Octopus is back billing me from May 2020 for £1,700

anna4545

Hi, 

I left Octopus  in May 2020, I saw an email I received recently in December 2021. This is billing me  from may 2020 of 1,708.76. This is 1.7 years old are they allowed to do this…..Am I covered  by the back billing rules ?I have received no other emails from them till date when i closed my account in May 2020 :-(!

 

Thanks

 

Penguin_

Who has been supplying you with energy in the period between May 2020 & December 2021?

anna4545

It is EON from May 2021 until present !! ....... Also the bill from Octopus  says we are billing you from 7th june 2020-23rd June 2020(which does not make sense it says this is your final bill after 1.7 years????)but its including charges from dec 2019-20th May 2020.......

anna4545

*sorry it is  eon EON from May 2020 until present !!

MWT

Check and see who is listed as your current supplier, just to make sure it is E.ON, once you've done that you only have to point out to Octopus that they are not your supplier and have not been since May 2020 and the problem should go away.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/finding-your-energy-supplier-or-network-operator

Astria

You can’t be charged for gas or electricity used more than 12 months ago if you have not been correctly billed for it before.

Check your past bills/emails, maybe they did bill you but they failed to receive payment?

If they didn't bill you, citizens advice may be able to help, I'd start with a template letter and go from there, eg: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/template-letters/letters/energy/complain-to-a-supplier-about-back-billing/

MWT

anna4545 said:

It is EON from May 2021 until present !! ....... Also the bill from Octopus  says we are billing you from 7th june 2020-23rd June 2020(which does not make sense it says this is your final bill after 1.7 years????)but its including charges from dec 2019-20th May 2020.......

Misread the original post, so all the billing they are claiming is within the period when you were with Octopus, so there is no dispute over E.ON billing you after May 2020.

Does the final meter reading on that bill match the opening meter reading on the E.ON first bill?

Also, did you receive a large refund from Octopus when you left them back in 2020?

[Deleted User]

anna4545 said:

Hi, 

I left Octopus  in May 2020, I saw an email I received recently in December 2021. This is billing me  from may 2020 of 1,708.76. This is 1.7 years old are they allowed to do this…..Am I covered  by the back billing rules ?I have received no other emails from them till date when i closed my account in May 2020 :-(!

 

Thanks

 

Did you get a Final Bill from Octopus and have you paid it? If you didn’t, did you do anything to chase Octopus for the bill? Under the Statute of Limitations, companies can pursue debts for up to 6 years. Without more information, it is not possible to know whether BackBilling would or would not apply. In the case of delayed Final Bills, it is usually just a small amount of compensation.

anna4545

it says your energy account  7th june 2020-23rd June 2020(when i was never with them)! But the dates below say (the dates i was with them)- will attach a sceenshot
I never received a final bill  from them in 2020, and  I just cancelled my direct debit.. now i have received this first email 2021. 
Reading the below... I think i am covered by the below.. also i looked at the bill again and its actually £2,116.43 they want!!

Ofgem’s Back-Billing Principle

From 2007, Ofgem requirements state that energy suppliers can no longer try to reconcile incorrect domestic energy charges from more than 12 months ago, if the supplier itself is at fault for not billing the household correctly.

This is known as the Back-Billing Principle, and suppliers must adhere to it. It states:

"If your supplier is at fault, it will not seek additional payment for unbilled energy used more than 12 months prior to the error being detected and a corrected bill being issued."

anna4545

this is the bill they sent 
 

Curiousgirl1

This looks like it could be a rebill of your original final bill that hasn’t been paid which is why it’s giving December 21 for payment. The charges look very high though. There should be some readings on the bill, check they are the same as the readings eon used to start your account on. Were your bills with Octopus usually estimated, the final one could be a catch up