Octopus Energy Complaint Advice

Iiyama66

Hi,

I was with Co-Op for a few years and was changed to Octopus energy in Nov 2019.

 

I’ve always paid by DD and never missed a payment.

I have regularly submitted readings online.

 Co-Op had taken several meter readings themselves

In March 2020 I received an email form Octopus informing me that I was in debit of £1,684,91 when I was moved from the Co-Op.

Then I owed £893.65 for the period 16th Oct 2019 to 24th Feb. 2020

I emailed octopus challenging why I owed so much money given that my DD hadn’t been increased or any correspondence from either themselves or Co-Op informing me that I was going into debt and I needed to increase my DD.

16th March I was asked to send pics of the meters and serial numbers

17th March email acknowledging that they may be a discrepancy. Co-Op had been billing me for a 4 digit meter when I have a 5.

24th March email

‘The finding from your account where Co-operative energy had billed you to 4 digit readings and your meter is showing 5 digits on the display. 

This is the reason as to why you had a high bill when you switched over to octopus’ energy. When this was highlighted by octopus we then implemented the necessary action which was back billing which removed the incorrect charges Dates of period requiring write off: 03/03/17 to 15/10/18 and applied the principle of £1,440.01 which left your account in -£829.43 debit. i then applied another £50 for the poor services you received’

24th March I then received a further email

‘The outstanding balance is from the last 12 month

Supplier have a responsibility to review customer direct debit every 12 month unfortunately i am unable to view co operative history of this matter. if co operative energy did undertake this review it would have been incorrect as your electric reading were incorrect. As we now hold the correct reading and you are receiving a accurate correct bill therefore we can now action a correct direct debit review. which i have done below 

Change monthly Direct Debit amount from ££120.00 to £224.02.’

My issue is that I paid my bill every month without fail only to find out that I was only going into debit. At no point was I contacted either to increase my DD or explore other payment options.

If I owe money I’m happy to pay, my issues are how this was allowed to happen and how I accrued such a large debt.

Have octopus /Co-Op conducted themselves as expected by the regulator or in fact acted improperly?

If so what are my rights in this matter?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

 

MWT

At first glance it looks like the back-billing rules have been applied, but it is difficult to follow what you have written regarding your current position.

You say they told you after adjusting for the back-billing write-off your account was in '-£829.43 debit' so are you saying you had a credit of £829.43?  If so, then that along with the extra £50 they added would have almost covered the amount you owed for the period to 24th Feb 2020...

So if that is the case I'm not sure what you are hoping for here as it seems that Octopus have found and corrected the error and you have no unexpected bill to pay... ?

Essmum

So Octopus have amended your DD so you dont build up arrears again..and have written off a large amount.
Coop should have reviewed your DD but you should also have been keeping an eye on your account.
You may want to look at reducing your usage if you arent happy with such a large DD..fyi I think Octopus have done it all by the book and as Coop are basically no more theres not much you can do about that. 

Iiyama66

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
Sorry for any confusion
I was originally billed for being £2269 in arrears even though i never missed a payment.
This was then reduced this by £1,440.01 and left me with £829.43 in arrears.
When i was with the Co-Op they changed my DD on several occasions, anywhere between £115 a month to £84 and i even had a £400 payback as my account was so much in credit! 
My current position is that i owe £829.43.
As you can see I'm very confused as how i go to this point with no satisfactory detailed explanation from Octopus.
Do i take this to the Ombudsman to have a full review ?
What are my options ? Are there any obvious breaches by Co-Op/Octopus ?
Again and help much appreciated 

Essmum

The error by the Coop has been rectified by Octopus who have reduced the amount owing due to back billing. They have also given you £50 as a slc.

You could open a complain with Octopus but I would be surprised if the Ombudsman would give you any more as it was an error by the Coop.
You need to take some responsibility for looking after your own energy account by giving regular reads,checking your account balance and seeing if your dd needs raising or lowering. All this can done easily by registering for an online account. 

Gerry1

Forget all the confusing twists and turns en route, just work out whether the total of your payments into the DD kitty has been sufficient to pay for your total energy usage.

Adding up the entries on your bank statements will show what you have paid.  You should be able to work out your consumption by subtracting the opening meter readings from the present readings and converting them to the chargeable sums. You can then compare them to see whether you owe them or they owe you.

MWT

Iiyama66 said:

...This was then reduced this by £1,440.01 and left me with £829.43 in arrears.
When i was with the Co-Op they changed my DD on several occasions, anywhere between £115 a month to £84 and i even had a £400 payback as my account was so much in credit! 
My current position is that i owe £829.43....

You got where you are due to a mistake by Co-Op in the way they treated your meter readings and because you didn't check your own usage against the bills you received.

Octopus have sorted out the old problem and will help you stay on track in the future, but there isn't really anything obvious in there for you to complain to the Ombudsman about.

You should be able to catch -up over the summer period while the bills are lower so hopefully you will go into the winter in a better position.

Iiyama66

Thanks for reply’s. 

It’s annoying to say the least that not one of my Co-Op statements even suggested I was in arrears in fact my final statement said I was in credit for £25!
So even looking at all my statements and paying my DD has resulted in a huge bill ! 

MWT

It is a tough lesson to learn for sure, but there is no substitute for taking your own meter readings and using them to calculate what your bill should be...

If you get a refund that you don't understand then don't spend it, odds are there will a bill to follow in a few months time once they work out the mistake.

Iiyama66

I didnt accept the full refund as I’m fully aware that bills go up and down. 

What i didn’t account for was my final bill that clearly stated credit £25 but I later found out it meant you’re in debt if £1600!  

That’s a leap that most people would find difficult. 

Surely we can all agree that the Co-Op have to own part of this as they were billing for the wrong meter? 

Thanks for all a advice given 

Essmum

That final bill did it have your upto date meter readings on it? 
As Coop energy is no more the company who bought them should take some responsibility if there was an error made by the Coop..they say they cant access your old account details but I'm fairly certain all customer account details were sent over.
How do the reads look that Octopus opened your account with compared to the reads that coop closed your account with.
Were you giving 4 or 5 digit reads each month?
May be worth opening a complaint with Octopus even if it just means you get longer to pay the debt off.