Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yes I can remember looking again at the Quote page after I had switched and concluding that it was of academic value only and subject to the escape clause.The "next 12 months page" puts the June 22 average at 13.01. It is obviously guesswork with an excess of precision thrown in. I suspect that all that can be said is that currently in the view of the experts prices this time next year will be lower than they are now. End of ..

I doubt you can even say that of the data. Even from when I joined tracker that "predictor" graph was predicting both April and May to average at 13p.....we all know that was completely fictitious and incorrect. Even now it is predicting 13p on their graph from tomorrow onwards. It is so wildly out and should not be used to base any calculations on future prices.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

I suspect that all that can be said is that currently in the view of the experts prices this time next year will be lower than they are now. End of ..

There are a number of more likely explanations. For example, the prices are based on historic prices rather than future forecasts, the forecasting model is deeply flawed, or demo data has been loaded as a placeholder and never replaced with a genuine forecast.

bristolleedsfan

Octopus customers can submit meter readings when ever they like, daily, weekly, sometime during the month or even at another interval, statement issued each time.

Just as an example, adult moves out energy consumption of the property changes, on each statement is estimated annual KWH usage, meter readings submitted influence estimated annual KWH usage, the more meter readings that get submitted the more accurate annual estimated kwh figure should be.

Who updates/re-calculates annual estimated kwh figure that appears on statements. ?????????????

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78374468/#Comment_78374468 

"Your problem is being caused because Avro do not recalculate your estimated annual gas usage each month - in fact they never recalculate it unless you specifically request them to do it. The estimated annual Electricity usage is automatically recalculated each month. If you look at your last few bills you will see the estimated annual gas usage never changes "

masonic

bristolleedsfan said:

Who updates/maintains annual estimated kwh figure that appears on statements. ?????????????

Your current energy supplier should be maintaining this, according to Ofgem guidance, see https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/decision-estimated-annual-cost-domestic-consumers

If a supplier is providing an EAC that is not based on the actual meter reads it holds for the customer (presumably this means taking the most recent meter reads into account), then arguably it is in breach of the Ofgem Confidence Code.

bristolleedsfan

Reason for me posing the question, I realise of course people only pay for energy they use, and my query does not relate to any suggestion about changing direct debit amount.

Without spending ages which would not have any benefit  analysing statements that have been produced at least weekly for 2 years these are just random snapshots, I have wondered for some time why EAC now bears no relation to my usage

January 2019 change of property ownership, moved to Octopus June 2019

1095kwh maximum Electricity usage ( likely to be less)
912kwh, April 2020  Statement, more than I use, as an estimate fair enough

2790kwh    May 2021 ( More than double I have used in 2 years)

This is reply I had from Octopus Energy, Energy Specialist today hence the question

The projected annual consumption essentially takes your previous readings into account when determining what you're likely to use the coming 12 months. Unfortunately, as we do not actually calculate the projected consumption on our end, we cannot explain how it has changed to 2790kWh but it will be based on your readings. As they validate all of your meter readings the Data Collectors are fully aware of your actual usage.

masonic

bristolleedsfan said:

This is reply I had from Octopus Energy Specialist today hence the question

The projected annual consumption essentially takes your previous readings into account when determining what you're likely to use the coming 12 months. Unfortunately, as we do not actually calculate the projected consumption on our end, we cannot explain how it has changed to 2790kWh but it will be based on your readings. As they validate all of your meter readings the Data Collectors are fully aware of your actual usage.

Once a supplier gains an energy supply, they can get access to the full meter reading history of the meters in question via their Data Collector (some of my previous suppliers have shown meter reads on my online account that predate them becoming my supplier). It may be an internal Octopus Energy policy that they do not calculate the EAC themselves and instead outsource the calculation, but that doesn't absolve them of all responsibility for it being accurate.

There is no requirement for all meter readings to be validated, only those used for a change of supply or meter replacement. Again, it may be Octopus Energy's internal policy to submit all of the meter readings they receive for validation, but given validation is not a fast process that isn't consistent with them producing a bill so quickly after a reading is provided.

One possible explanation for what you have experienced is that Octopus does only use the Data Collector's estimate of annual consumption, but it does not routinely validate readings. This would lead to the EAC being based on a much more limited history of readings. This might also be what is happening at Avro as described in the post you quoted.

