Octopus Energy

ziddyangus

I never had a electric meter reading for 8 months and today Octopus energy gave me the bill for the electricity for the last 8 months. I had been paying direct debit every month and dont really take much notice of the bills since they are all done through and app and paid automatically via direct debit.  Anyway the credit in my account covered most of the money owed, However there are some things I would like to clarify about the bill before I pay it all off. First of all, the way they have done the price guarantee looks to be a scam,  I have not had a bill for 8 months so I am not sure if it is correct they way they done it, but it does look like a scam in the sense that it is not what the msm and government seem to have said it would be if opus have done it correctly. So for 1 part of bill it goes from 1st April to 1 st July  2023,

They said I used 1143.1 kWh @ 46.97p/kWh costing £536.94

then they said

Energy Price Guarentee: 1143.1 kwH @ 16.57p kWh costing £189.40

So the determine my electrcity bill for this period is

 £536.94 - £189.40 = £347.54 + £48 standing charge and £19.78 tax

I mean seriously does the price guarantee not guarantee that you pay 16.57pkWh for your electricity not subtract that from your bill. If that is correct then it wasn't much of a price guarantee was it. They used the same method to calculate the rest of the bills.  

Also I was on Octopus go which had cheap rate electricity between 9.30 pm and 12.30 pm, where I used to charge my electric car. I phoned Octopus energy up and  told them this since they clearly charged me normal rate for the last 8 months. They told me that my contract ran out in march 2023 and I never renewed so I went on flexible. I said I never got any email telling me my contract ran out, they told me I did and even claimed I opened it. I have checked through my emails for the whole year and I cannot find this email from them, I have many Octopus emails telling me my gas bills but nothing about renewing contracts. I would not have dismissed their email as I have an electric car and have been on Octopus go for over 4 years so would have went straight back on it if I knew. Anyway I am stuck with an outstanding balance that I have been told I need to pay, but I feel I have been scammed by them on the way the calculated the bills and the way I was allowed to go out of contract and be put on a higher tarrif without knowing, since I got no bills for 8 months and no one from Octopus actually told me. I have sent an email asking them to prove that they sent me this email. Any advice on how to proceed?

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

ziddyangus said:

I mean seriously does the price guarantee not guarantee that you pay 16.57pkWh for your electricity not subtract that from your bill.

No, the guarantee was that you'd pay 30.4p/kWh. So, they've charged you the tariff rate of 46.97p and have then taken 16.57p off.

ziddyangus said:

Also I was on Octopus go which had cheap rate electricity between 9.30 pm and 12.30 pm, where I used to charge my electric car. I phoned Octopus energy up and  told them this since they clearly charged me normal rate for the last 8 months. They told me that my contract ran out in march 2023 and I never renewed so I went on flexible.

That sounds right. Go was offered as a 12-month fix, and when it expired they'd put you on Flexible unless you chose otherwise.

(Go has since changed, and is a rolling variable tariff so it shouldn't expire in the same way now.)

ziddyangus said:

I have checked through my emails for the whole year and I cannot find this email from them

Have you checked in your Octopus account? All your emails are there under the "View my email history" button (except individual CS interactions, an odd omission).

ziddyangus said:

Any advice on how to proceed?

1. Pay your bill.

2. Pay more attention to your energy account in future.

Ocopus usually bill every month. If you'd noticed that you hadn't been billed back in April or May, you'd also have noticed that your fixed Go tariff had expired and could have renewed, rather than having 8 months of Flexible.

ziddyangus

Fair enough, still seems a scam saying its a price guarantee when it clearly was not such thing. And yes I can now see using their website, which I never use because I used the app and my email address, they sent an email in December 2022 telling me the contract was up in March. I never got this email in my email address but it is there on the account. I just wonder how they can be so useless that they can not get a signal from their smart meter for 8 months and they don't tell you. I mean if you did not have the money that is a lot to pay out in one go. No letters, no indication at all just a big bill asking you to pay up. Anyway, I'm glad I did not sign up to Octopus go as I just checked British Gas electric car charging tarrif and its cheaper than Octopus, so that's exactly where I am going. 

QrizB

ziddyangus said:

I'm glad I did not sign up to Octopus go as I just checked British Gas electric car charging tarrif and its cheaper than Octopus, so that's exactly where I am going. 

