Octopus Energy - looking at bills from previous supplier

ps2mint

Hi all,
I have recently switched to Octopus and after a few months despite being heavily in credit they want to put my monthly payments up. They claim they have looked at meter readings from my previous supplier. Are they allowed to do this? I’m just thinking of GDPR guidelines etc.

I’ve never had this from previous suppliers. Just curious!

Thanks

MWT

There is an independent entity that sits in between the gaining and losing energy providers and they act to verify the opening/closing readings and annual usage figures.

So Octopus will not have actually seen your previous meter readings, but they may have been told what this entity believes your annual usage should be based on previous usage.

I guess the real question is, are they right?

If you are convinced that 12 x the amount you are currently paying is sufficient to cover your full annual usage then tell them that and support it with your own actual meter readings from your previous company if you want.

The middleman doesn't always get the numbers right and Octopus are generally fair and reasonable so talk to them and explain why you feel your current payment is sufficient.

Robin9

One of the good points re Octopus is that every time you give them a reading you get an updated statement within hours.
My question to you is - are you up to date with your meter readings ? Read your meter  - now -  and give the reading onlne to Octopus.

ps2mint

Thanks for the comments!

Biscuit_Tin

ps2mint said:

Hi all,
I have recently switched to Octopus and after a few months despite being heavily in credit they want to put my monthly payments up. They claim they have looked at meter readings from my previous supplier. Are they allowed to do this? I’m just thinking of GDPR guidelines etc.

I’ve never had this from previous suppliers. Just curious!

Thanks

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

dcb2019

Did they want to put your monthly payments up by a lot? Curious as looking to switch.

Robin9

Your DD's reflect your usuage -  are your DD's covering the costs of your consumption.?

MWT

dcb2019 said:

Did they want to put your monthly payments up by a lot? Curious as looking to switch.

Just another data-point, I use the online portal to set my DD where I want it to be.

I always aim to have at least the next month's payment covered but right now for example my balance is a little higher than that due to a referral credit so I've set my DD to a very low number to allow the balance to drop a bit.

Never had any push-back from Octopus on that and always found the online management of the DD to work just fine.

ps2mint

They wanted to put them
up by £20 a month. I’m currently £100 in credit and they wanted to increase. I plan to use the online portal to
change DD when necessary.

dcb2019

I suppose it's positive that you can change the DD in the online portal. How long did the switch take from your previous provider? 

ps2mint

Switch took around 2 weeks. You can schedule a day to suit via the Octopus website. Customer service is very good. Today I emailed Octopus and they replied within 5 minutes!