Octopus Energy Shady Business Practices

SRGreenwood

This is a warning to everyone who might be tempted to try to reduce their monthly direct debit payment to Octopus. Because I had a significant surplus in my Octopus account, I wanted to reduce my monthly payments, which had been carried over from the Bulb takeover. The Octopus ‘recommended’ payment was actually higher than I currently pay - however, we are moving to summer, and my energy usage will be lower, so their algorithm for calculating is not actually correct. If, however, you click on the button on the relevant page that says ‘Update payment amount’ it simply changes your payment to their recommended amount, rather than giving you an option to choose what you pay. Nowhere on the page does it say this will happen - the page title is ‘Request a change to your monthly direct debit payments here’ which to me suggests that you can adjust the amount up or down. I could understand limits being applied to any reduction request (Bulb used to do this) but to simply put you on a higher amount without any warning is in my opinion deceitful.
(I am aware that I could ask for a refund of any excess credit, but I do not want to do this, I prefer to control my monthly outgoings.)
I have written to Octopus to complain, but I suspect they will come up with some feeble excuse or reason. I will update this post if/when I hear from them.

MWT

I suspect your problem is just that your account has not yet fully transitioned from Bulb into the Octopus system.

If it had you would have the following options on your main account page...

... and 'Change my payments' would take you here...

'Edit amount' allows me to set my own payment level.

I would suggest you just give them a call, if possible, as writing to them is not going to be the quickest way to get a result...

niktheguru

I don't really understand the point of this post.
You are basically frustrated that you are unable to change your direct debit amount directly and automatically on the website.

Have you actually contacted them to change the amount? (I.e. phone call (the quickest way to get a response), email, twitter etc)

You say you have a huge surplus and quite rightly you will likely use less energy in the summer months. I don't see a problem in your strategy of wanting to reduce your direct debit for it to catch up. If you contact octopus I doubt you'd get much resistance to do this either. Obviously the alternative approach is to get a surplus refund and pay a slightly higher direct debit which u said you don't want to do.

We are getting too many people complaining about simple problems because they don't want to engage with customer services to sort an issue out. I don't really see this as a "shady business practice"

bristolleedsfan

SRGreenwood said:

 ‘Update payment amount’ it simply changes your payment to their recommended amount, rather than giving you an option to choose what you pay. 

Yes when you click edit amount direct debit amount is pre-filled with recommended amount, that can be changed before clicking update payment amount unless Octo system wont let some customers do it in which case need to contact them.

Gerry1

You could always switch to Variable Direct Debit, although this will of course mean lower bills in summer but higher ones in winter.

TheElectricCow

Are you sure you didn’t miss the input field where you set the amount? It may be possible that Octopus limit some customers ability to change the amount (I wouldn’t know) but I’ve not had any issues setting my own DD to whatever amount suits me, no questions asked.

The relevant field is pre-filled with their suggestion but you should be able to ignore that and put what you like in there before pressing the update button, that’s one of Octopus’ biggest appeals to me personally.

Chrysalis

Yes it should allow you to choose your own level.

My experience is it will have a suggested amount.  This amount is calculated by the backend billing system using specific algorithms, I assume it has some assumptions e.g. assuming you will have much heavier winter usage, its supposed to take your history into account as well, but this system is not accurate for everyone.

It wont let you go too far below the suggested amount, % wise I dont know what this is but I do know I couldnt set £95 on a suggested amount of £483.  (My monthly cost based on actual readings for both energies including SC is typically £85-95).

If you ring up the staff have the ability to set outside the range, and will do this if they accept the automation is likely inaccurate, they also have the ability to set what is called a variable direct debit, where a payment will be taken to match any issued bill.

Below is what shows if you have variable set.

Mobtr

It’s hardly a shady business practice, all you have to do is ring them & they’ll change it for you. Think you’re over reacting a bit 

[Deleted User]

I play around with my monthly DD payment at will BUT I ensure that there is always sufficient credit to pay the next monthly bill. Five years on, Octopus has yet to cry foul

MWT

[Deleted User] said:

I play around with my monthly DD payment at will BUT I ensure that there is always sufficient credit to pay the next monthly bill. Five years on, Octopus has yet to cry foul

Almost the same here, I maintain a decent balance in the account and if it falls short I always top-up on the day the bill arrives.

Worked like this since I moved to Octopus 4 years ago...

MikeJXE

I went with Octopus in February and have been able to set my own DD amount from day one, no problem at all