Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Telegraph_Sam

I really can't disagree (!).  I think that staying put is the least worst option - none of the fixed rate deals now on offer would attract me so switching would involve changing from one variable tariff to another. The devil you know or more of taking a gamble?

niktheguru

To be quite honest, its not really a gamble going to symbio. You just need to be aware of how it works and be proactive. I had a relatively pain free experience for a year and saved an absolute fortune. I would go with them again without hesitation, its just octopus go is far better value for my usage.

bristolleedsfan

Telegraph_Sam said:

As [Tracker] leccy prices continue their relentless move upwards I see that this has been over-compensated by gas taking a nose-dive by over 50%.  I wonder if this is a repeat of the data input glitch that we experienced with electricity 9 days ago?

Gas 3.97p/kWh  my region 3.90p/kWh your region, whilst with it being summer it doesnt really matter, it has been very high since turn of the year varying degrees

Telegraph_Sam

Yea I've not been too concerned at gas prices for those reasons, gas's turn will come later. I couldn't find any Lipman graph forecasts for gas. Do they not exist? Why do we never hear of LPG-powered :"EV's" with corresponding Agile tariffs to boot?

QrizB

Telegraph_Sam said:

Why do we never hear of LPG-powered :"EV's" with corresponding Agile tariffs to boot?

I'm not sure if you're being facetious or not.

There are plenty of LPG-powered cars out there, and most petrol cars can be converted. But LPG (mostly propane) isn't NG (methane), the properties are different. NG doesn't liquify easily, so having a LNG-powered car that you can fill at home from the gas main is not a trivial exercise.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yea I've not been too concerned at gas prices for those reasons, gas's turn will come later. I couldn't find any Lipman graph forecasts for gas. Do they not exist?

Gas prices don't fluctuate in the same way as electricity based on sunshine, wind and short-term demand. Battery and hydro-electric storage is very limited and inefficient, so electricity is priced according to immediate demand. For gas, there are a number of large storage facilities, and gas can be stored indefinitely and used to meet short-term spikes in demand, so the price tends not to fluctuate much from day to day. The main drivers of gas prices are therefore longer term factors that cannot be modelled.

QrizB said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Why do we never hear of LPG-powered :"EV's" with corresponding Agile tariffs to boot?

I'm not sure if you're being facetious or not.

There are plenty of LPG-powered cars out there, and most petrol cars can be converted. But LPG (mostly propane) isn't NG (methane), the properties are different. NG doesn't liquify easily, so having a LNG-powered car that you can fill at home from the gas main is not a trivial exercise.

I imagine the neighbours might object to having biodiesel pumped down the gas main so that Agile users can charge their alternative fuel vehicle

Matello

Octopus have gone downhill rapidly.
My parents are also with them after I  recommended them.
However issues have been.
They left my mother in tears and sleepless nights after they intstalled a smart meter that wasnt working. They kept asking her for readings but they'd never shown her how so she was  becoming ill because of it worryinfg she'd get a large bill she couldn't pay.

No response to emails. Empty promises that it would be fixed. Eventually when I threatened to go to Ofgen they finally acted.
She is still getting emails asking for readings despite them saying they've fixcd it.

Issues I've had are I made an online payment to my account but my parents received an email receipt for the payment!
Our accounts are not linked. I only recommended them to Octopus.
Octopus never got to the bottom of the issue. not gettingn to the bottom of issues seems to be a common theme these days.

My smart meter doesn't work. I have to submit readings every month.

I will be switching to another supplier as they are nothing like the energy company they were when I first signed up to them 2-3 years ago.

niktheguru

Although I agree Octopus aren't as rosy as a lot of people would have you believe I dont think its really fair to blame your mothers tears and sleepless nights on having to manually read a meter. When it was fitted did your parents ask to be shown the meter at the end? (perhaps they weren't allowed to due to covid), when asked for a reading did they call them up and ask them how to do so? Perhaps you or they could have done a quick search and seen the following octopus page describing how to read the meter: https://octopus.energy/blog/how-to-read-your-meter/
Surely if your parents asked you, you would have been able to talk them through the process?

I agree, their email replies leave a lot to be desired. Its very hit and miss. Others seem to have better luck through twitter, though i dont think people should be expected to use social media just to get hold of their suppliers. They have always been very easy to get hold of on the phone, with very short waiting times.

Have you or they looked at their online account to check that smart meter readings are uploaded? If they are its very obvious. And when smart meter readings are being used the system wont let you upload manual readings.

The online payment error is a biggie. Should definitely complain about that as its a data protection issue and shouldn't happen.

When you say your smart meter doesnt work. Have you been given an explanation why. Do you live up north? is it similar for neighbours, what have octopus suggested? Not enough information given.

Every supplier has teething issues, no one is exempt, some are better than others. But you're doing the right thing by talking with your custom. If you dont like it, switch....its the best thing to do!

[Deleted User]

@niktheguru. A very balanced and thoughtful response. In the 3 1/2 years that I have been an Octopus customer, I have witnessed a steady decline in customer service. Sadly, this happens all too often with suppliers that go through a period of high customer growth. Octopus’ email response times are now days rather than hours. That said, their smart team is still one of the best in the sector; however, like many suppliers they struggle to deal with smart meter issues that are often outwith their control such as poor meter to DCC communications; flawed meter firmware updates, comms hub issues etc. What I can say from experience is that when things do go wrong Octopus makes sure that the customer is not left out of pocket. I just hope that they will take stock of the growing number of negative reviews and avoid falling into the M and S trap: that is, losing a reputation that was hard earned but is easily lost.

Telegraph_Sam

... to where the grass is greener? 
I keep an open mind on which supplier represents the least worst alternative taking all factors not just price into account. This is where these forums come into their own. To date my "formula" of Tracker tariff plus manual meter seems as good a compromise as any though perhaps not for ever. 
I have tweeted Octopus that I am not impressed with their email response times (or responses at all).  Phoning definitely became progressively more difficult over the past few months though I have not tried again recently.