Electricity bills sent at random dates for random amounts

Morys

When the previous electricity supplier went belly up, I was transferred to another supplier, one of the Big Six, starting December 2021.

As I don't pay by direct debit, they put me on a Quarterly Cash tariff, by default, without me asking anything.

That being a big company serving about 10% of the UK market, you would expect they can afford decent IT specialists, capable of designing a billing system fit for purpose. Like one that would generate a "quarterly bill" every three months, and take notice of the correct readings that I submit regularly.

But that's not what's happening.

As confirmed on their own website "Quarterly Cash" billing means 4 bills a year, each for a period of 3 months. Sounds simple? 
Instead, I get bombarded with bills issued at random dates (for periods between 6 days and 4 and half months!).

I keep complaining, but talking to a wall would be more productive.
In the 20 months I'm with them, they managed to issue 1(ONE) correct bill - correct name, correct billing period, correct meter readings. And even that one, a week later some wizard at that company decided to cancel that bill and replace it with a bill for a wrong billing period based of fantasy readings.

First question; does anyone else have similar problems?

Next question: apart from following the complaint procedure - and the matter being eventually submitted to a regulator ***financed by these same companies***, what else could be done to force this company to stick to the contract? Any suggestions?

MikeJXE

Morys said:

When the previous electricity supplier went belly up, I was transferred to another supplier, one of the Big Six, starting December 2021.

As I don't pay by direct debit, they put me on a Quarterly Cash tariff, by default, without me asking anything.

That being a big company serving about 10% of the UK market, you would expect they can afford decent IT specialists, capable of designing a billing system fit for purpose. Like one that would generate a "quarterly bill" every three months, and take notice of the correct readings that I submit regularly.

But that's not what's happening.

As confirmed on their own website "Quarterly Cash" billing means 4 bills a year, each for a period of 3 months. Sounds simple? 
Instead, I get bombarded with bills issued at random dates (for periods between 6 days and 4 and half months!).

I keep complaining, but talking to a wall would be more productive.
In the 20 months I'm with them, they managed to issue 1(ONE) correct bill - correct name, correct billing period, correct meter readings. And even that one, a week later some wizard at that company decided to cancel that bill and replace it with a bill for a wrong billing period based of fantasy readings.

First question; does anyone else have similar problems?

Next question: apart from following the complaint procedure - and the matter being eventually submitted to a regulator ***financed by these same companies***, what else could be done to force this company to stick to the contract? Any suggestions?

First answer. NO not me

Next question.  Nothing, walk and take your custom elsewhere

I am surprised why anyone would put up with this for 20 months when it is so easy to switch to a different supplier. 

When I was moved from SSE to OVO I released within 3 months they wouldn't listen to me regarding my historical usage and the amount my DD should be so I switched.

I don't know why you choose to pay on receipt of bill as the rates are approximately 8% higher than direct debit.

It's good you take regular readings and submit them. I do the same every month and my supplier produces a bills sometimes within hours using my readings, which is paid from the direct debit I pay. I could pay variable direct debit and to pay the whole bill monthly. 

My supplier Octopus was recommended to me by the people on here, don't take my word for it, if you search the forum you will find they are highly recommended. Having been with them since February when I chose my direct debit amount referring to my spreadsheet that tracks my usage, I have never had to contact them either by email or telephone 

What's happening to you is happening to many like you across the energy sector, energy companies don't seem to have the staff or a decent billing system  to sort it out. Apparently Octopus have the best billing system in the industry. 

Choose to switch and the switch will be handled for you and should complete in 7 days is my advice. 

Bigwheels1111

Just move to say Octopus, Get a direct debit, I know you dont have one.

You could get a friend to set one up and pay them.

I pay my friends who I care for as they dont have a bank account.

First you set up Octopus online access.

Go into the account and change the Direct Debit to £5 a month.

Then give a reading when they ask, Its monthly.

When you give the reading it will tell you how much you owe, Check for unbilled gas amount.

Then on the same day I make a payment with my chase debit card for 1% cashback.

I only stay £5 in credit all year round and get the best tariff price with them.

Been doing this for 11 months now.

Morys

Thanks for your replies.

Yes it's easy to switch to another supplier, but I'm not keen on jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Regarding direct debits. It's not that I could not set up one, it's that I don't want to, not in a year of Sundays. I do have direct debits for predictable bills that come in FIXED amounts at FIXED dates, like for mobile phone contracts.

Over the years, I probably went through 10 or 15 various energy suppliers. With some it was plain sailing, but too many of them have shown a staggering level of incompetence, each one in their own original ways, that they usually hide beyond unbelievable levels of arrogance. After that kind of "customer experience", there is no way that I will give free access to my bank account to that kind of companies. Paying few % more to be 100% sure I won't discover one day out of the blue that my account was emptied by some badly designed algorithm is well worth paying.

Especially if dealing with a company where you can't talk to anyone, notorious for taking just what they fancy from DD and then dragging their feet for months on before even acknowledging emails, let alone giving the money back. I'm talking of the energy supplier I inherited when I moved to my present address, the one that went bankrupt in December 2021, owing in average hundreds of pounds to their customers. But not to me.

I was thinking of switching to Octopus. When I enquired, on the plus side they didn't insist on DD but even from them I couldn't get a straight answer regarding WHEN they send bills. And I know of at least one person that got seriously annoyed when Octopus send them a monthly  bill 10 days too early.

