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

Spoonie_Turtle

Just a little heads-up, you would have to ask for paper bills as Octopus do it all online by default.

I don't want anyone to be put off by that, I highly recommend Octopus too, just want people to know what to expect if they do switch

EssexHebridean

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Just a little heads-up, you would have to ask for paper bills as Octopus do it all online by default.

I don't want anyone to be put off by that, I highly recommend Octopus too, just want people to know what to expect if they do switch

I assume as many companies do these days, there would be a charge for a paper bill, too?  I know most suppliers in various areas now view online as “included” and levy a charge (understandably) for the more costly paper option. 

ariarnia

EssexHebridean said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Just a little heads-up, you would have to ask for paper bills as Octopus do it all online by default.

I don't want anyone to be put off by that, I highly recommend Octopus too, just want people to know what to expect if they do switch

I assume as many companies do these days, there would be a charge for a paper bill, too?  I know most suppliers in various areas now view online as “included” and levy a charge (understandably) for the more costly paper option. 

not relevant to most people but if your on the priority service register then you can generally get paper bills at no extra charge if you contact them and ask 

and other things (like your meter being moved or annual gas safe checks) depending on your eligablity/need

Spoonie_Turtle

EssexHebridean said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Just a little heads-up, you would have to ask for paper bills as Octopus do it all online by default.

I don't want anyone to be put off by that, I highly recommend Octopus too, just want people to know what to expect if they do switch

I assume as many companies do these days, there would be a charge for a paper bill, too?  I know most suppliers in various areas now view online as “included” and levy a charge (understandably) for the more costly paper option. 

I've no idea, at one point Octopus had a page explaining why they default to online but can't for the life of me find any info now.

If paper bills (well, statements really in this context) are a deal-breaker for anyone then it would be worth enquiring before switching, just to be sure.  But would need to be really clear you want to pay by direct debit and are just asking for paper statements, not asking to pay on receipt of bill.

Alternatively if people just need a paper copy for their records, the PDFs are easy to print off, probably cost 20-30p for two pages at the library if printing at home isn't an option.

Mstty

Here's my 2p

Symbio refugee with Eon Next. Eon Next have done little wrong and we did fix for 2 years til April 2024 below the EPG.

At that time (March 2022) to put things into perspective Octopus fixes were well above what Eon Next offered and nothing for two years to give certainty so big clap for Eon Next. In addition a couple of issues with Eon Next have knocked a couple of hundred pounds of our bill mostly without going to the ombudsman.

However come the end of the fix I can see that Octopus are the forward thinking company when it comes to experimental contracts and time of use contracts so if the fix was up today we would move to Octopus. Their tracker rates for the past three months average out for electricity (we only have electric) have been cheaper than our fix but with the EPG discount reducing on 1st April we won't move with a year of the fix left but will review in July when predictions show a nice drop in the price cap.

[Deleted User]

I am an Octopus customer of 5 years standing. Octopus is undoubtedly primus inter pares when it comes to technical innovation. Its smart tariffs are market-leading, and its billing system is excellent - provided there is no smart meter data loss! 

On the negative side, customer service is no longer as good as it was 4 years ago. I am also not a great fan of the push to get customers to write laudatory reports about Octopus/individuals on Trustpilot. I always provide positive feedback on staff when it is justified, but not when it is solicited. It just seems a bit tacky to me.

diystarter7

CanNeverThinkOfAUsername said:

Just a heads-up (as i used to work for them). But some staff don't know how to put customers on paper bills. They can 100% do it. Also, if you go on a Smart tariff (like Go, Agile etc) whatever you do get paper bills turned off. As they bill on 30mins data, the bills can be 30 pages long!!! haha

Also, they bill each time a meter reading is submitted, currently my smart meters are not working and I'm waiting for them to be replaced, so every day at 9pm i am putting my meter readings in manually (I'm on tracker) and get a bill every day when i wake up in the morning.

Hiya

Very helpful info,
Having read and posted the link from Which Mag and the posts here. If we change, it will be Octapus if things dont chang

Thnaks

diystarter7

Mstty said:

Here's my 2p

Symbio refugee with Eon Next. Eon Next have done little wrong and we did fix for 2 years til April 2024 below the EPG.

At that time (March 2022) to put things into perspective Octopus fixes were well above what Eon Next offered and nothing for two years to give certainty so big clap for Eon Next. In addition a couple of issues with Eon Next have knocked a couple of hundred pounds of our bill mostly without going to the ombudsman.

However come the end of the fix I can see that Octopus are the forward thinking company when it comes to experimental contracts and time of use contracts so if the fix was up today we would move to Octopus. Their tracker rates for the past three months average out for electricity (we only have electric) have been cheaper than our fix but with the EPG discount reducing on 1st April we won't move with a year of the fix left but will review in July when predictions show a nice drop in the price cap.

Hi

A very useful and helpful post 

Thanks

[Deleted User]

CanNeverThinkOfAUsername said:

@[Deleted User] Most staff hate asking for Trustpilot's, it's really embarrassing! haha

It's one of those things managers push you to do it, but they don't see how it makes us look

I think that it makes them look desperate. CS staff should concentrate on the basics: get that right and the accolades will follow.

Last month, I asked an Octopus installation team who were fitting an EV charge point 2 doors down if the could carry out a 15 minute main fuse pull to coax my smart meter comms hub back into life. They could just have said no  - but their response was that provided the Octopus smart meter team authorised the task they were happy to do it. Approval was sought and given, and the task was carried out. I followed up the engineer’s visit with a laudatory email to their CEO.

Mstty

CanNeverThinkOfAUsername said:

The reason behind it (so they say) is when the adverts are on TV it mentions the Trustpilot score, and if the score drops they would need to pull the adverts, so thats why they wanted staff to ask, to keep the score up!

So on that logic one way to get to a quick conclusion with Octopus if needed would be to say you are creating a trustpilot review regarding your communication/incident/complaint etc.