Direct Debit problem with Octopus Energy

Raxiel

They never decreased mine last October (after hiking it in September), so that between EBSS, EPG, and reduced usage we built up a massive credit, to the point I manually set the DD well below their recommendation in February. I don't know if it was the balance or the fact there was a manual override in place, but when EBSS ended they didn't change it in April either, which was fine by me.

wild666

Octopus increased my DD by £14.25 but I had just under £300 in credit. I've just had this months bill and it's less than my monthly DD with the next months DD due out in a few days. My bill says I've used £64.43 nearly £5 less than my DD.
If you change your DD make it more than 10 days before it's due out as you might not have a DD taken that month, I changed mine from £48 to £55 on the 12th of the month and the DD was due out on the 19th and it wasn't taken on the 19th but on the date I changed it too, the first of the month, some 12 days later, it wouldn't have bothered me if they had taken £48 on the 19th and £55  on the 1st of the following month as at the time I had £210 credit.

Rich1976

We are with Octopus and from October they set the direct debit at £160 with the £67 government contribution on top of this.

I received an email in March to say from April there wouldn’t be any further government support but they had decided to leave the direct debit the same at £160 per month. 

According to the online account they estimate are total energy for the next 12 months to be about £1900 so the £160 a month is correct.

niktheguru

Super_Stomper said:

For the first time since I joined Octopus Energy I am having a problem with my direct debit. They reduced my monthly direct debit by the amount of the Government allowance over the last 6 months  BUT they have taken this lower amount again this time. Luckily it has not left me owing too much money this month BUT I have increased my future DD to its previous amount & sent them an email to complain. Has anyone else had this problem please? Thanks

What is the real need for a complaint here? Seems a bit over the top. So your direct debit is a bit lower than usual. You have the ability to increase it which you've done, problem solved. I don't really see how this is a mega issue. They haven't taken extra money from you, they haven't billed you incorrectly. There is just a bit less money paid against your bill than you want. There is no real reason to "complain" here.

vincit_veritas

I watch Octopus like a hawk when it comes to DDR changes, and last year had to be very insistent that my DDR should be based on my actual usage for the previous year, which they knew, f rather than on their "estimated usage" which at one stage was about 30% higher for gas. 
Having just read MSE Andrew Capstick's helpful article "How energy suppliers set direct debits", I note that Octopus is the only supplier that says "It aims to make all accounts have roughly a month's DD in credit by the end of April." 
Which is very obviously not the same as "Estimated annual costs divided by 12, with seasonal use factored in."

[Deleted User]

vincit_veritas said:

I watch Octopus like a hawk when it comes to DDR changes, and last year had to be very insistent that my DDR should be based on my actual usage for the previous year, which they knew, f rather than on their "estimated usage" which at one stage was about 30% higher for gas. 
Having just read MSE Andrew Capstick's helpful article "How energy suppliers set direct debits", I note that Octopus is the only supplier that says "It aims to make all accounts have roughly a month's DD in credit by the end of April." 
Which is very obviously not the same as "Estimated annual costs divided by 12, with seasonal use factored in."

The algorithm used takes into account abnormal weather. Using your logic of actual usage, then a long cold Winter would result in a higher DD payment for the next 12 months than might be calculated by the algorithm.

Qyburn

vincit_veritas said:

I watch Octopus like a hawk when it comes to DDR changes, and last year had to be very insistent that my DDR should be based on my actual usage for the previous year, which they knew, f rather than on their "estimated usage" which at one stage was about 30% higher for gas. 

If its givi g you that much grief, why not switch to variable DD and pay for exactly what's used each month?

Chrysalis

Super_Stomper said:

For the first time since I joined Octopus Energy I am having a problem with my direct debit. They reduced my monthly direct debit by the amount of the Government allowance over the last 6 months  BUT they have taken this lower amount again this time. Luckily it has not left me owing too much money this month BUT I have increased my future DD to its previous amount & sent them an email to complain. Has anyone else had this problem please? Thanks

I had the exact same problem, I noticed it before payment was actually taken but I was unable to make the payment higher as apparently the payment process had started, so I paid the balance that would leave a negative balance to the exact DD amount.

I am now on a variable DD as I had enough of the issues with Octopus fixed DD system.

The automatic system also is still predicting over £400 a month of energy use from me, another reason I switched to variable DD, to get rid of all the guessing nonsense.

Chrysalis

[Deleted User] said:

vincit_veritas said:

I watch Octopus like a hawk when it comes to DDR changes, and last year had to be very insistent that my DDR should be based on my actual usage for the previous year, which they knew, f rather than on their "estimated usage" which at one stage was about 30% higher for gas. 
Having just read MSE Andrew Capstick's helpful article "How energy suppliers set direct debits", I note that Octopus is the only supplier that says "It aims to make all accounts have roughly a month's DD in credit by the end of April." 
Which is very obviously not the same as "Estimated annual costs divided by 12, with seasonal use factored in."

The algorithm used takes into account abnormal weather. Using your logic of actual usage, then a long cold Winter would result in a higher DD payment for the next 12 months than might be calculated by the algorithm.

Yes it does do this, last year they added a beta feature which got removed, but when it was on my account I had a look at it, and it showed the predicted energy use for my account month by month for the upcoming year, and it assumed I would be using insane amounts of energy in the winter, totally against my history with them.

Interestingly even after a year on a smart meter, the predicted costs havent really changed, so the algorithm doesnt seem to weight recent account history very much, or its just plain broken on my account.