Cascade of problems changing from British Gas to Octopus.

markin

MickyLuv said:

Gerry1 said:

A bigger problem is that using panel heaters with daytime electricity is just about the most expensive heating you can have.

I took the three of them out immediately and upgraded to a single, mobile oil filled radiator, also from Lidl. This combined with a very fluffy tartan onesie.

If you don't have gas, can't use oil, own the property and aren't planning to move soon you should be considering something cheaper to run such as High Heat Retention night storage heaters (e.g. Dimplex Quantum).

I did quite exitedly consider that earlier, until I priced the heating units and fitting. Global warming, though disasterously expensive ultimately, is the choice already made for me. Not saying that global warming is real, of course.

Thanks again for all the useful information and entertainment.

Many people get on fine with just using/replacing the main 1 or 2 units, not every room needs the long heating sessions or heating at all, So if you are using heat and are home most the day then even just 1 large Dimplex could be cost effective on E7 and have a payback of 2-3 years.

What is your actual yearly usage?

MickyLuv

That's a good idea about installing a reduced number of storage heaters.

Really though living in a southmost part of southern England I rarely need heating in the daytime and considering the current price of energy my cooking style gets ever further away from the MasterChef ideal.

So I usually use heating for a short time in the winter evenings, then off to bed early with an audio book, in a slightly modern version of the Charlie Drake style.

Sceptical123

When I switched to Octopus my meter reads - entered correctly as day/night reads but transposed by Octopus to night/day reads. This appears to be a strategy by Octopus to obtain photos of meter reads when customers switch to them to ensure readings are accurate. I work in the energy industry so I knew I had to contact them immediately to let them know the issue. Like others, I was asked to provide day/night reads at 10.00am and 2.00pm. With an immediate response the problem was resolved without problem. For those who don't catch the problem early, it may cause significant worry, and it is inexcusable for Octopus to have set up a web page that records day/night reads then transposes them to night/day apparently in order to obtain a meter photo. I imagine every Octopus customer that enters their initial day/night reads on Octopus website experiences exactly the same problem, and it is implausable that Octopus don't know about this.

Sceptical123

By the way, if someone has a day/night meter and wants to be billed as a single rate tariff they may not think transposing day/night meter reads matters, but it can have severe cost implications. For example on switching from another supplier to octopus, if a six digit day/night meter has a day read of 85000 and the night meter reads 05000, at 30pence/kwh (single rate) according to the former supplier's closing reads, Octopus transposing these reads to opening day read 05000, opening night read 85000 may result in an additional cost of 20000 extra day units and 80000 night units billed by the former supplier - although it is true that ongoing Octopus single rate charges will be the same regardless. It is the unexpected bill from the former supplier that may prove time consuming and worrying to challenge - in the above case, the additional bill may be for around £30k.

Sceptical123

When you switch supplier, the former supplier is not the one who decides on your closing read. The UK energy system is organised to ensure the NEW supplier is the one who decides on your opening reads. The new supplier then passes these reads to the former supplier who may issue a closing 're-bill' if they have not billed you in full. Therefore if you get an apparently incorrect closing invoice or unexpected closing bill from your FORMER supplier, you must contact your NEW supplier and ensure their opening reads are correct. If the new supplier adjusts their opening reads they then pass these reads back to the former supplier so they can rebill their account. A bit illogical to contact the NEW supplier if you get an apparently inaccurate closing bill from your former supplier, but it is the new supplier that dictates which meter reads go into the system on the date of any supplier switch, NOT the former supplier

victor2

Sceptical123 said:

When you switch supplier, the former supplier is not the one who decides on your closing read. The UK energy system is organised to ensure the NEW supplier is the one who decides on your opening reads. The new supplier then passes these reads to the former supplier who may issue a closing 're-bill' if they have not billed you in full. Therefore if you get an apparently incorrect closing invoice or unexpected closing bill from your FORMER supplier, you must contact your NEW supplier and ensure their opening reads are correct. If the new supplier adjusts their opening reads they then pass these reads back to the former supplier so they can rebill their account. A bit illogical to contact the NEW supplier if you get an apparently inaccurate closing bill from your former supplier, but it is the new supplier that dictates which meter reads go into the system on the date of any supplier switch, NOT the former supplier

No it isn't. 

There is a supposedly indepedent body who validate the meter readings (based on past history I believe) and often make minor adjustments to them. They tell both the losing and gaining supplier what readings they should use for their closing and opening billings respectively. If they are significantly different to the customer's readings, they can be challenged.