Bulb to pay out £1.8m after breaking compliance rules
Challenger energy brand Bulb has been ordered to pay out £1.8m after overcharging customers and blocking users from switching to its services.
According to watchdog Ofgem, around 61,000 customers were affected by the compliance issues, which occurred between 2017 and 2020.
The regulator said that Bulb, which has expanded rapidly in recent years to be one of the biggest energy companies in the UK, had overcharged 11,400 customers a total of £699,000.
The firm has agreed to pay this back, as well as goodwill payments worth up to £675,000.
In addition, around 3,800 customers were blocked from switching onto Bulb’s platform due to mistakes made by the supplier.
Bulb has since paid £155,500 to consumers who missed the chance to make savings because of this.
The firm also paid £157,000 into Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund, which is used to support vulnerable customers.
Ofgem’s 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.”
Richard Neudegg, head of regulation at Uswitch.com, said that Bulb’s mistakes would cause concern for some households.
“However, consumers do expect all suppliers to get the basics right – and the system failures leading to overcharging of 11,400 customers an average of £61 will cause concern for some households.
“Too many families under financial pressure are still paying over the odds for their energy, and switching suppliers is a great way to save money, so it’s important this is a service they can have access to.
“Any customers who think they may have also been affected by similar issues and haven’t yet had the situation resolved should complain to their supplier directly.”