Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

CanNeverThinkOfAUsername

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but in the past every smart meter customers used to be billed on the 1st of the month, as this was the way SFE worked (SFE is the system for Secure SMETS1). This proved to make issues as the system used to crash as Octopus grew. These days the billing dates are spread over the month to put less pressure on the systems. You may find every now and again your billing date will change, this is when your meters have been worked on,  or when they are just spreading the billing dates out again so its all even. They do it a few times a year

MWT

There is certainly no guarantee that smart meter bills will always be on the same date.

They can get thrown out by missing data, or for gas, the late availability of the official calorific values.

It is considered as desirable to have a consistent billing date, but not an obligation.

If not using smart meters then bills are usually produced shortly after you provide a meter reading... (right now there are some delays in the billing process, so bills may not arrive as fast as they usually do)

badger09

Alnat1 said:

Has your online account been updated to show the new meter serial numbers or is it still showing the old ones? Don't think they show in the app, only on the website.

If only the old ones are showing, give them a ring and it can be sorted quickly, this happened to me in June.

Yes it has been updated to show new meters. Online Usage page shows consumption for both gas & electricity up to 12/10. Gas shown from 4/10 electricity from 28/8, so I know (?) meters are working

. youravinalarrrf said:

badger09 said:

May I ask, what determines the day the day of the month for billing?

Octopus arbitrarily allocate a billing calendar date to each account which may or may not be on the anniversary of the date you joined them. The customer has no access to be able to simply change this date online.

If you wish to change it send an email to hello@octopus.energy and ask them to change your billing calendar date to your preferred date. Make sure you ask them to confirm when this change has been made.

If you have smart meter/s once they've changed your billing calendar date to your preferred date you won't have to manually submit meter readings again as it will be done automatically for you on the date you have chosen.

Bear in mind that the date on which you submit meter reading/s is used as the closing reading of the previous day.

A lot of customers choose the 1st of every month so you get a statement covering the usage and costs for the whole of the previous calendar month.

If you check the "View my balance history" link on your website account homepage you may find you gas reading is waiting to be approved prior to a statement being issued for it.

Thanks for this info. I’ll wait until it settles & see what date they’ve chosen. Not that important, but I like to see exact position albeit only once a month. 

There is a message on View my balance history page that it may be temporarily incorrect as some transactions are being manually reviewed. 

GPK10

GPK10 said:

I switched electricity Octopus on 5th September. Submitted my monthly reading on 30th September and told to expect my bill in a couple of days but still waiting after almost two weeks. 

I will try a Twitter DM to see if that gets a response

I got a prompt response - still waiting on confirmation of my reading from my old supplier when I switched, still just within the six week timeframe for this to be done

robrymond

Octopus answered the phone straight away today and generally do fairly often. Email comms though go untouched for weeks which is the opposite to most companies. Managed to get my first bill generated and some credit applied on account in minutes today. Told all smart tariffs are off at the moment so don't move from Go Faster to variable unless you really need too!

bristolleedsfan

"Our various Go Faster siblings are taking a break. In the world of the Energy Price Guarantee, it's no longer practical to maintain a multitude of different flavours of Go — if you need a few hours extra off-peak energy, Intelligent Octopus is a better choice for the moment."

masonic

bristolleedsfan said:

"Our various Go Faster siblings are taking a break. In the world of the Energy Price Guarantee, it's no longer practical to maintain a multitude of different flavours of Go — if you need a few hours extra off-peak energy, Intelligent Octopus is a better choice for the moment."

That's a shame, but the price-capped E7 tariff looks quite competitive with the current Go tariff. A higher off-peak price admittedly, but a longer and more convenient off-peak period. Though not good news for those who had the Go Faster evening slots.

Freebird53

Whilst i realise their constant tinkering with my account is probably automated, i do wish they'd keep their tentacles off it!

I am fully aware of my annual usage , and my target usage for the coming 12 months. Armed with this information, i set my DD accordingly, only for them to keep changing it (upwards of course, by a significant amount).

Slightly frustrating.

tlcgrantham

Freebird53 said:

Whilst i realise their constant tinkering with my account is probably automated, i do wish they'd keep their tentacles off it!

I am fully aware of my annual usage , and my target usage for the coming 12 months. Armed with this information, i set my DD accordingly, only for them to keep changing it (upwards of course, by a significant amount).

Slightly frustrating.

You could consider paying by variable direct debit on receipt of bill then they can’t overcharge you.

Telegraph_Sam

masonic said:

bristolleedsfan said:

"Our various Go Faster siblings are taking a break. In the world of the Energy Price Guarantee, it's no longer practical to maintain a multitude of different flavours of Go — if you need a few hours extra off-peak energy, Intelligent Octopus is a better choice for the moment."

That's a shame, but the price-capped E7 tariff looks quite competitive with the current Go tariff. A higher off-peak price admittedly, but a longer and more convenient off-peak period. Though not good news for those who had the Go Faster evening slots.

I believe that I am on a very good Go Faster rate fixed until end July next year. Includes 20.30 - 00.30 H. Suits me - but is anything going to change???

I agree with the comments about going onto variable D/D to save crystal ball gazing and arguments over future consumption.