Octopus Energy takes on Avro customers

Grizzlebeard

Consumerist said:

I received my first Octopus bill today and I am not at all impressed with their arithmetic.

From my bill:

For you:
0.9 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.2† ÷ 3.6 = 29.6
but I make that to be 28.36...

and

For you:
24.1 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.3† ÷ 3.6 = 760.1
and I make that to be 761.40...

Anyone care to check those numbers for me, please?

The combined error works out to a penny in my favour so not worth making a fuss at this point but I can see troubles ahead!

The figures I've put in bold are only shown rounded to 1 decimal place. It says so on the bill. Hence the " † "

I guarantee you the actual figures used in the calculation will be correct to 5 or 6 decimal places.
You are working out the rounding errors and the bill totals and charges will be %100 accurate.

Consumerist

youravinalarrrf said:

Is your Estimated Annual Usage figure for Electricity approximately half of what was shown on your last Avro bill as myself and at least one other forum member have also reported?

Octopus' first statement estimates my annual electricity usage will be about 40% more than Avro estimated in their final statement.

victor2

Grizzlebeard said:

Consumerist said:

I received my first Octopus bill today and I am not at all impressed with their arithmetic.

From my bill:

For you:
0.9 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.2† ÷ 3.6 = 29.6
but I make that to be 28.36...

and

For you:
24.1 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.3† ÷ 3.6 = 760.1
and I make that to be 761.40...

Anyone care to check those numbers for me, please?

The combined error works out to a penny in my favour so not worth making a fuss at this point but I can see troubles ahead!

The figures I've put in bold are only shown rounded to 1 decimal place. It says so on the bill. Hence the " † "

I guarantee you the actual figures used in the calculation will be correct to 5 or 6 decimal places.
You are working out the rounding errors and the bill totals and charges will be %100 accurate.

But they're not are they, as we have shown. The 39.2 would have to be 40.9 in the top calculation. That's quite some rounding. Care to adjust your %100?

Consumerist

Grizzlebeard said:

Consumerist said:

I received my first Octopus bill today and I am not at all impressed with their arithmetic.

From my bill:

For you:
0.9 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.2† ÷ 3.6 = 29.6
but I make that to be 28.36...

and

For you:
24.1 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.3† ÷ 3.6 = 760.1
and I make that to be 761.40...

Anyone care to check those numbers for me, please?

The combined error works out to a penny in my favour so not worth making a fuss at this point but I can see troubles ahead!

The figures I've put in bold are only shown rounded to 1 decimal place. It says so on the bill. Hence the " † "

I guarantee you the actual figures used in the calculation will be correct to 5 or 6 decimal places.
You are working out the rounding errors and the bill totals and charges will be %100 accurate.

That doesn't seem consistent with Victor2's workings.

In any event, the values used to calculate a statement should be exactly the same as those declared on the statement.

Consumerist

I would venture to suggest that the CV average may be rounded to 1 decimal place but once rounded, that should be the exact value used for billing.

SH1972

Hoping for some advice from you lovely people.
I'm still waiting to be transferred from Avro to Octopus. I know there are some others on here in the same situation but they appear to have been mid switch, which I was not.
I got an email from octopus when they were first announced as solr but nothing since. I have sent over 10 emails and only ever get a template reply.
They tell me on the phone that they cannot help and I should just wait for it to sort itself out - "probably by the end of January" according to last call.
They won't even tell me what tariff I'll be on or investigate further because they don't have my address or meter details, so I can't pass security!.
What can I do?
(Incidentally my transfer from neon reef to BG goes though tomorrow after just a few days - whould've thought BG would be more efficient.)

youravinalarrrf

There's something very strange going on with these statement Calorific Value and Estimated Annual Usage calculations! Hopefully I will get a reply from Octopus which explains exactly what that something is.

The last time I looked at the Calorific Value calculations in detail was when I had a major disagreement with the clown that used to run Iresa and at that time the way they are to be calculated and charged for was detailed and specified in Ofgem Gas Operators License conditions. It may possibly have changed since then with the proliferation of Smart meters. At the time suppliers were allowed to round to and charge to one decimal place only and as Consumerist says once rounded that should be the exact value used for billing.

You cannot have a situation where a detailed calculation shown on a bill is not correct when a customer runs it through a cacluator.

Grizzlebeard

victor2 said:

Grizzlebeard said:

Consumerist said:

I received my first Octopus bill today and I am not at all impressed with their arithmetic.

From my bill:

For you:
0.9 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.2† ÷ 3.6 = 29.6
but I make that to be 28.36...

and

For you:
24.1 × 2.83 × 1.02264 × 39.3† ÷ 3.6 = 760.1
and I make that to be 761.40...

Anyone care to check those numbers for me, please?

The combined error works out to a penny in my favour so not worth making a fuss at this point but I can see troubles ahead!

The figures I've put in bold are only shown rounded to 1 decimal place. It says so on the bill. Hence the " † "

I guarantee you the actual figures used in the calculation will be correct to 5 or 6 decimal places.
You are working out the rounding errors and the bill totals and charges will be %100 accurate.

But they're not are they, as we have shown. The 39.2 would have to be 40.9 in the top calculation. That's quite some rounding. Care to adjust your %100?

Very fair comment victor. I can't explain that, but I'll keep thinking about it.

I know the unit rates are also rounded, my contract shows it to 4 decimal places but my bill calculation only shows it to 2. Not enough to explain things, but I bet the formulae used to generate the bills are more comprehensive than the brief explanatory calculation in the side panel and I very much doubt these formulae are systematically in error.

And yes, I still trust my Octy bills %100 (to date) and think there will be some rational explanation for the apparent anomaly.

Consumerist

What I don't understand is that these calculations should be fully automated and so there should be no room for error unless there is a systemic error with Octopus' billing system. If that's the case, it needs to be sorted - and quickly, I would suggest.

victor2

Consumerist said:

What I don't understand is that these calculations should be fully automated and so there should be no room for error unless there is a systemic error with Octopus' billing system. If that's the case, it needs to be sorted - and quickly, I would suggest.

Exactly! In all the years I've been reviewing utility bills, the arithmetic shown has always worked out. It's a bit like putting 2+2=5 on the statement.