Energy supplier Bulb to pay £1.76 million after overcharging customers
Upstart energy firm Bulb will pay out £1.76 million after a series of errors, the energy regulator said today.
Ofgem said the the challenger green energy supplier, based in Spitalfields, will pay the funds after breaking its rules in three areas: switching, billing and its Priority Services Register (PSR).
The regulator found that around 3,800 consumers were blocked from switching to Bulb and missed out on savings because the company submitted the wrong number of meters in the property to the supplier they were switching from. It has paid £155,500 to consumers affected by this.
In addition, 11,400 customers were overcharged £699,000. Bulb has paid this back, and provided £675,000 in goodwill payments.
Ofgem found 46,500 vulnerable customers were removed from its PSR due to a data error, meaning they missed out on services like advance notice of a power outage. Bulb compensated 933 customers £70,000. A further £157,000 was paid a further £157,000 into the voluntary redress fund to support customers in a vulnerable situation.
Bulb was founded by Amit Gudka, a former energy market trader for Barclays, and Hayden Wood, a former management consultant, in 2015.
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: "Bulb overcharged some customers, and risked leaving vulnerable customers without access to essential network services, when it failed to comply with Ofgem's rules.
"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."
A Bulb spokeswoman said: “We recently fixed some issues which affected some of our members and potential members. At Bulb, we pride ourselves on the quality of our operations and technology, but we know there will always be ways we can keep improving.
“That’s why we’ve strengthened the Bulb team, boosted training, and put in place even more rigorous checks and verification processes."
