet those standards. We update it regularly so please check our website for more information.
Guaranteed Standards of Performance
Sending your final bill
If you’ve closed your account with us, for example by switching to another supplier, or by letting us know you’re no longer responsible for the property, then we will send your final bill within 6 weeks of your account closing. If we don’t do this, we’ll pay you £30.
This did not happen, switch acknowledgment from Bulb: 22/06/2021, final bill received 03/09/2021 (10 weeks, 3 days - not within 6 weeks). I have not received the £30 compensation.
Refunding your final credit balance
If you’ve decided to switch to another supplier and you still have outstanding credit in your account after paying your final bill, then we’ll refund this credit balance to you within 10 working days. If we don’t do this, we’ll pay you £30.
This did not happen, switch acknowledgment from Bulb: 22/06/2021, a credit amount of £29.44 was refunded on 05/09/2022 (53 working days - not within 10 working days) . I have not received the £30 compensation.
Paying compensation
If any of the above situations apply to you, then we pay you £30 within 10 working days. If we don’t make the payment within 10 working days, we’ll pay you another £30.