Octopus Energy - account information is rubbish

YorksClare

I got gas to my house for the first time in April 2021.  I was with Bulb, but very unhappy with them so switched to Avro.  Unfortunately, I had a problem.  My meter only gave readings in cubic metres, and the Avro account required readings in kWh.  Not knowing any better at the time - it didn't exactly help on the website - I mistakenly tried to make a conversion, which led to a very high bill.  I telephoned them to explain the mistake, but the call handler seemed to be 1) not in the UK, 2) unaware what the hell a gas meter was, and 3) unable to understand what measurements are used for gas or electricity.  They obviously didn't sort it out, but I was stuck.

I was transferred from Avro to Octopus Energy in autumn 2021 as a SOLR (supplier of last resort).  Everyone was saying I was so lucky because Octopus were great.  I beg to differ.  Yes, they technically set themselves as being £50 cheaper than the competition (in other words, they were all targeting making the price limit as standard, not taking into account actual usage).  I was told not to try to do anything v.a.v. moving my account, I had to let it move under the government scheme to avoid Issues.  

Octopus ported across my DD amount - then £102.37 per month.  I sent in readings, but they disputed them, which may be because of the issue with Avro in May 2021.  However, the one sensible thing that they could do - make an appointment with me to send someone to read the actual meter - they wouldn't do.  I sent in photographic evidence of the meter readings in March, when they were telling me that without any changes to my usage I would have to pay £267.50 per month.  When I queried it with them, they said that the average three-bedroom house uses way more than I do.  I said that made no difference - I don't use that much, because I live alone and work full time.

I have also sent in meter readings in May, which prove that my usage across both electricity and gas is about £65 per month - including cold months when my gas central heating comes on based on the thermostat.  These readings showed that in March I was in credit by around £860.  I asked for the credit to be returned, less two months' worth of bills, because that is money I need in my bank, not in my energy account.  Shortly after that, they appeared to process my readings and suddenly I was even further in credit - about £1800.

I have requested a refund every time I sent in the readings, but they keep refusing, with no genuine excuse.  Sometimes they say they need readings that are up to date to the request (or within 14 days or within 5 days - no consistency) but even when I comply with that they do not refund me.  I raised a formal complaint with them on 8th June, but nothing has happened at all.  They sent me an email last week telling me that the 8 week deadline expires tomorrow, and how were they doing processing my complaint?  The answer is - RUBBISH!  I reported the matter to the Ombudsman at the same time, but that isn't exactly going quickly.

As an aside, I find the Octopus online account very poor indeed.  What they call "bills" aren't "bills" that anyone else would recognise as such.  All it does is record what they took from my direct debit, it does not mention at all the actual or estimated energy usage.  The meter reading history is stored in a very different part of the account, as is the billing history.  The billing history includes a comment that I took back a payment that had been "inaccurately recorded as paid".  I was at the time £300 in credit and cancelled the DD for that month.  So they had no business describing it like that - it was money they were taking that they were not owed.  At one point, they sent me a "breakdown" of the readings and payments which bore no resemblance to reality at all - it made things even more confusing than before.

So:  Anyone else struggling with Octopus?  Anyone successfully got a refund, as they should be able to expect?

QrizB

YorksClare said:

I got gas to my house for the first time in April 2021.  I was with Bulb, but very unhappy with them so switched to Avro.  Unfortunately, I had a problem.  My meter only gave readings in cubic metres, and the Avro account required readings in kWh. 

This sounds very unlikely. Electricity meters record kWh, and your supplier expects a reading in kWh. Gas meters measure in cubic metres or hundreds of cubic feet, and your supplier expects a reading in those units.

I have never known a gas supplier to ask for a meter reading in kWh.

What they call "bills" aren't "bills" that anyone else would recognise as such.  All it does is record what they took from my direct debit, it does not mention at all the actual or estimated energy usage.

Octopus bills are very definitely bills, and they look something like this:

(image from https://octopus.energy/blog/statement-questions/ )

There should be additional page(s) with more detial on how the figures have been calculated.

niktheguru

Looks like the op isn’t looking at the actual bills and is just looking at the online dashboard and assuming that is the bill. If you have bills generated they should be under the “my bills” tab and then you download pdf versions of the bills which should have all the info you need.

pearl123

You'll find your bills - under view my bills or my bills. If  you still can find it, I'd get a friend or the CAB to show you. I think it's unlikely to be missing. You could also give  a sceen capture to Octopus. 

wrf12345

I was with Octopus and they were fine, I left because there was a relatively good fixed offer on British Gas, who are also okay if somewhat reluctant to reduce my direct debt but got there in the end. I did have a problem with Scottish Power when I left them as they would not accept my gas reading and wanted to charge extra - they ignored threats to take them to the ombudsman but acted immediately (within hours of my letter's arrival) when I threatened them with referral to the European Consumer Affairs Bureau (when we were in the EU), multiple phone calls and emails to tell me all was good and they would accept the reading I had sent them (as I turn the gas off at the meter for eight months, the reading was actually the same as I had submitted but they reckoned they could not read it as it was not their meter any more).

The UK ombudsman does not inspire much fear in these companies and you have to be very persistent to get anywhere with them. If the OP is in so much credit why not cancel the direct debit until the credit is cleared, or ask them to set it to £1?

pochase

It is impossible for you to calculate an accurate KWh from your units as you don't have the "calorific value" which changes daily and where an average over time is applied to their calculations of your KWh.

Therefore there will be no supplier that asks you to enter KWh instead of units.

By trying to enter KWh where units are expected you generated a usage figure that was more than 11 times higher than your real usage and a meter read that has nothing to do with reality. This would be also the reason that Octopus had problems with your meter reads as they were suddenly less than 10% what was expected.

Alnat1

Octopus are very happy for you to pay a variable DD which will be the amount of each months bill. You will have to give regular monthly readings (unless you have working smart meters) and the DD will be taken around 14 days after you give your readings. The bills will be lower in summer and higher in winter if you have the heating on so you have to be prepared for this.

Give them a ring and ask if you can change to variable DD if you think this would work well for you. It would mean you end up with a 0 balance on you account each month, no credit, no debit.

brewerdave

I was with Avro for a short period in 2019/20. I had a problem initially with gas readings because my meter was Imperial (100s cu ft) and they thought it was metric - took a couple of months to sort.
They also had an issue with the electricity meter, as they had an old meter reference number from a meter replaced in 2015!
They blamed both errors on "the National Databases" !!!

[Deleted User]

Has something changed? I have been an Octopus customer for over 4 years. When I had analogue meters, the simple act of entering a meter reading on Octopus’ website would generate an email and a PDF energy statement. As a smart meter customer, I get a monthly statement.

elsien

I’m still getting an email statement when I submit a reading. I’m on a smart meter. 

wild666

If you have smart meters then the electric is in kWh for meter readings but the gas is in M3 meaning each unit is approximately 11.3 kWh of gas. If you have the analogue meters then the readings could be in either ft.3 or M3.
Knowing what your meter are, smart or otherwise, can mean you could be putting in the correct numbers but the supplier is incorrectly converting the readings, using ft.3 instead of M3.
It could mean that if the supplier is converting using ft.3 rather than M3 they are saying you've used 28.3 kWh when M3 would have it as 10.23 kWh. 
I have smart meters so only my gas needs a conversion.

A refund should be the total credit minus 1 months payment, e.g. monthly payment £250 and credit is £1000 they should refund £750.