Fight for your Rights: “Bulb says I owe £3,000 – but it’s wrong”
Moneywise columnist Hannah Nemeth helps a reader get what's owed to her
29th July 2020 08:38
by Hannah Nemeth from interactive investor
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Moneywise columnist Hannah Nemeth helps a reader get what's owed to her
JC wrote to Moneywise after she was convinced that her gas bill from Bulb was wrong.
She questioned the size of the bill – a whopping £3,000. She could not believe her family of four could run up a bill of that size – especially as there are only two people living in their three-bedroom house during the week.
In October 2019, Bulb warned JC over the phone that her next bill would be high because it had not received her meter readings and could not calculate the bill accurately.
Nonetheless, in March 2020, she was still shocked to receive a bill for £2,948.57.
To lessen the blow, Bulb said that she could pay the bill in instalments, offering to add £170 to her monthly gas bill.
JC says: “How could Bulb get it so wrong? I received an email saying the bill was for the period from 1 October 2019 to 29 February 2020, but this would mean that we use £529.71 of gas each month.”
After Moneywise asked Bulb to investigate, it admitted there had been an error.
JC’s gas meter was exchanged earlier in 2019 and that went unrecorded on Bulb’s system, causing a big jump in the usage over a short period of time when the new meter was finally read.
Furthermore, energy suppliers are forbidden from charging customers for gas and electricity used more than 12 months ago if they have not charged them correctly in the first place.
Bulb’s operations team looked into it and found it had unfairly back-billed, so instead of JC owing Bulb almost £3,000, it turned out that her bill was actually around £150 in credit. Plus, Bulb offered to credit her account with £180 as a goodwill gesture.
A Bulb spokesperson says: “Our team identified the error and worked quickly to fix it. We have been in touch with JC to apologise and have compensated her for the error.”
JC says: “I was completely stressed about it, but I knew the bill was wrong as I use more electricity than gas. I am just glad it is sorted.”
Outcome: £3,000 bill cancelled, plus £180 goodwill gesture
This article was originally published in our sister magazine Moneywise, which ceased publication in August 2020.
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