Octopus Energy Gas Estimated Annual Usage Seems Excessively High

howlinwlf

We are in a 2 bed house, and there are only 2 of us. We are in all the time but gas is used for heating and hot water only. Heating is set to timers in morning and evening only and one of us has a shower in the morning, te other a bath every other day. An esimated annual gas usage of 93655KWh seems rediculous. Octupus don't seem terribly helpful or proactive about this, just oh well we'll put your monthly payment back down to where it was. However, this results in the deficit not being covered until well into next year! When I did an internet search for that measurement, it was coming up with things like estimated costs for schools! This puts our annual bill at well over £3000! Any advice on how to get Octopus to do something about it? We have smart meters installed, and the electricity seems correct (3853KWh) - neither is showing any error in the readings, so no idea why they are calculating based on an annual gas cost of £2500!

Robin9

You've actually posted in the wrong part of the forum - you should be under |Energy rather than LPG

Forget what Octopus are saying what do your own meter reads say ?   What do the bills say - are there lots of E attached to the readings ?

Just because the meters were once Smart  - when you change suppliers they can loose their smartness and the system relies on you to read the meters.

What reading did you give to Octopus when you signed up.    Take great care when reading meters - look for the decimal point  and DO NOT multiply the reading by 11.2 (the system does that) -  a recipe for disaster.

Read the meter NOW and give us the reading please.

If its a recent change of meter does the serial number on the meter agree with the bill - does the meter and bill both say m3?

Hasbeen

howlinwlf said:

We are in a 2 bed house, and there are only 2 of us. We are in all the time but gas is used for heating and hot water only. Heating is set to timers in morning and evening only and one of us has a shower in the morning, te other a bath every other day. An esimated annual gas usage of 93655KWh seems rediculous. Octupus don't seem terribly helpful or proactive about this, just oh well we'll put your monthly payment back down to where it was. However, this results in the deficit not being covered until well into next year! When I did an internet search for that measurement, it was coming up with things like estimated costs for schools! This puts our annual bill at well over £3000! Any advice on how to get Octopus to do something about it? We have smart meters installed, and the electricity seems correct (3853KWh) - neither is showing any error in the readings, so no idea why they are calculating based on an annual gas cost of £2500!

As advised better reposting in the Energy Forum Click on the Big Energy button.

Energy

And do the checks/read what Robin has asked you to do.

My advice is for YOU to do something about it.

Go now and actually read your meters and submit these to Octopus which you should be doing every month and also checking your bills received and checking the readings against your smart meters.

You are posting about an Estimated Readings? Smart meters are not infallible?

Post your gas readings from a year ago and one from now. Look at your online account? Anything odd in readings?

Have you changed supplier since the smarts were installed?

Are you actually looking and checking the actual smart meters on the wall or looking at the toy IHD in the kitchen?

greatcrested

howlinwlf said:

...An esimated annual gas usage of 93655KWh seems rediculous.

Well if you disagree with their estimate, reduce your irect Debit to match your own estimate of your usage

Octupus don't seem terribly helpful or proactive about this, just oh well we'll put your monthly payment back down to where it was.

So presumably you followed their advice?

However, this results in the deficit not being covered until well into next year!

Ah! So your usage is higher than you thought and their estimate was right after all....

When I did an internet search for that measurement, it was coming up with things like estimated costs for schools!

Forget estimates. How much gas are you actually using?

This puts our annual bill at well over £3000!

No. It puts your estimated annual bill at £3000. What is your actual annua bill, or what do you estimate it will be?

Any advice on how to get Octopus to do something about it?

Reduce your Direct Deits towhat you estimate will be eough cover a) your future use, and b) any deficit you have

We have smart meters installed, and the electricity seems correct (3853KWh) - neither is showing any error in the readings, so no idea why they are calculating based on an annual gas cost of £2500!

* What do your bills show? Estimated or actual usage?

* when was the last time you received (or checked on line) a bill based on actual meter readings?

* You have a deficit showing on your account? Is this based on estimates, or actual usage? How far back does this go? If you've been building up a deficit over some time based on actual usage, then naturally you'll need to have a higher Direct Debit to pay off the deficit as well as current/future use.

* How much gas does the smart reading show you ctually used last year? That is the best way to estimate your usage for the next year - not some dubious algorythm for school usage!

MoneyMate

howlinwlf said:

We are in a 2 bed house, and there are only 2 of us. We are in all the time but gas is used for heating and hot water only. Heating is set to timers in morning and evening only and one of us has a shower in the morning, te other a bath every other day. An esimated annual gas usage of 93655KWh seems rediculous. Octupus don't seem terribly helpful or proactive about this, just oh well we'll put your monthly payment back down to where it was. However, this results in the deficit not being covered until well into next year! When I did an internet search for that measurement, it was coming up with things like estimated costs for schools! This puts our annual bill at well over £3000! Any advice on how to get Octopus to do something about it? We have smart meters installed, and the electricity seems correct (3853KWh) - neither is showing any error in the readings, so no idea why they are calculating based on an annual gas cost of £2500!

I would take daily photos of the meters showing usage that should establish your daily usage, then you can cost it out more accurately, hope you get to the bottom of this problem soon.