Bulb ordered to pay £1.76m after overcharging customers and blocking switches

London-based energy company Bulb has had to pay £1.76m after failing to comply with a range of Ofgem rules between 2017 and 2020.

The firm was found to have overcharged some customers, as well as blocking consumers from switching and having issues with the Priority Services Register.

Around 3,800 consumers on Restricted Meter Infrastructure (RMI) were blocked from switching to Bulb, as a result of the firm not submitting the correct number of meters.

Approximately 11,400 RMI customers were also wrongly charged multiple standing charges, while Around 46,500 vulnerable Bulb customers were incorrectly removed from their network operators’ Priority Service Register.

Ofgem ruled that Bulb had insufficient processes in place to review and prevent non-compliance, which contributed to these compliance failings.

Ofgem’s CEO, Jonathan Brearley, commented: “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.”

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