Outfox the market not showing my useage

barnaclebill

Changed to outfox the market about 3 months ago and have been giving regular meter readings, the readings show on the website as do my direct debit payments but no useage. The money is building up and on the website it is asking for a reading by the 4th of September which I sent last month, I had an email on Monday asking for readings by the 4th October which I have sent also but the website message for September is still showing, its like part of the site is not updating, anyone else had this ?

QrizB

When I was with them (a year or so ago) they would bill me every month.

Either that has changed or there's something awry. You might need to contact them.

wild666

I left them nearly three years ago and on one or two occasions the months usage didn't show up and they estimated the bill but a month later it showed on the readings when I went to put the next reading in.  

miss-tified

You can find out your actual usage/consumption per month from the details on your monthly bills,although this means downloading each bill from the appropriate month/s and then trawling through the usage figures. OTM state on their website that this is how to calculate your actual usage. (I think it's in the FAQs)

I downloaded all mine for the last 12 months in case I have to check them all unless I get a satisfactory resolution from OTM when I send them a polite email about their planned increase of my DD.

There's quite a lot of helpful info on your OTM "My Account" pages including "Bills & Statements", and a complete history table of Date Type Reference Credits Debits Balance

 Also worth checking their t's & c's https://www.outfoxthemarket.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/ and https://www.outfoxthemarket.co.uk/our-policies

Hope that helps.

FreeBear

miss-tified said: You can find out your actual usage/consumption per month from the details on your monthly bills,although this means downloading each bill from the appropriate month/s and then trawling through the usage figures.

Always a good idea to download bills regardless of who your supplier is. Then you have local copies just in case a dispute arises.

Recently departed OFTM, in part due to them not being able to give me a clear and simple answer when asked what data they were using to calculate the monthly DD. Managed to snag a cheaper fixed price deal with another supplier.

But in answer to the OP's question - The usage graphs never gave a true representation of my actual usage. For a while there was a disconnect between their billing system and the web page used to enter meter readings. During this time, I would get estimated bills despite entering readings each month. Took a few attempts via their chat system & complaints process before it was fixed.

abssorb

barnaclebill said:

..... The money is building up ......

Same here.  In the latter half of 2021 they seem to be clawing in as much money as possible.  They've now banked £450 of my cash, over 1/4 of my annual usage, and are refusing to refund it.

We're elec only.

[Deleted User]

abssorb said:

barnaclebill said:

..... The money is building up ......

Same here.  In the latter half of 2021 they seem to be clawing in as much money as possible.  They've now banked £450 of my cash, over 1/4 of my annual usage, and are refusing to refund it.

We're elec only.

So you pay £1800 a year for electricity so I suspect that you have electric heating. Heating alone will account for about 70% of your annual usage over the Winter period. In that regard, a £450 credit balance at this time of the year is not unusual. Small suppliers pay their wholesalers in advance of the supply to you. If the supplier was to agree a refund then you could expect to see a significant increase in your monthly DD payments.

abssorb

We have oil heating, not electric heating. Just a large and old house. The usage is normal for the property and been stable for the last 5 years.

I've always had my own savings account for winter fuel reserves, I've never liked the trend for energy companies becoming a savings account, forcing me to save in advance.  If they go bust I expect lots of hassle trying to get my money restored.  I imagine they are all doing it now, but I would gladly move to a provider that didn't do this.

Back to OFTM, their stated policy is to keep at least 1 month DD in reserve.  This is what they've been doing the last 3 winters.  Yes, there is a gas crisis but this is still disproportionate to claw in 3 months' worth of DDs.  A gas price hike will affect electricity but not that much.

Seems very likely that OFTM are playing a strategy with their customer's money to avoid going bust.