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Octopus energy overcharging issues

I’m just after some advice here, as I want to know my rights with this problem.

I joined Octopus in Dec 2017, from Bulb. I was happy with Bulb for the year I was with them but the Octopus deal seemed cheaper overall.

I agreed a monthly tariff of £45 per month, which they also agreed.

Within a month they wanted to put my monthly payment up to nearly £60.

I appreciate they want to cover the winter usage and balance it out over the year, but Bulb had never charged me anything other than £45 a month throughout the year, so I contested this with Octopus and they agreed to keep it at £45.

I decided to return to Bulb back in November 2018.

However Octopus are emailing me now on a weekly basis, to say I have £87 outstanding on my account.

Not once did they advise me if my account was in debit, or that I needed to up my payments.

They have a clear statement that says that they’ll tell customers if they need to change their payments, but they didn’t do this at all.

I also can’t undestand how this didn’t seem to even out for the summer months.

Bulb gave me back the credit on my account for the summer “overpayments” but there is no evidence of this happening with Octopus.

My question is, what are my rights here?

Should I accept what Octopus is saying and pay £87 or should I argue it and go through the ombudsman?

I would’ve paid more if they’d kept to their word and told me!

Many thanks for any help with this!

Comments

  • PeterGr
    PeterGr Posts: 276 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 100 Posts
    You need to do your own checks on charges and payments for your time with Octopus to see if there is an error. You should have your opening and closing readings which give you a kWh consumption. To this you apply the rates of your tariff and VAT to arrive at the total charges. From this you deduct the payments you made by direct debit and arrive at a sum you need to pay, or that you want refunded.


    Until you are clear about these details you can't contest anything.
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,889 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Did you not have a Final Account from Octopus ? £87 is very little in a years consumption and would not necessarily merit a change in DD.
    Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill
  • Takmon
    Takmon Posts: 1,738 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Dellyg wrote: »
    I’m just after some advice here, as I want to know my rights with this problem.

    I joined Octopus in Dec 2017, from Bulb. I was happy with Bulb for the year I was with them but the Octopus deal seemed cheaper overall.

    I agreed a monthly tariff of £45 per month, which they also agreed.

    Within a month they wanted to put my monthly payment up to nearly £60.

    I appreciate they want to cover the winter usage and balance it out over the year, but Bulb had never charged me anything other than £45 a month throughout the year, so I contested this with Octopus and they agreed to keep it at £45.

    I decided to return to Bulb back in November 2018.

    However Octopus are emailing me now on a weekly basis, to say I have £87 outstanding on my account.

    Not once did they advise me if my account was in debit, or that I needed to up my payments.

    They have a clear statement that says that they’ll tell customers if they need to change their payments, but they didn’t do this at all.

    I also can’t undestand how this didn’t seem to even out for the summer months.

    Bulb gave me back the credit on my account for the summer “overpayments” but there is no evidence of this happening with Octopus.

    My question is, what are my rights here?

    Should I accept what Octopus is saying and pay £87 or should I argue it and go through the ombudsman?

    I would’ve paid more if they’d kept to their word and told me!

    Many thanks for any help with this!

    But they did tell you that they think you should be paying £60 a month instead of £45 and you told them you didn't want to!.

    Did you submit regular meter readings to them?

    You seem to be objecting to the £87 bill for energy that you have used without even checking it against your own calculations. How can you say it isn't right or even consider arguing it without even checking its correct :rotfl:
  • Thank you all-I gave regular meter readings, and I have photos of each time as well.

    I’ll be checking my usage throughout the year.
    My issue is I don’t see why I should pay any extra when they didn’t advise me accordingly, as per their own statement for customers.
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,889 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Dellyg wrote: »
    ..............
    My issue is I don’t see why I should pay any extra when they didn’t advise me accordingly, as per their own statement for customers.


    It's not "extra" - its payment for the energy you used. You are confusing DD which is a guesstimate of what you using every month. \you have used more energy - you need to pay for it. When you switch suppliers you can be in credit (like when you left Bulb) and they refund it or in debit (like when you left Octopus) and you get a bill.

    Pay it - move on - and keep your eye on your Bulb bills.

    A question as of now what was the bottom line on your latest Bulb bill ?
    Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill
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