I've heard that there's discussion on Discord that this is a new change and is working as intended. Honestly, whether it is or just a bug, it is making me not want to play another second because;
1. How much energy has been wasted trying to determine if it was a bug.
2. How much time is wasted slow leveling food to upgrade champs.
3. The fact I've not been properly compensated for any of the real bugs (including the refer a friends) nor received a single piece of feedback from Plarium regarding the hidden rules (such as this one if it's true) that cause us to burn through energy.
Just explaining this is upsetting me all over again. I think it's time to uninstall and find a new time killer.