I'll take another look at Octopus. Start by checking first if they are as quick to take calls from existing customers as they are quick to talk to would-be customers.

dcs34

But you can set the DDs to be a predictable, fixed amount that is taken on a fixed day each month. So you know exactly how much will leave your account each year. Then every quarter or so you could review and withdraw or top up the balance to avoid having a massive credit surplus or deficit on the account. This means you can leave it day-to-day but have the ability to intervene and control the spending, billing etc.

Octopus has a very simple and clear balance history section on your online account which shows the timeline of your balance being topped up by the direct debits, and then withdrawn as you supply meter readings which generates bills. I've always checked the calculations and everything matches to the penny.

If you don't send them readings for several months then they might use estimated readings to send a bill, but will update/correct it as soon as you do give them readings.

And yes, the only time I've had to contact them I did by email and they responded and resolved within 24 hours.

Would genuinely recommend them and they're still offering a referral scheme.

There's a reason why they've been able to take on hundreds of new customers from the defaulting suppliers over the last year or so without too many problems as far as I have seen in the media?

Morys

I'm NOT interested in listening to proselytism in favor of direct debits.

It's not few percentages less to pay on my fairly low bills that will make me change my mind. Especially after reading of energy companies helping themselves to some grossly inflated "estimated usage" plunked out of thin air and then making it a nightmare to get your money back.

I keep it very simple - I pay EXACTLY for what I use, for the billing periods AS CONTRACTED. I have enough brain to know that  i will spend more in winter and don't need any company doing the thinking for me.

You have inadvertently touched the crux of the problem: "as you supply meter readings which generates bills" - which is a fundamentally WRONG method. What generates a bill is the end of a billing period, Period.

You have to pay for what you used during what is the billing period according to the contract.

If your billing period is say one month - from the 16th to the 15th next month - that's what you have to pay. If you phone them on the 23rd to give them the reading on the 15th - the billing system should generate a bill from the 16th  the 15th next month, not a bill for a period ending on the 23rd.Or even worse decides to generate bills according the phases of the Moon or the tides of the Thames, completely ignoring the information supplied!

That's the most elementary basics of contract law. 

Designing a billing system that is not capable of that is a shoddy work by hopelessly incompetent amateurs. On the website of this company when you try input a meter reading it automatically presumes that it's the reading at the second when you're inputting it. 

Which is total nonsense and contrary to the contract.

To put it clearly: I have no interest in suppliers who're pressurising clients into paying by direct debit, and even less in those pushing so called "smart meters" using the kind of tactics similar to those used by companies collection debts passed the statutes of limitation.

eskbanker

Morys said:

I'm NOT interested in listening to proselytism in favor of direct debits..

It's perhaps not particularly surprising that those participating on threads on the banking board will focus on payment methods, but if you're keen to steer clear of that line of discussion, for reasons that you consider rational, then it would probably have made sense to post on the energy board instead....

boingy

Morys said:

I'm NOT interested in listening to proselytism in favor of direct debits.

You're on a money saving forum. It's hardly surprising that folks are recommending direct debit - it's a very easy way to significantly reduce the bill.
And you don't want to accept it, but the easiest solution to those fantasy meter readings is a smart meter. They are not the devil's work and you'll probably be forced to have one eventually.

But in the meantime, definitely change your supplier. It's easy and you might find a happier experience. We've been with Octopus for a good few years now and they seem to be at the sensible end of the scale.

dcs34

Morys said:

If your billing period is say one month - from the 16th to the 15th next month - that's what you have to pay. If you phone them on the 23rd to give them the reading on the 15th - the billing system should generate a bill from the 16th  the 15th next month, not a bill for a period ending on the 23rd.Or even worse decides to generate bills according the phases of the Moon or the tides of the Thames, completely ignoring the information supplied!

So you go on the website on every 15th and give them the reading you took on the 15th, and you'll get a bill for the 16th-15th.

If you go on the website on every 23rd and give them the reading you took on the 15th, you'll get a bill for the 16th-15th.

The bills are based on the dates you took the meter readings, not the dates you gave it to them, nor the phases of the Moon or the tides of the Thames. But please continue to wallow in your own hyperbola rather than the experiences of actual customers - you seem very keen to carry on giving the energy companies more money than you need to, so no one will stop you!

I'm not quite sure why you then went into a tirade about breaches of contract law when 1) you don't have a contract with them so its a hypothetical, and 2) that's not how the billing system work in any case.

Bigwheels1111

12 months now with a £5 dd to Octopus energy.
Gave my readings on the 25th via online portal.
I was 75.99 in debit, made a payment of £81.99 and remained £5 in credit only.
Do Direct debits jump out and bit you in the night. If so don’t get one.

Zanderman

Morys said:

If your billing period is say one month - from the 16th to the 15th next month - that's what you have to pay. If you phone them on the 23rd to give them the reading on the 15th - the billing system should generate a bill from the 16th  the 15th next month, not a bill for a period ending on the 23rd.Or even worse decides to generate bills according the phases of the Moon or the tides of the Thames, completely ignoring the information supplied!

Can you not tell them, specifically, which date the reading was taken on? And/or just phone them on the day you take the reading?

I take readings every month for a house that doesn't have smart meters, the household is with Octopus and when I go online and enter the readings the Octopus website asks what date the reading was taken on. Very easy, very simple.  If your supplier can't do that and acts as you describe then, as others have said, you should switch.  

I'm also with Octopus at my own house but there we, very sensibly in my opinion, have smart meters.  Which saves a lot of hassle. 

And, just as a by the way,  both premises pay by DD which stays the same for months, and if there's too much we contact Octopus and get some back. If there's too little over a few months Octopus write and suggest an increase.  We're in control, not them.  Very easy and very simple.