Octopus Estimating readings for Smart Meter

Spoonie_Turtle

OP when you next have contact with the CAB, please tell them about your heating and the fact you're on Economy 7 and ask them to calculate if you should switch to single-rate. 

I would go so far as to say you definitely need to before winter if nothing about your setup is about to change, but whether your summer use is better on single rate than Economy 7 I don't have it in me to work out.

Scot_39

Its quite difficult given the near 7m of estimated bills and a meter swap - to say anything.

The near 50:50 split of the Jun data - does lend itself to E7 in itself but its an estimate - but the real data for Oct, Nov, Dec - a lot less convincing.

The OP may have got price change summaries with annual use splits along with 3m Ofgem changes - that might make it clearer. And the old bills might have running 12 month splits on them that might give a clue from last year - if with them that long.

At least with Octopus - the OP should have options.

TheMaverick000000

Update: The five days are up, and Octopus I received no contact from Octopus. I called the CAB today to inform them of this, and all they did was to send Octopus another email.

I have since decided that I will complain about Octopus to the people at OFGEM.

As I said previously, these estimated bills are a complete outrage and can have little bearing on historic actual usage.

[Deleted User]

I have since decided that I will complain about Octopus to the people at OFGEM.

Ofgem does not investigate individual consumer complaints. You have to follow the supplier’s complaints procedure in full. After 8 weeks or following the receipt of a Deadlock Letter you can escalate your complaint to Energy Ombudsman Services: a private arbitration company appointed by Ofgem to resolve complaints.

TheMaverick000000

I have just come off the Ombudsman website, and unfortunately they will not accept my complaint as I have had to have raised the issue with Octopus 8 weeks ago!

Which means that OFGEM are siding with my energy provider and I must pay the outrageous amount of £199 per month, all based on a fake billing system. I regard estimated bills as not payable in law.

[Deleted User]

TheMaverick000000 said:

I have just come off the Ombudsman website, and unfortunately they will not accept my complaint as I have had to have raised the issue with Octopus 8 weeks ago!

Which means that OFGEM are siding with my energy provider and I must pay the outrageous amount of £199 per month, all based on a fake billing system. I regard estimated bills as not payable in law.

Correct. The supplier has up to 8 weeks to resolve your issue. It will usually do this by saying what it intends to do in writing. You can counter the proposed resolution if you disagree. If the supplier refuses to budge you can ask for a Deadlock Letter. You can then refer your complaint to The Energy Ombudsman. If no Deadlock Letter has been issued then after 8 weeks you can escalate your complaint.

The Energy Ombudsman is not an investigation service. It reviews your submission and the supplier’s case file. It is important that you take your time getting all your ‘ducks in a row’. The Ombudsman’s Decision is binding on the supplier but it is not enforceable by Statute. 

Forgive me for saying this, but this issue can be resolved in the short term by getting a friend to read your meters. Suppliers are required under Standard Licence Conditions to use any readings that you provide for billing purposes.

QrizB

[Deleted User] said:

Forgive me for saying this, but this issue can be resolved in the short term by getting a friend to read your meters.

It could be easier than that.

OP you said on the first page of this thread that you had an in-home device (IHD), the little display that tells you how much power you are using.

Most models of IHD are capable of displaying the meter reading.

Can you find this menu?

Or can you tell us the model of IHD and we can look for instructions?

TheMaverick000000

[Deleted User] said:

TheMaverick000000 said:

I have just come off the Ombudsman website, and unfortunately they will not accept my complaint as I have had to have raised the issue with Octopus 8 weeks ago!

Which means that OFGEM are siding with my energy provider and I must pay the outrageous amount of £199 per month, all based on a fake billing system. I regard estimated bills as not payable in law.

Correct. The supplier has up to 8 weeks to resolve your issue. It will usually do this by saying what it intends to do in writing. You can counter the proposed resolution if you disagree. If the supplier refuses to budge you can ask for a Deadlock Letter. You can then refer your complaint to The Energy Ombudsman. If no Deadlock Letter has been issued then after 8 weeks you can escalate your complaint.

The Energy Ombudsman is not an investigation service. It reviews your submission and the supplier’s case file. It is important that you take your time getting all your ‘ducks in a row’. The Ombudsman’s Decision is binding on the supplier but it is not enforceable by Statute. 

Forgive me for saying this, but this issue can be resolved in the short term by getting a friend to read your meters. Suppliers are required under Standard Licence Conditions to use any readings that you provide for billing purposes.

The present meter is not the problem. It is a smart meter and I believe it is sending updates to the supplier.

I am referring to estimated readings billed to me during the time of the previous faulty meter. So sending a reading would not be of much use, I'm afraid. But thank you anyway.

TheMaverick000000

[Deleted User] said:

TheMaverick000000 said:

I have just come off the Ombudsman website, and unfortunately they will not accept my complaint as I have had to have raised the issue with Octopus 8 weeks ago!

Which means that OFGEM are siding with my energy provider and I must pay the outrageous amount of £199 per month, all based on a fake billing system. I regard estimated bills as not payable in law.

Correct. The supplier has up to 8 weeks to resolve your issue. It will usually do this by saying what it intends to do in writing. You can counter the proposed resolution if you disagree. If the supplier refuses to budge you can ask for a Deadlock Letter. You can then refer your complaint to The Energy Ombudsman. If no Deadlock Letter has been issued then after 8 weeks you can escalate your complaint.

The Energy Ombudsman is not an investigation service. It reviews your submission and the supplier’s case file. It is important that you take your time getting all your ‘ducks in a row’. The Ombudsman’s Decision is binding on the supplier but it is not enforceable by Statute. 

Forgive me for saying this, but this issue can be resolved in the short term by getting a friend to read your meters. Suppliers are required under Standard Licence Conditions to use any readings that you provide for billing purposes.

Thanks. CAB never told me this.

QrizB

TheMaverick000000 said:

Dolor said:

TheMaverick000000 said:

I have just come off the Ombudsman website, and unfortunately they will not accept my complaint as I have had to have raised the issue with Octopus 8 weeks ago!

Which means that OFGEM are siding with my energy provider and I must pay the outrageous amount of £199 per month, all based on a fake billing system. I regard estimated bills as not payable in law.

Correct. The supplier has up to 8 weeks to resolve your issue. It will usually do this by saying what it intends to do in writing. You can counter the proposed resolution if you disagree. If the supplier refuses to budge you can ask for a Deadlock Letter. You can then refer your complaint to The Energy Ombudsman. If no Deadlock Letter has been issued then after 8 weeks you can escalate your complaint.

The Energy Ombudsman is not an investigation service. It reviews your submission and the supplier’s case file. It is important that you take your time getting all your ‘ducks in a row’. The Ombudsman’s Decision is binding on the supplier but it is not enforceable by Statute.

Thanks. CAB never told me this.

Have you visited this link?

https://octopus.energy/unhappy/

It explains how the Octopus complains system works.

If you are happy writing an email, I would lay out all the information we gave earlier in this thread regarding your estimated bills and how they look wrong in light of your previous metered consumption, and send it to the "issue resolution" email address given at the link.

Or you can send a letter to the address given.

My experience of Octopus's complaints system (which might not be everyone's experience) is that it might take a little while to get rolling, but once it does you will get regular contact from someone at Octopus who understands their systems and who can resolve your problem.