Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

bristolleedsfan

MWT said:

bristolleedsfan said:

Reason that I asked, around 14th September when 30 days notice was given of Octopus flexible increase to existing customers/flexible October v 1 was launched I thought about going back on tracker tariff until I started using gas due to difference in S/C

Just by chance 15 Setember  I noticed Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 had been launched, same rates as Octopus July were pre-price increase announcement with no price increase announced obviously for this newly launched tariff.

Took gamble that very few would know about it, stayed quiet about it on forum might not increase in price as often some flexible tariffs do not get increased until months later, looked on dashboard today, kwh rate and SC has been increased allinged with Occupier October v1/Flexible Octopus October 2021 v2

30 days notice of increase does not appear to have given, price must have changed within last 2 days I didnt notice difference on November 1st when I spun Octo wheel

Sent them a message about appearing to have not given 30 days notice of price change,I was told would be given when i changed tariff,, initial answer flexible price increase email dated 14 September

Interesting, I know the rates on that tariff were aligned with the current SVT some weeks ago, so that isn't a recent change.

I'm surprised you were moved on to it though as when it was discussed elsewhere the answer given was the one I posted above, that it was not intended for live customers, just a parking tariff for those on a deemed tariff until they picked what they wanted to do.

Occupier Flexible Octopus October 2021 v1 was subsequently launched matching current Octopus flexible tariff rate, you can see by my billing up to 30 October the difference

bristolleedsfan

Latest reply "Yes, the email applied to any tariffs on a variable plan. Although you were previously on the Octopus Flexible, you switched to the Occupier Flexible tariff which is also a variable plan and the price increase also impacts this too. Kind regards,"

I have copied this to them  " You can select the tariff you've mentioned from the last point from now. There is no notice of a price increase for this tariff but I have listed the current charges for this tariff below in case you would like to switch over to it now: - 3.30p/kWh Unit rate -23.85p/day - Standing Charge - Estimated Monthly charge of £13 This tariff will however increase with wholesale energy prices, so we will have the right to increase the costs as long as we give you 30 days notice. Kind Regards"

MWT

What did the original email about the price rise say?
Was it tariff specific or just all variable tariffs?

bristolleedsfan

MWT said:

What did the original email about the price rise say?
Was it tariff specific or just all variable tariffs?

Personal breakdown "Current tariff name Flexible Octopus July 2021 v1

Letter with it From October 14, our prices will be £51 below the cap for a typical dual fuel home.
You're on Flexible Octopus

If they intended for Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 to increase in line with the other flexible tariffs on 14 October, begs the question why did it increase after 30 October

Latest reply, price increase email they referring to 14 September was couple of days before I changed tariff

"Where I said "there is no notice of a price increase for this tariff" - this was referring to at that specific point. We unfortunately don't know in advance when prices are due to increase or decrease. I can see that Fatema has resent our email to you which outlined the price increase"

Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 is now showing as more expensive than price increase email for Octopus flexible July that i was on

Latest exchanges

"I completely understand any confusion here however the price increase does affect ALL of our flexible tariffs. Your tariff changed to the new Occupier tariff after this email was sent out, which is why in the email it refers to your old tariff. As mentioned in my email, those charges were the charges for the tariff at that "current time". The price increase for flexible tariffs is also outlined in our terms"

"Price increase email 14 September referred to price increase from 14 October, Current prices until 13th October 2021New prices from 14th October 2021Your new chargesGasStanding charge (per day) 23.8455p 23.8455pUnit rate (per kWh) 3.2970p 3.8220 ,

Iif you are saying that price increase notification email applied to all flexible tariffs why did Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 not increase until after 30 October, I have not been notified of SC increase to 26.11p per day,/4pkwh"

masonic

So if I understand correctly you were not on the Occupier Flexible tariff 30 days before the price change came into effect, therefore the offer to move to that tariff came after existing customers would have been notified? In which case this would be an omission when you were discussing the switch (CS agent perhaps incorrectly assumed you were trying to delay being subject to the new pricing by moving, but thought that you knew the Occupier tariff would catch up?) In any case you are entitled to the notice period, so fair outcome would be to refund the difference in cost for the 30 days following you discovering the price rise.

bristolleedsfan

masonic said:

So if I understand correctly you were not on the Occupier Flexible tariff 30 days before the price change came into effect, therefore the offer to move to that tariff came after existing customers would have been notified? In which case this would be an omission when you were discussing the switch (CS agent perhaps incorrectly assumed you were trying to delay being subject to the new pricing by moving, but thought that you knew the Occupier tariff would catch up?) In any case you are entitled to the notice period, so fair outcome would be to refund the difference in cost for the 30 days following you discovering the price rise.

Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 was added to current tariff list about the same time as price change email notification was sent out, i noticed it 2 days after price increase email notification was sent out, I was looking at current tariff listing most days.

Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 that I am on is now showing as more expensive  both SC and KWH rate for the remainder of  this price cap period than new rates for flexible tariff i changed from.+ if I had known that the Occupier tariff was already subject to price increase in 30 days time ( I did ask) I would have gone back on tracker tariff until about now due to much lower standing charge

Current key ponts

If they are saying that price increase notification email applied to all flexible tariffs from 14 October why did Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 not increase until after 30 October, I have not been notified of SC increase to 26.11p per day,/4pkwh

masonic

bristolleedsfan said:

masonic said:

So if I understand correctly you were not on the Occupier Flexible tariff 30 days before the price change came into effect, therefore the offer to move to that tariff came after existing customers would have been notified? In which case this would be an omission when you were discussing the switch (CS agent perhaps incorrectly assumed you were trying to delay being subject to the new pricing by moving, but thought that you knew the Occupier tariff would catch up?) In any case you are entitled to the notice period, so fair outcome would be to refund the difference in cost for the 30 days following you discovering the price rise.

Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 was added to current tariff list about the same time as price change email notification was sent out, i noticed it 2 days after price increase email notification was sent out, I was looking at current tariff listing most days.

Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 that I am on is now showing as more expensive  both SC and KWH rate for the remainder of  this price cap period than new rates for flexible tariff i changed from.+ if I had known that the Occupier tariff was already subject to price increase in 30 days time ( I did ask) I would have gone back on tracker tariff until about now due to much lower standing charge

Current key ponts

If they are saying that price increase notification email applied to all flexible tariffs from 14 October why did Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 not increase until after 30 October, I have not been notified of SC increase to 26.11p per day,/4pkwh

If we assume it is called Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 because it was launched at some point in September then the reason it didn't change with the others is presumably because it hadn't been around for 30 days when the others changed. I would guess that someone assumed that nobody would be voluntarily switching onto this tariff because it is intended to be a deemed tariff when the customer is not known. I doubt they are obliged to notify customers of a price change when they do not know who that customer is. However, they offered you the tariff and are therefore obliged to make an exception for your edge case situation.

bristolleedsfan

masonic said:

bristolleedsfan said:

masonic said:

So if I understand correctly you were not on the Occupier Flexible tariff 30 days before the price change came into effect, therefore the offer to move to that tariff came after existing customers would have been notified? In which case this would be an omission when you were discussing the switch (CS agent perhaps incorrectly assumed you were trying to delay being subject to the new pricing by moving, but thought that you knew the Occupier tariff would catch up?) In any case you are entitled to the notice period, so fair outcome would be to refund the difference in cost for the 30 days following you discovering the price rise.

Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 was added to current tariff list about the same time as price change email notification was sent out, i noticed it 2 days after price increase email notification was sent out, I was looking at current tariff listing most days.

Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 that I am on is now showing as more expensive  both SC and KWH rate for the remainder of  this price cap period than new rates for flexible tariff i changed from.+ if I had known that the Occupier tariff was already subject to price increase in 30 days time ( I did ask) I would have gone back on tracker tariff until about now due to much lower standing charge

Current key ponts

If they are saying that price increase notification email applied to all flexible tariffs from 14 October why did Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 not increase until after 30 October, I have not been notified of SC increase to 26.11p per day,/4pkwh

If we assume it is called Occupier Flexible Octopus September 2021 v1 because it was launched at some point in September then the reason it didn't change with the others is presumably because it hadn't been around for 30 days when the others changed. I would guess that someone assumed that nobody would be voluntarily switching onto this tariff because it is intended to be a deemed tariff when the customer is not known. I doubt they are obliged to notify customers of a price change when they do not know who that customer is. However, they offered you the tariff and are therefore obliged to make an exception for your edge case situation.

Had it changed to the same rate as the other flexible tariffs including flexible July that I was on albeit belatedly I would have accepted answer that was given albeit disappointed that I would have made a different tariff change decision middle September had I been given that answer at that time. This was answer that I was given after flexible price change emails had been sent out "There is no notice of a price increase for this tariff" "This tariff will however increase with wholesale energy prices, so we will have the right to increase the costs as long as we give you 30 days notice"

Imagine my shock to see on my dashboard not only that the rate had changed, changed to higher rate than the flexible tariff that I was on, if the purpose of the tariff was for unknown person, begs the question why did it not increase when Occupier Flexible Octopus October 2021 v1 was intoduced/why did they not merely increase the rate as opposed to introducing a different variation of the product with higher rates, latest update is they are liasing with someone else about it.

masonic

Just a guess on my part, but the normal reason to immediately introduce a new tariff then later increase the prices of the legacy tariff is because they are not at liberty to change the price of the legacy tariff immediately, but want to do so for customers switching to it from that point onwards. Any accounts naturally moving onto the Occupier tariff would go on the October 2021v1 version, while anyone already on the September2021v1 tariff would get a letter in the post advising them of the price increase. You seem to have snuck onto the September 2021v1 tariff after that point to missed this notification. Since it was never intended that more customers would join the September 2021v1 version after the October 2021v1 version had launched, you have slipped through the net. However, you should have been informed of the pending increase by the CS agent with whom you discussed moving to the tariff.

MWT

bristolleedsfan said:

Imagine my shock to see on my dashboard not only that the rate had changed, changed to higher rate than the flexible tariff that I was on...

Just for clarity, the rate you are now on should be the same as the rate for "Flexible Octopus October 2021 v2", is that the case?