Octopus Tracker

Qyburn

This seems to be a recurring theme with Octopus now the agents are quite happy to give chapter and verse on some matter they know nothing about.

I'm just on Tracker for electricity, and barring meter issues each bill itemises each day's actual consumption at that day's specific price. 

Archerychick

Yeah it's so frustrating. I've sent them a couple of screenshots that demonstrate how the tariff should be working. The worrying things is that this is an escalation contact so you'd think & hope that they knew more, or at least would check if they weren't sure.

Pat38493

Archerychick said:

Morning! I’m liaising with someone at Octopus about a few billing issues which are almost sorted now, but I’ve this morning had the following explanation as to how the tracker tariff works. This is not my understanding at all, my understanding is that each day is billed based on the day rate on that day, unless a meter reading is not available. If it’s not available then it is averaged over the entire billing period.

“We don't bill to each separate unit rate for each day, this is totalled then averaged so we can bill them to one average unit rate for the full period which I appreciate makes things complicated when trying to track alongside. This means we also need to do the same for the consumption; averaging the consumption to line up with the average unit rate to provide a total charge for the period.

Effectively, unlike Agile for Electricity, we don't offer a true Time of Use tariff for Gas - Tracker is close, but both unit rate and consumption are aggregated/totalled then split across the billing period.”

I can’t find anything in the tracker terms which spells out the billing approach in black and white which I can send back, so would appreciate feedback from you guys. I feel like this escalation point doesn’t understand the smart tariff 

Hmmm - my understanding is that this is wrong.  Normally it should be billed correctly on your daily usage if they have the full readings for that date available.  If any slots are missing from the entire month (with gas at least), your total usage gets spread based on their formula.  Therefore what the agent is describing is the fallback solution not the intended mode of operation.

Archerychick

Pat38493 said:

Archerychick said:

Morning! I’m liaising with someone at Octopus about a few billing issues which are almost sorted now, but I’ve this morning had the following explanation as to how the tracker tariff works. This is not my understanding at all, my understanding is that each day is billed based on the day rate on that day, unless a meter reading is not available. If it’s not available then it is averaged over the entire billing period.

“We don't bill to each separate unit rate for each day, this is totalled then averaged so we can bill them to one average unit rate for the full period which I appreciate makes things complicated when trying to track alongside. This means we also need to do the same for the consumption; averaging the consumption to line up with the average unit rate to provide a total charge for the period.

Effectively, unlike Agile for Electricity, we don't offer a true Time of Use tariff for Gas - Tracker is close, but both unit rate and consumption are aggregated/totalled then split across the billing period.”

I can’t find anything in the tracker terms which spells out the billing approach in black and white which I can send back, so would appreciate feedback from you guys. I feel like this escalation point doesn’t understand the smart tariff 

Hmmm - my understanding is that this is wrong.  Normally it should be billed correctly on your daily usage if they have the full readings for that date available.  If any slots are missing from the entire month (with gas at least), your total usage gets spread based on their formula.  Therefore what the agent is describing is the fallback solution not the intended mode of operation.

Thanks - I agree with you

masonic

I don't have gas, but it is clear from others posts that when things are working correctly the daily consumption figure is multiplied by that day's rate to arrive at the cost for that day. Both in theory and in practice. Just as is the case for electricity.

Doc_N

Yet more proof, as if more were needed, that the CS staff, even at a higher level, are absolutely clueless. Which is precisely why I’m still trying after more than a year to get them to pay the correct rate for the solar power I’ve fed into the grid. They just go round and round in ever decreasing circles, making placatory noises but achieving nothing.

SJMALBA

Doc_N said:

Yet more proof, as if more were needed, that the CS staff, even at a higher level, are absolutely clueless. Which is precisely why I’m still trying after more than a year to get them to pay the correct rate for the solar power I’ve fed into the grid. They just go round and round in ever decreasing circles, making placatory noises but achieving nothing.

+1

Whether CSAs or senior management, they are utterly clueless - sounds like you're experiencing the same level of 'customer service' as I've had, on sooo many occasions... abysmal.

FWIW, my May gas bill had the actual usage applied to actual URs, exactly as it's supposed to be done; unfortunately, they messed up the electricity bill... back on the Octopus customer service (not so) merry-go-round we go...  (where's the 'tearing your hair out in frustration' emoji when you need it!)

Doc_N

“The Energy Ombudsman charges a case fee that a supplier pays for each case brought against them. The Energy Ombudsman currently charges £170 per case for an early resolution and £340 per case for a case requiring a full decision.”

Octopus don’t like these costs, and my experience has been that they’ll use every trick in the book (except resolving the problem of course) to avoid cases going formal.

Not any more!

stripling

Doc_N said:

Yet more proof, as if more were needed, that the CS staff, even at a higher level, are absolutely clueless. Which is precisely why I’m still trying after more than a year to get them to pay the correct rate for the solar power I’ve fed into the grid. They just go round and round in ever decreasing circles, making placatory noises but achieving nothing.

I tried to make staff 'process documents' a condition of a recent complaint resolution.

The complaint handling had turned into this excruciatingly long email chain where a senior member of staff  thought the December 23 Tracker tariff was something everyone paid in December 23 and not an actual tariff name.  She was literally making things up as she went along each time covering her behind from the previous spectacular mess up. 

I was on the original Tracker V1 and at one point she spoke to me like I was a charity case telling me I'd benefited from cheap energy with a tone that implied I should be grateful. I had to tell her that Tracker had rocketed over the SVR for extended times. 

Not one thing I very politely and patiently said to her actually got addressed. At one point, in sheer frustration, I asked her if she realised that early Tracker customers were absolute geeks who wrote spreadsheets and compared notes. Blank. 

Staff process documents are a 'no-brainer'. It's odd they don't seem to have any. I felt like writing to Greg Jackson and pitching a well-paid offer to write them. 

They seemed very keen to keep me away from Ofgem interestingly but in the end I couldn't be bothered - life is too short. 
Octopus are fine until things go wrong..... 

stripling

Doc_N said:

“The Energy Ombudsman charges a case fee that a supplier pays for each case brought against them. The Energy Ombudsman currently charges £170 per case for an early resolution and £340 per case for a case requiring a full decision.”

Octopus don’t like these costs, and my experience has been that they’ll use every trick in the book (except resolving the problem of course) to avoid cases going formal.

Not any more!

Lol.... I wrote Ofgem comment before I saw this....  🤦🏻‍♀️