Now, this is a story all about how

MultiFuelBurner

My energy provider got flipped-turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a supplier called Octopus......

Ah that was fun but there is a decent ish story and why you should challenge your energy suppliers when things don't go right.

Two months ago I was with Eon, treated ok but not chosen for their energy shifting events like so many people and I just though there must be better out there. As I was thinking this they raise by direct debit by £50 a month despite a 20% drop in the previous year's usage and thanks to people here us getting on top of our ASHP settings. We stated a conversation, then a complaint and let that rumble on whilst we joined Octopus through our friends referral code.

Good news off to Octopus and £50 in credit and they changed us to Variable monthly DD instantly so no big amount to pay in the first week of joining them (gold star)

We then asked to transfer to Agile and that was actioned but got delayed somewhere along the line. Upshot was we missed out on about £20 worth of savings and a simple email they credited our account with £75 (wow so showing £125 in credit) we referred mum and pow another £50 and someone else on another board another £50 (£225 in credit)

All going well with Octopus and we soon realised we didn't fancy Agile and tracker would suit us best (pow next day on tracker)

Meanwhile back at EON HW their customer service was going down and down and finally after 38 emails they issued a deadlock letter for their error as they had not even considered the last 24 months usage they had taken the average for the house since day 1 it seems and charged us that average. Despite us asking them to recalculate on our usage since moving in. They issued £50 in compensation not to go to the ombudsman which was fun by us.

Moral of the story is don't delay switch if you are unhappy, raise complaints and we are £275 up and paying an average 17.5p kWh for electricity since joining octopus and even after a couple of bills £175 in credit.

la531983

This is what I will never understand. People come on here to moan the toss about providers, if you aren't on a cheap fix with them vote with your feet and move elsewhere. 

Reed_Richards

"Fresh Prince"!  And here I was hoping it was going to be the "Beverly Hillbillies".  

matt_drummer

It's all great.

What happens when Octopus Energy is everybody's supplier?

rp1974

matt_drummer said:

It's all great.

What happens when Octopus Energy is everybody's supplier?

Everybody lives happily ever after.
Octopus coffers soar due to not paying out repeated £50 bungs to every Tom,Richard,Harry that are encouraged to draw in others using all eight tentacles.
Not a pop at Octopus really,or any of those that are their customers and or posters here,the whole inducement/referrals for monetary gain just seems wrong to me,have always wondered if Octopus would be quite as popular or as frequently recommended if it didn't do this.

debitcardmayhem

rp1974 said:

matt_drummer said:

It's all great.

What happens when Octopus Energy is everybody's supplier?

Everybody lives happily ever after.
Octopus coffers soar due to not paying out repeated £50 bungs to every Tom,Richard,Harry that are encouraged to draw in others using all eight tentacles.
Not a pop at Octopus really,or any of those that are their customers and or posters here,the whole inducement/referrals for monetary gain just seems wrong to me,have always wondered if Octopus would be quite as popular or as frequently recommended if it didn't do this.

I didn't get a referral, but compared to Ovo they a a dream.

MultiFuelBurner

rp1974 said:

matt_drummer said:

It's all great.

What happens when Octopus Energy is everybody's supplier?

Everybody lives happily ever after.
Octopus coffers soar due to not paying out repeated £50 bungs to every Tom,Richard,Harry that are encouraged to draw in others using all eight tentacles.
Not a pop at Octopus really,or any of those that are their customers and or posters here,the whole inducement/referrals for monetary gain just seems wrong to me,have always wondered if Octopus would be quite as popular or as frequently recommended if it didn't do this.

Refer a friend is back with many suppliers it doesn't have to be the Octopi

Spoonie_Turtle

rp1974 said:

matt_drummer said:

It's all great.

What happens when Octopus Energy is everybody's supplier?

Everybody lives happily ever after.
Octopus coffers soar due to not paying out repeated £50 bungs to every Tom,Richard,Harry that are encouraged to draw in others using all eight tentacles.
Not a pop at Octopus really,or any of those that are their customers and or posters here,the whole inducement/referrals for monetary gain just seems wrong to me,have always wondered if Octopus would be quite as popular or as frequently recommended if it didn't do this.

Well if you do ever switch to them, you'll find out for yourself

I joined via the Cheap Energy Club and may have got a credit through that, but I ignored it in our calculations as advised; at the time they were the cheapest established company (and thank goodness we made that decision!).  But even during the uncertain times when people were advised not to switch and we didn't know if referral codes would be honoured, I still recommended them at large.  The referral bonus is just that, to me, a bonus - and I'll happily recommend them to anyone even though people usually end up using someone else's code, or if they ever stop the scheme.

Indeed I've only had one referral bonus from someone else joining.  It's a 'nice to have' but the customer service* and the general ethic of the company is what makes me recommend them, and while I can't speak for others I do get the impression that I'm not the only one who feels that way.
*Full transparency, it's not as good at it used to be, but still way ahead of the other suppliers.

The recommendations on here also should not be influenced by it because the forum rules state we're not allowed to share referral codes, so none of us have that incentive behind recommending them.  It's up to people joining to decide whether the referral bonus makes any difference to their decision, but whole this is a money saving site, the MSE advice has always been not to let the offer of free cash cloud your thinking and entice you into making an unwise decision.

rp1974

MultiFuelBurner said:

Refer a friend is back with many suppliers it doesn't have to be the Octopi

Yes,I know,it's just something that I quite strongly disagree with in principle regardless of supplier,tbh.

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Well if you do ever switch to them, you'll find out for yourself

Might find out sooner rather than later as I've recently bought an EV and might move supplier,from Eon to Octopus if the numbers crunch appropriately.