Considering changing your electric/gas supplier and or are you unhappy with current supplier?

diystarter7

Hi

If you are as per title of the thread, I strongly recommend you read the link

Somewhere today, I think I read on the forum the "Octopus" sent monthly bills - if that is the case
and its paper billing, I may consider them.  IMO, it's not just what you pay
for gas/electricity but how CS responds to any questions/queries/etc. My
current supplier has pretty good CS but its not the one below

Quote from link below.



Octopus Energy is the only Which? recommended energy firm for the sixth year in a row

https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/the-best-energy-companies-for-2023-aENw78y43u01

Thanks

vic_sf49

Haven't looked to see if Octopus send paper bills, but they bill monthly or more frequently, if/when you submit a manual reading.

I got sick of BG, so switched last October, and have been extremely happy with Octopus so far.

I hate phoning, but had to phone to switch at that time, but I was only on hold about 20 mins.

Since then, I've emailed to switch to their  tracker* tariff, at 10pm-ish one night, and that's been actioned just after noon the next day.

Great CS, better rates, my smart meters became smart again, immediately after the switch, and a £50 joining bonus. 

*Edited to add.. I switched to their tracker, not to their variable rate as I originally said, as I was already on their variable rate. Memory fail.

diystarter7

vic_sf49 said:

Haven't looked to see if Octopus send paper bills, but they bill monthly or more frequently, if/when you submit a manual reading.

I got sick of BG, so switched last October, and have been extremely happy with Octopus so far.

I hate phoning, but had to phone to switch at that time, but I was only on hold about 20 mins.

Since then, I've emailed to switch to their variable rate tariff, at 10pm-ish one night, and that's been actioned just after noon the next day.

Great CS, better rates, my smart meters became smart again, immediately after the switch, and a £50 joining bonus.

Hi
Thanks - its the paper billing I like and had to force it out of my supplier,
Thanks re Octopus comments helpful

Our current supplier EDF, they answer the phone quickly and often pretty good, bar the last
the interaction I had with but i put that down to one member out of thousands possibly not being on the ball but
on the whole, CS is good.
Thanks

dil1976

Do you work for Which as you always seem to quote them!

TheElectricCow

I've only switched to Octopus recently, very impressed so far can't fault them on anything yet really, plus the £50 referral bonus they give is very welcome.

The whole switch took about a week to get through to their presumably busy customer service (as a non-customer via email, before they were allowing online switch requests again), and then at most another week to complete. Process when through without an issue on the Octopus side and after a two months my bills appeared to have sent up properly on the correct monthly schedule.

I do also very much like idea of their time of use tariffs (like an upgraded version of E7), and their of generally more innovative tariff ideas that make great use of the smart meter technology found in many homes these days to help bring cheaper energy costs to people willing to put a bit more consideration into their energy use!

Good to see a source like Which recommending probably the strongest supporter of these smarter tariffs in the market at the moment. Perhaps more positive coverage like this will eventually help reach those who have been more resistive to smart meters for less rational reasons, when companies that emphasise the positive aspects of them are being presented as the best to be with. Perhaps this won't be everyone's cup of tea, and there's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but I personally can see how this could be of benefit to a lot of people.

And the fact that this is the only recommended company by Which must mean a lot of their customers agree they're doing something right with their receptiveness to new ideas, after all it was their positive reputation from existing customers that encouraged me to chose them in the first place. Thanks for sharing the article hopefully many will find it useful

Jyana

I'm very happy with British Gas, except I would prefer not to get paper bills which they can't seem to stop sending me, or paper updates when I change my direct debit amounts every time. Otherwise, I find their customer service extremely good, I have never had to wait more than a couple of hours for a reply from them on Twitter and they have sorted out several small issues or queries for me over the last 18 months or so very promptly. It's very simple to get any amount of built up cash on the account back to my bank too, either by just clicking the request button on their site if there has been a recent bill or by asking through Twitter if not.

diystarter7

TheElectricCow said:

I've only switched to Octopus recently, very impressed so far can't fault them on anything yet really, plus the £50 referral bonus they give is very welcome.

The whole switch took about a week to get through to their presumably busy customer service (as a non-customer via email, before they were allowing online switch requests again), and then at most another week to complete. Process when through without an issue on the Octopus side and after a two months my bills appeared to have sent up properly on the correct monthly schedule.

I do also very much like idea of their time of use tariffs (like an upgraded version of E7), and their of generally more innovative tariff ideas that make great use of the smart meter technology found in many homes these days to help bring cheaper energy costs to people willing to put a bit more consideration into their energy use!

Good to see a source like Which recommending probably the strongest supporter of these smarter tariffs in the market at the moment. Perhaps more positive coverage like this will eventually help reach those who have been more resistive to smart meters for less rational reasons, when companies that emphasise the positive aspects of them are being presented as the best to be with. Perhaps this won't be everyone's cup of tea, and there's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but I personally can see how this could be of benefit to a lot of people.

And the fact that this is the only recommended company by Which must mean a lot of their customers agree they're doing something right with their receptiveness to new ideas, after all it was their positive reputation from existing customers that encouraged me to chose them in the first place. Thanks for sharing the article hopefully many will find it useful

Hello

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts/insights, appreciated,  - thanks to all for sharing,

I fid Which Mag along with the BBC, The Guardian and C4 news very fair, informative
and accurate and relatively balanced reporting

Enjoy your weekend

ProDave

I don't know about paper bills but I am happy with Octopus.

There is a LOT more to a supplier than just being the cheapest (even when it is or was possible to shop around for a cheaper price.)

I send a meter reading to Octopus at the end of each month (I don't want and don't have a smart meter)  within seconds there is an accurate bill using that reading.

You can clearly see how much you have been billed and the calculations and how much in credit or debit your account is.  YOU can set the monthly DD payment amount to keep within a credit balance you are happy with.  If you accidentally build up too much credit you can request some is returned to you.

This is so much better than the many horror stories of other suppliers charging you too much, ignoring readings, building up too much credit etc with you having no say in the matter.

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MikeyPGT

I'm waiting on a quote back from Octopus - currently on (inherited) prepay meters with Scottish Power for both electricity (which is a smart meter and is most definitely faulty - wrong balance and constantly losing connection) and gas.  If anyone is considering switching to Scottish Power - for the sake of your mental and financial health - avoid, avoid, avoid!

diystarter7

ProDave said:

I don't know about paper bills but I am happy with Octopus.

There is a LOT more to a supplier than just being the cheapest (even when it is or was possible to shop around for a cheaper price.)

I send a meter reading to Octopus at the end of each month (I don't want and don't have a smart meter)  within seconds there is an accurate bill using that reading.

You can clearly see how much you have been billed and the calculations and how much in credit or debit your account is.  YOU can set the monthly DD payment amount to keep within a credit balance you are happy with.  If you accidentally build up too much credit you can request some is returned to you.

This is so much better than the many horror stories of other suppliers charging you too much, ignoring readings, building up too much credit etc with you having no say in the matter.

[Text removed by Forum Team]

Hi

Thank you not just for sharing of your views but for the kind offer.


thanks

ariarnia

a lot of people on here recomend octopus regularly when people are looking to move. and i understand they have a number of different tarrifs that suit different situations.

personally i value that 'real' experience more than a magazine and would suggest people dont switch based on a single review which might not be evaluating based on whats important or right for you. 

instead take advantage of these and other forums to speak to people who are with octopus or who left octopus (or even contact octopus) to ask the specific questions that matter to you (like do they do paper statements)