Is it worth me going to the ombudsman about Octopus Energy?

krabople

Hi, just after a bit of advice if poss. I've been with Octopus Energy for years, but the other day I received a big bill (around £500). Turns out they hadn't been taking electricity readings since last June, so they'd been estimating, but hadn't thought to bother mentioning this to me so I could submit manual readings instead. What they did do was reduce my monthly payments by £25 in October, despite apparently not even knowing how much electricity I'd actually been using. This has meant that I've suddenly gone from being several hundreds in credit to £53 in debit. I know that doesn't sound much, but it means they're now going to need to increase my payments by £50 per month, which is really going to strain my finances at the minute.

I contacted them about this and they were completely dismissive, trivialising the whole thing and saying £53 wasn't much. I requested a goodwill contribution to cover the £53 debit, and they said no. I then asked if they could provide confirmation that they were now receiving readings, why they hadn't been before, and whether I'd need to contact the Energy Ombudsman if I want to take my complaint further. They didn't bother replying to that one at all.

My main contentions here are that they didn't bother to mention to me that they weren't receiving any electricity readings at any point, and also that they then actively reduced my payments in October, saying I was overpaying (which clearly wasn't the case, they must have just been basing that on the estimates I didn't even know they were making). I know I should probably have read my bills in more detail, but I haven't thought I had any reason to check whether they're estimated ever since I had a smart meter fitted years ago. If I'd known I was draining my balance so much with my electricity, I'd have taken steps to reduce my consumption over the winter, and also wouldn't have let them reduce my monthly payments.

Just wondering whether any of this is worth contacting the Energy Ombudsman about, or whether this isn't really something they'd deal with, as it's energy I've used and therefore should have to pay for. I definitely get that some of this is my fault as well, for not having paid closer attention to my bills to check whether they were estimated, I'm just a bit annoyed that Octopus is now completely ignoring me, as well as the increased financial burden of the extra £50 per month.

Sorry for the rambling rant! I'm not the best at being succinct. Any advice would be appreciated

elsien

Have you worked out on the energy that you are using what your annual bill will actually be and whether the extra £50 will cover it from here on in? 

If it’s more than enough, you can have a discussion with them about a lower monthly payment, but if it only covers the energy that you’re using really you do need to pay it because you’re going to end up in debt otherwise, 

Ayr_Rage

If you have been receiving bills, either via the post or online, why didn't you notice all the estimated readings ?

As this has only been ongoing for a relatively short while the best you can hope for is to negotiate a smaller monthly payment.

You can make a complaint to Octopus and hope for some goodwill.

As for the ombudsman, my opinion is you have no hope of anything via that route.

masonic

Do you mean that you have a smart meter and they weren't getting any data from it? If so that does seem like a bit of an oversight, as they regularly remind non-smart meter customers to provide readings, but it is reasonable to assume that with a smart meter you don't need to do that.

I think your offer was actually a good one and they could have countered and met you in the middle somewhere. Clearly you owe the money, but waiving a portion of the net debit balance seems reasonable for allowing the situation to get to this point without flagging it at any stage.

BellaBlondykeTheThird

To be clear you were never several hundred pounds in credit and everyone should take note to check if estimates are used for bills and make sure meter readings are sent regularly or at least check from bill to meter.

Basically you have used the energy and must pay for it.

It is one of those life lessons we all get from time to time.

Ectophile

The back billing rule from Ofgem allows them to bill you for up to one year after you used the energy.  So I don't think the ombudsman would be very interested.

Do the meter readings on the bills have an "e" after them?  Bills normally have a code letter after them to indicate what sort of meter reading they are.

elsien

masonic said:

Do you mean that you have a smart meter and they weren't getting any data from it? If so that does seem like a bit of an oversight, as they regularly remind non-smart meter customers to provide readings, but it is reasonable to assume that with a smart meter you don't need to do that.

I think your offer was actually a good one and they could have countered and met you in the middle somewhere. Clearly you owe the money, but waiving a portion of the net debit balance seems reasonable for allowing the situation to get to this point without flagging it at any stage.

That happened to my mother with Eon and similarly to the OP, she hadn’t been checking her bills and hadn’t  noticed she was only paying  electric and not gas. 

Yes, you would expect the company to query it, but it appears that for whatever reason that just doesn’t happen. Hence the importance of actually reading bills. Especially when, with energy prices as they are, it would be quite unusual for your direct debit to halve if your lifestyle remains the same. 

wakeupalarm

Yes, it's worth going to the energy ombudsman in this case highlighting Octopus Energy's customer service failures if not the money.

You are likely to get at least £25 goodwill from the ombudsman plus Octopus Energy will be hit with a £460 fee from the energy ombudsman to deal with the matter.

So win win all round.

krabople

elsien said:

Have you worked out on the energy that you are using what your annual bill will actually be and whether the extra £50 will cover it from here on in? 

If it’s more than enough, you can have a discussion with them about a lower monthly payment, but if it only covers the energy that you’re using really you do need to pay it because you’re going to end up in debt otherwise, 

Yeah, I think to bring my account balance back into good health I am going to need to pay the extra £50, at least for a while. I could pay less, but then I risk facing the same issue later in the year instead.

krabople

njkmr said:

i posted a similar issue on here about Octopus. 
They are very hard work to deal with and Ombudsman was no use in my case. I got a letter of apology and £75 credit after they stole £1500 off me .!
But good luck to you,dont give up on it.

Oh wow, sorry to hear that! Did you at least get the £1500 back they stole as well?

krabople

Ectophile said:

The back billing rule from Ofgem allows them to bill you for up to one year after you used the energy.  So I don't think the ombudsman would be very interested.

Do the meter readings on the bills have an "e" after them?  Bills normally have a code letter after them to indicate what sort of meter reading they are.

Yeah, the bills do have the e after them. I'll definitely be checking this in future, I just naively assumed a company like Octopus would let me know if there was any issue getting readings from my smart meter. Or, more to the point, I guess I didn't really think about it at all, as I assumed the days of estimated readings were over for people with smart meters.