Ex-BULB customers who've migrated to Octopus - meter readings? 12 March at 4:34PM in Energy 9 replies 253 views

howryoo

Anyone here who was with Bulb and now moved over to Octopus with the old 'dumb' traditional meters?

It used to be the case with Bulb that you could submit meter readings within 3 days of them collecting your scheduled direct debit payment and they'd bill you for your exact usage for that period.

However, having recently received a reminder from Octopus that they would be collecting the DD payment soon, there's no mention of submitting actual meter readings to use for billing.

Does anyone know when I should submit (for accurate billing) if my DD's scheduled for 17th?

fatbelly

I'm in that situation and am just submitting readings three days ahead, as before. I can't yet work out what Octopus are doing with them.

I also use their 'wheel of fortune' thing though I've no idea if it ever pays out.

grumpyoldwoman

You can submit meter readings whenever you like and will get a statement when you do, they will only remind you if you haven't submitted one for a few months. I submitted my first readings a week ago and got the statement a couple of days later.

Alnat1

If you want to pay for you exact usage each month you need to make sure you're set up for variable DD. It may be that your account has been set up as fixed DD.  

If it's variable there should be the message "You are paying a variable amount depending on your usage" in the My Account section of the website. 

Raxiel

fatbelly said:

I also use their 'wheel of fortune' thing though I've no idea if it ever pays out.

I won £1 a couple of months ago.

howryoo

fatbelly said:

I'm in that situation and am just submitting readings three days ahead, as before. I can't yet work out what Octopus are doing with them.

I also use their 'wheel of fortune' thing though I've no idea if it ever pays out.

Interesting.  So what is your invoice based on?  Their estimated readings?

howryoo

Alnat1 said:

If you want to pay for you exact usage each month you need to make sure you're set up for variable DD. It may be that your account has been set up as fixed DD.  

If it's variable there should be the message "You are paying a variable amount depending on your usage" in the My Account section of the website. 

Strange - I can't seem to see that option under my account.  I suspect it's fixed DD, but would like to continue as I have under Bulb - being billed for exact usage and readings taken around the same time / monthly cycle.

fatbelly

howryoo said:

Interesting.  So what is your invoice based on?  Their estimated readings?

I've only had one, and hadn't checked. So I just did

The bill is based on the customer reading 3rd March against the one I gave to Bulb on 3rd Feb

It says the account is for 6 Feb to 2nd March and is dated 3rd March

So I guess I just have to remember to give them a reading on 3rd of the month

bristolleedsfan

https://octopus.energy/blog/why-we-dont-send-monthly-statements/

Alnat1

howryoo said:

Strange - I can't seem to see that option under my account.  I suspect it's fixed DD, but would like to continue as I have under Bulb - being billed for exact usage and readings taken around the same time / monthly cycle.

Log in to your account on the website, not app. Go to change my payments and you should clearly be able to see if you are paying a fixed amount each month or it will say you pay a variable amount depending on your usage. It's not possible to change to variable DD online but give them a ring or Twitter message and they'll sort it quickly.