Ofgem has clearly placed the onus on the organisation communicating the EAC to the domestic customer with ensuring it is accurate, so I would not be satisfied with the response you have received.

bristolleedsfan

masonic said:

bristolleedsfan said:

This is reply I had from Octopus Energy Specialist today hence the question

The projected annual consumption essentially takes your previous readings into account when determining what you're likely to use the coming 12 months. Unfortunately, as we do not actually calculate the projected consumption on our end, we cannot explain how it has changed to 2790kWh but it will be based on your readings. As they validate all of your meter readings the Data Collectors are fully aware of your actual usage.

.Again, it may be Octopus Energy's internal policy to submit all of the meter readings they receive for validation, but given validation is not a fast process that isn't consistent with them producing a bill so quickly after a reading is provided.

One possible explanation for what you have experienced is that Octopus does only use the Data Collector's estimate of annual consumption, but it does not routinely validate readings. This would lead to the EAC being based on a much more limited history of readings.

I quoted Avro post being as unless someone has inside knowlege of how it works most people including me would assume energy supplier automatically adjusts EAC after receiving meter readings.

When people have queried why they havent had a statement couple of days after submitting meter readings I have seen Octopus reply that they have an internal meter reading validation system or words to that effect.

In my case since 912kwh, April 2020  Statement they have had combination of daily and weekly meter readings which ranged from 2kwh -3kwh used per day, meter was changed March 2021, since then weekly meter readings submitted average per day 2.5kwh or less yet May 2021 EAC 2790kwh  and they cannot say why that is .

Octopus did add this as Electricity is switching out " It may be best that your new supplier request that this is updated. I am hesitant to do this now, as this may cause a confusion with the switch which I'd prefer to avoid"

masonic

bristolleedsfan said:

When people have queried why they havent had a statement couple of days after submitting meter readings I have seen Octopus reply that they have an internal meter reading validation system or words to that effect.

Yes, I think most suppliers do this. Meter reads that are within a tolerance limit are taken on trust, but if they fall outside expected usage too much they are checked more carefully, possibly including pushing them out to the Data Collector.

bristolleedsfan said:

In my case since 912kwh, April 2020  Statement they have had combination of daily and weekly meter readings which ranged from 2kwh -3kwh used per day, meter was changed March 2021, since then weekly meter readings submitted average per day 2.5kwh or less yet May 2021 EAC 2790kwh  and they cannot say why that is .

If you take your 912 kWh and divide it by 4 to get a monthly figure, then it seems quite consistent with the EAC you are being quoted. That suggests that the EAC has not varied since Octopus took over your supply, despite your low usage in the last 12 months. To me that points clearly to recent readings not being included in the calculation.

bristolleedsfan

masonic said:

bristolleedsfan said:

In my case since 912kwh, April 2020  Statement they have had combination of daily and weekly meter readings which ranged from 2kwh -3kwh used per day, meter was changed March 2021, since then weekly meter readings submitted average per day 2.5kwh or less yet May 2021 EAC 2790kwh  and they cannot say why that is .

If you take your 912 kWh and divide it by 4 to get a monthly figure, then it seems quite consistent with the EAC you are being quoted. That suggests that the EAC has not varied since Octopus took over your supply, despite your low usage in the last 12 months. To me that points clearly to recent readings not being included in the calculation.

912kwh was EAC on April 2020 statement which was a fair EAC, nothing has changed bar EAC being now stated as 2790kwh

masonic

bristolleedsfan said:

masonic said:

bristolleedsfan said:

In my case since 912kwh, April 2020  Statement they have had combination of daily and weekly meter readings which ranged from 2kwh -3kwh used per day, meter was changed March 2021, since then weekly meter readings submitted average per day 2.5kwh or less yet May 2021 EAC 2790kwh  and they cannot say why that is .

If you take your 912 kWh and divide it by 4 to get a monthly figure, then it seems quite consistent with the EAC you are being quoted. That suggests that the EAC has not varied since Octopus took over your supply, despite your low usage in the last 12 months. To me that points clearly to recent readings not being included in the calculation.

912kwh was EAC on April 2020 which was a fair EAC, nothing has changed bar EAC being stated as 2790kwh

Oh, I thought 912 kWh was an estimated bill for usage between December and April! In that case it seems someone has some dodgy data on their system - perhaps it is best to approach by disputing the data held by the Data Collector that led to the change in EAC. You may have to request a copy of the data if Octopus cannot access it themselves.