Good luck with the switch!

ziddyangus

QrizB said:

ziddyangus said:

I'm glad I did not sign up to Octopus go as I just checked British Gas electric car charging tarrif and its cheaper than Octopus, so that's exactly where I am going. 

Good luck with the switch!

Thanks for clearing up my questions.

MultiFuelBurner

ziddyangus said:

Fair enough, still seems a scam saying its a price guarantee when it clearly was not such thing. And yes I can now see using their website, which I never use because I used the app and my email address, they sent an email in December 2022 telling me the contract was up in March. I never got this email in my email address but it is there on the account. I just wonder how they can be so useless that they can not get a signal from their smart meter for 8 months and they don't tell you. I mean if you did not have the money that is a lot to pay out in one go. No letters, no indication at all just a big bill asking you to pay up. Anyway, I'm glad I did not sign up to Octopus go as I just checked British Gas electric car charging tarrif and its cheaper than Octopus, so that's exactly where I am going. 

Don't forget to tap up an existing British Gas Friend or Family member if they are doing a referral scheme.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/refer-a-friend.html

debitcardmayhem

ziddyangus said:

Fair enough, still seems a scam saying its a price guarantee when it clearly was not such thing. And yes I can now see using their website, which I never use because I used the app and my email address, they sent an email in December 2022 telling me the contract was up in March. I never got this email in my email address but it is there on the account. 

Have you checked your junk/deleted folders? It was a maximum price and you paid the maximum but clearly the way it was presented wasn’t clear to some, but no it was not a scam. Good luck with BG, I look forward to seeing you on here more often when you switch.

Spoonie_Turtle

debitcardmayhem said:

ziddyangus said:

Fair enough, still seems a scam saying its a price guarantee when it clearly was not such thing. And yes I can now see using their website, which I never use because I used the app and my email address, they sent an email in December 2022 telling me the contract was up in March. I never got this email in my email address but it is there on the account. 

Have you checked your junk/deleted folders? It was a maximum price and you paid the maximum but clearly the way it was presented wasn’t clear to some, but no it was not a scam. 

If theirs is anything like mine (I use GMail) spam is deleted after 30 days, as is everything in the bin.

debitcardmayhem

Spoonie_Turtle said:

debitcardmayhem said:

ziddyangus said:

Fair enough, still seems a scam saying its a price guarantee when it clearly was not such thing. And yes I can now see using their website, which I never use because I used the app and my email address, they sent an email in December 2022 telling me the contract was up in March. I never got this email in my email address but it is there on the account. 

Have you checked your junk/deleted folders? It was a maximum price and you paid the maximum but clearly the way it was presented wasn’t clear to some, but no it was not a scam. 

If theirs is anything like mine (I use GMail) spam is deleted after 30 days, as is everything in the bin.

How do you know if your spam is truly spam, surely you don’t trust Google implicitly?

Spoonie_Turtle

debitcardmayhem said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

debitcardmayhem said:

ziddyangus said:

Fair enough, still seems a scam saying its a price guarantee when it clearly was not such thing. And yes I can now see using their website, which I never use because I used the app and my email address, they sent an email in December 2022 telling me the contract was up in March. I never got this email in my email address but it is there on the account. 

Have you checked your junk/deleted folders? It was a maximum price and you paid the maximum but clearly the way it was presented wasn’t clear to some, but no it was not a scam. 

If theirs is anything like mine (I use GMail) spam is deleted after 30 days, as is everything in the bin.

How do you know if your spam is truly spam, surely you don’t trust Google implicitly?

I still occasionally check it.  But I do fairly trust it as over the years I've not had any important non-spam caught in the filters, only sometimes promotional mass e-mails from companies that I have given my details and consent for sending me marketing/offers.

MikeJXE

There are the odd posts on here complaining about Octopus but they are quite rare 

I can't believe (since energy prices went through the roof) why people are not keeping a close eye on their bills

I have been with Octopus since February and never had a single problem

Read my meters every week and give them to Octopus every month

I have my bill within 48 hours which I check against my spreadsheet which balances to the penny once I have corrected the calorific value

Also I don't have a smart meter but before I moved here I did and I still checked

How hard can it be ? 

I recommend Octopus so good luck with BG I'm sure you will be asking more questions