Bulb really did have its wires crossed on £200-a-month bills

Ms M.F. writes: About 18 months ago my daughter’s electricity bills started rising sharply. The average bill for flats where she lives is £40 a month, but hers went to £80 and continued rising until her supplier Bulb was collecting £200 by direct debit. Wiring in the building is wrong, but as things stand my daughter says she has overpaid about £1,250 while Bulb has stopped collecting direct debits and shows her account is £800 in the red.

YOUR daughter has been caught between two big electricity suppliers through no fault of her own. Bulb asked for photos of her meter and readings, then decided nothing was wrong with her bills.

It took you to call in an outside electrician, who discovered that electricity going through your daughter’s meter was not in fact entering her flat. The building’s management said this was not its problem, and at first Bulb gave the same response.

Eventually, though, Bulb did carry out tests and found that while the meter itself was fine, wiring had been installed incorrectly and your daughter was paying for someone else’s electricity.

However, the resident who benefited is not a Bulb customer, and Bulb could not get any answers when it tried to contact the other electricity supplier. This has left your daughter stuck in the middle of a dispute between two utility firms, not knowing whether Bulb owes her money or, as her account suggests, she owes them money.

I asked Bulb to look into this. It told me that when it did finally get a reply from the other supplier, it was only to say that the other resident in the building – your daughter’s neighbour – had not cooperated by having their meter tested.

Nonetheless, Bulb has now agreed that the meters’ wires were crossed. Bulb told me: ‘We have corrected all the statements and the account is now £1,067 in credit. We have also offered £200 in compensation. We have not handled this well and we are sorry for the stress it has caused.’

Given how many months this situation has dragged on, and the financial pressure placed on your daughter, I did not think the £200 offer was exactly generous. It also ignored the fact that you had paid for an independent electrician to prove that something was wrong.

I made these points to Bulb, and it has increased the payment to your daughter to £255, and it will be reimbursing you for the cost of the private electrician’s work.