New bill on a closed account?

DanB72

Hello

I’ve just been hit with an energy bill for a property that I left 17 months ago and wondered if anyone had suffered the same and had any advice on how to deal with it.

I was in between moves between 2021 and 2022 so rented a flat. I left this property on 13th August 2022 and submitted my final readings to Octopus on 18th August 2022. They issued my final bill and on 5th September 2022 they took their £181 to settle the account and the account was then closed.

Fast forward to 10 days ago, and Octopus sent me a revised final bill, demanding an extra £178 and saying that this would be collected by direct debit on 25th January. I was happy with Octopus so have them as my supplier in my new home, hence have a direct debit set up. The revised bill contained 7 pages of reversed transactions and made absolutely no sense to me. I contacted Octopus and they said that they would check. They came back and said that the bill was correct however they did not give me any more information or tell me why these reversed transactions existed. I contacted their support again and asked for them to give me a reason why I am being asked to pay more money on a closed account, however all they have said is that the bill is correct. This is all for an account that was closed 17 months ago. I have raised an official complaint with Octopus and have a complaint number however they have not responded with anything other than to say that the bill is correct. All I have asked for is for them to clarify why they are asking me for another £178 however their response is to ask me which transactions appear to be incorrect!! How about all of them?? Are they even allowed to charge against an account that has been closed for 17 months? It feels like I am being ripped off, indeed I had to double check at the start to make sure I wasn’t being scammed.

I have no intention of paying this, however if I cancel the DD then this will impact the account for my current home. I have told Octopus that I intend to escalate to Ofgem and the ombudsman however that can only be done after a certain period of time. I really don’t have the time to spend my days chasing them up only for them to come back with the same story. What should I do? My sense at the moment is to cancel the DD and to then deal with the fallout. It really doesn’t sit right with me that they can do this. I’m a loyal customer (6 years now) and I’ve not missed a payment or had any issues before. This really gives me an uneasy feeling that I am being ripped off.

Thanks for reading!

MWT

If you still have your meter readings from when you moved in and moved out it should be easy to see where the problem has occurred.

Just check the tariff you were on and calculate the correct total and see if that matches what you already paid or if they are right and you were previously undercharged.

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum

Don't cancel the DD: it will just make your energy at the new property more expensive.

Ofgem does not deal with individual complaints.

You can go to the ombudsman upon receipt of a deadlock letter or after eight weeks if they don't send one.

Sailbad

If they take a dd payment that you have told them not to take you can have it refunded using the direct debit guarantee. 

QrizB

DanB72 said:

I was in between moves between 2021 and 2022 so rented a flat. I left this property on 13th August 2022 and submitted my final readings to Octopus on 18th August 2022. They issued my final bill and on 5th September 2022 they took their £181 to settle the account and the account was then closed.

What date did your tenancy contract end? did you give your landlord the required notice?

Do you still have those final readings? Were those readings used on the September 2022 "final bill"? Did it also include the standing charges up to the date you ceased to be responsible for the flat?

Fast forward to 10 days ago, and Octopus sent me a revised final bill, demanding an extra £178 and saying that this would be collected by direct debit on 25th January.

What exactly has changed?

Does the new "final bill" use the meter readings you supplied in August 2022? Does it also include the standing charges up to the date you ceased to be responsible for the flat?

All I have asked for is for them to clarify why they are asking me for another £178 however their response is to ask me which transactions appear to be incorrect!! How about all of them??

You've got the revised bill, you've got your meter readings from August 2022. It should be trivially easy for you to check the new bill. What specifically is wrong with it?

Are they even allowed to charge against an account that has been closed for 17 months?

Debts owed can be pursued for six years through the courts (five years in Scotland).

What should I do?

Check the new bill, see what has changed and see if it's right or wrong.
Until you check the bill (or share the information here, to let us check it for you), it's impossible to say if you owe this money or not.