Octopus sent me a 2k bill!!!

Bizzle

I suddenly got a bill for £2000 from Octopus last week, which was probably an expected shock, if there is such a time.

With the current energy situation I probably should have seen this coming as nothing had changed on my account but I figured they had it covered as I have a smart meter.

Reports of the increasing price cap increased my nervousness and I contacted Octopus asking for them to review my direct debit, their suggestion was to reduce it?!?!

Luckily I didn’t do this as I have now had a bill saying there was an error on my account and that my bill now stood at £1909.81.

Other than just paying it by having a very large direct debit to octopus for a while do I have any options? I doubt the usage is wrong but I’m just a bit miffed that I attempted to prepare for this and Octopus gave me advice based on an error on their part.

Mstty

The key here is you should know your usage and costs. Harsh but that's the reality

Octopus are generally a reasonable company ask to spread the debt across a number of months, start that discussion now and also take into account what your DD should be to pay for the next 12 months of energy use so you are not in a worse position this time next year.

Robin9

@Bizzle -   go back in time to your last bill.   Were you in credit/debit then ?   Was the meter reading Estimated  ? (Just because you have a Smart meter doesn't mean its in Smart mode !)

[Deleted User]

I doubt the usage is wrong but I’m just a bit miffed that I attempted to prepare for this and Octopus gave me advice based on an error on their part.

What advice did Octopus give you that you now deem to be in error? Octopus can only estimate based on historical usage which varies by year (warmer/colder Winters) and by occupant usage.

theoretica

Can you tell when the error started?  If it was more than a year ago, I would tell them you think that the over a year old part should be covered by the back billing regulations - and leave them to justify why it isn't, if they can!

[Deleted User]

theoretica said:

Can you tell when the error started?  If it was more than a year ago, I would tell them you think that the over a year old part should be covered by the back billing regulations - and leave them to justify why it isn't, if they can!

As it is Octopus, I would be very surprised if the OP hasn't had a bill for 12 months. I got a statement for 53p a couple of months ago after Octopus carried out what it described as routine BB checks: that is, Octopus had been able to recover a missing day of data from my smart meter.

theoretica

Dolor said:

theoretica said:

Can you tell when the error started?  If it was more than a year ago, I would tell them you think that the over a year old part should be covered by the back billing regulations - and leave them to justify why it isn't, if they can!

As it is Octopus, I would be very surprised if the OP hasn't had a bill for 12 months. I got a statement for 53p a couple of months ago after Octopus carried out what it described as routine BB checks: that is, Octopus had been able to recover a missing day of data from my smart meter.

Eh?  I was reading that they had been sent bills - but Octopus is now claiming the bills they sent were wrong somehow, and the question is how long ago do Octopus say their error started.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules