Octopus Energy - Back billing Help

richr874

Hi Newbie here,

I would appreciate any help as baring going to the ombudsman which is my next move I'm not sure where else to get advice.

I have a few issues with Octopus
-They haven't put me on an a tariff i applied for
-The shocking service i have received especially from a complaint point of view, their complaints procedure and replies i have received have been nothing but terrible.
- The fact i believe i have been back billed and they are refusing to accept this.

Mainly after advice on the back billing regarding if I've got a case, assuming I have I will go to the ombudsman and go through the other two issues with them at the same time.


I initially got transferred over to Octopus as part of the Avro collapse back in October 2021.

They had a meter reading off me in November 2021 which has been confirmed.

I purchased an EV vehicle in August 2022 & in September applied for Octopus Go, an Engineer fitted a smart meter as part of the application and also took meter readings.

I then proceeded to receive bills each month then on but these were purely based on what i had used from installation of the smart meter onwards. I also received a monthly email stating "Your direct debit for £ will take on 17th on the month", at the bottom of this email it always stats the balance on your account.

No issues until 15th August 2023 which when i received the direct debit email and my balance had gone up circa £4.5k in one month, I spoke to Octopus multiple times, and skipping forward due to no reason being giving i decided to raise a formal complaint on 22/11/2023.

Since then baring the nonsense emails i have got from them about running creep tests on my Gas appliances (Even though its an issue about my electric) i eventually got told a bill had now been issued to support the £4.5k, this was on the 11/01/2024. Upon viewing this bill through my online account (Note the bill is also dated 11/01/2024) it lists electricity charges from 26th September 2021 - to 26th October 2022.

I don't see how during this period i used so much electricity but that's another story, one i haven't even bothered to entertain due to the fact i believe it falls under the rules for back billing.

The latest reply from Octopus was a few days ago simply stating "back billing can not be applied to this bill" and if i wasn't happy i have the right to go to the ombudsman. - An email that made me question if i am thinking along the right lines or not due to how blasé they are being. I have asked for confirmation though of why it does not meet the criteria for back billing but i'm not expecting much of a reply..

Anyway that brings us up to present day regarding the back billing.

Thanks in advance for any help given.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

How much do you pay Octopus in a year? The back billing rules mean they can't normally give you a new demand for energy used more than a year ago (there are some caveats about intentional evasion but you've not mentioned this) BUT they can allocate money that you've already paid them towards it.

As for the bill itself, have you managed to check it against your own records?

You also state that they haven't put you on the correct tariff. What makes you think this?

Reed_Richards

richr874 said:

....I initially got transferred over to Octopus as part of the Avro collapse back in October 2021.

They had a meter reading off me in November 2021 which has been confirmed.

I purchased an EV vehicle in August 2022 & in September applied for Octopus Go, an Engineer fitted a smart meter as part of the application and also took meter readings.

I then proceeded to receive bills each month then on but these were purely based on what i had used from installation of the smart meter onwards. .....

Back-billing rules should apply if Octopus billed you for your usage up to September 2022 at that time but they are revising that bill now.  But if you knew (or should have known by reading your bill) that Octopus had not billed you for the electricity usage recorded on your old meter but failed to query this with them, then this might be viewed as intentional evasion.  If you contacted Octopus about this at the time and they fobbed you off then you have a much stronger case that the back-billing rules should apply.  

Hopefully you have kept your own meter reading from November 2021 to September 2022, including a final reading on the day your old meter was removed.  Ideally you would have taken photographs.  Armed with those readings you should be able to verify if Octopus are billing you on the correct usage.   

Kim_13

I wonder if they have applied an estimate and are basing it on current usage (including an EV) for a period when there was no EV.

Reed_Richards

QrizB said:

...The back billing rules mean they can't normally give you a new demand for energy used more than a year ago ...

A new demand or a demand?  If you know that you have not been billed for some period of usage so have reason to expect a demand, can that demand still be made after more than a year has elapsed?  The intention of the back billing rules is to prevent a customer being surprised by an unexpected demand but what if it's a delayed demand that the customer has reason to expect?

richr874

Thanks all, will try and answer most questions in this. I pay Octopus £195 per month and have done since virtually the start of joining them.

I dont have the meter reading i supplied back in November 2021.

I do have the meter reading when they installed my new meter, i took a pic and the engineer also filled out a completion checklist including writing the readings down.

Already provided readings when asked and never denied access or anything like that.

As i was already recieves bills for gas/elec(estimated) my paymrnts appear to have been allocated against these, this is an additional bill on top.

No idea Octopus hadnt billed me correctly, roughly paid between £100-£150 per month over past 10 yeasrs to 2020, then was paying £195 per month throughout 2021/2022, got a monthly bill stating my charges/balance each month, engineer said meter readings would be uploaded to the system. Therefore had no obvious reason to think i hadnt been billed incorrectly, so came as a massive suprise!

(Regarding the tariff not that i want to go to into depth on this as dont want to get it mixed up with the backbilling issue, i applied for Octopus Go so that i had a cheaper nightime rate, the smart meter was installed because of this, ive got confirmation ive applied for this, it has never been applied and all vehicle charges during the night have therefore been charged at 26p rather than 7p. - rough figures. Ive tried to get this sorted monthly since November 22 also.)

QrizB

richr874 said:

I dont have the meter reading i supplied back in November 2021.

It will be on your bill from the time, which will be available on your Octopus account.

With that, and the closing reading from your old meter, you can check the bill you've recently received.

Reed_Richards

Your bills, if you read them, should have stated if they were based on actual or estimated readings.  If the readings were estimates then an eventual bill based on actual readings should never come as a surprise!

richr874

Thanks for your replies,

I'll be totally honest i don't ever tend to review my bills regarding if it states estimated or actual readings, i tend to just look at the ongoing statement balance to make sure my payments are keeping up with the bills they are producing, I'm aware they are estimated for a period of time and then once a reading is taken/submitted it updates the figures, as readings were submitted i trusted this meant my bills/statement balance was up to date. Perhaps i put too much trust in these so called big companies.

Therefore nevertheless it did come as a huge surprise, the fact is the question still remains regardless of if i checked my bills or not, is it possible i would have a case for back billing when receiving a bill in January 24 for energy used relating to September 2021- October 2022 and when they received meter readings for said period in October 2022 also. (I.e. they have only just used the meter readings submitted October 2022 to produce a bill last month)

QrizB

Even if you meet the qualifying factors for back billing (and it's not clear that you do), I think your supplier are allowed to allocate any money you've paid into your account in the past 12 months against the historic bill.

If your historic energy use was £4.5k-worth (and we don't know unless you check the bill), but you've been paying £200 a month into your account, they allocate £2400 of recent payments against the historic use and leave you that much behind.

Which is why it's so important that you check the historic bill and see if you agree with their calculations.

Reed_Richards

Ofgem say:

You can’t be charged for gas or electricity used more than 12 months ago if you have not been correctly billed for it, or informed about it via a statement of account, before.

You have not been correctly billed for electricity used more than 12 months ago but Octopus might argue that as your bills indicated that they were based on estimated readings then the statement of account contained in your bills effectively informed you that you were not being billed correctly.  If the readings were estimated then you knew (or should have known) that they were not correct and could actually be higher than the estimates.  Indeed you could have read your meter to find out if the estimates were correct.
 
Do you have a case for back-billing?  Yes.  Will you win the case?  Possibly, possibly not. 

I think your best argument is that Octopus got a final meter reading from your old meter when it was removed so had the necessary information to give you an accurate bill then.  To delay doing so until 15th August 2023 was negligent so you should not be charged any greater amount for electricity used before 15th August 2022.  Octopus would have to estimate the 15th August 2022 reading, or perhaps you could do your own estimate and suggest that.