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Octopus - Gas usage differences between apps and invoice

Archerychick
Archerychick Posts: 626 Forumite
Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Name Dropper
I have been going back and forth with Octopus on this query and they keep getting excited that they have found the answer and I've disproved it each time. Does anyone here have any idea why this might be the case?

Across ALOT of dates, I am seeing a difference in the KWH usage of gas in the Octopus app vs what is shown on my bill for a specific day. For info I can see in the OctoAid app that the usage aligns to the Octopus app. I also have a mini device, and I've checked the daily reads from here match what is also shown on the weekly and monthly views in the app. So I think the usage data in the app is correct.

Octopus asked for examples and every bill has a lot of differences, some are higher and some are lower e.g. 

25th April - App shows 27.77 but my invoice shows 22.61
26th April - App shows 3.19 but my invoice shows 11.33
9th October 2023 - App shows 3.49 but my invoice shows 2.91
10th October 2023 - App shows 1.46 but my invoice shows 2.98

Are they incorrectly billing me? Has anyone else had this, did you find out why?

They had thought that the app was showing M3 values (even though it clearly says it is kwh) and that explains it, but they hadn't bothered to check a calculation to see that this couldn't possibly be the case, and also that some are higher and some are lower (facepalm)!

Thank you
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Comments

  • How about other dates? Are they accurate for most days or are all days wrong?
  • Archerychick
    Archerychick Posts: 626 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Name Dropper
    Mostly wrong, those were the examples I pulled out for Octopus but really I struggled to see days where any were correct. 
  • Alnat1
    Alnat1 Posts: 4,036 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Does the total amount used tally over the month? Could it be anything to do with one being based on GMT and the other BST?
    Barnsley, South Yorkshire
    Solar PV 5.25kWp SW facing (14 x 375) installed Mar 22 
    Lux 3.6kw hybrid inverter and 9.6kw Pylontech batteries 
    Daikin 8kW ASHP installed Jan 25
    Octopus Cosy/Fixed Outgoing 
  • Archerychick
    Archerychick Posts: 626 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Name Dropper
    I haven’t checked that actually, some of the days are quite a long way out. Thank you for the suggestion - I will check!
  • Archerychick
    Archerychick Posts: 626 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Name Dropper
    edited 7 June 2024 at 9:45PM
    The total for the month doesn't tally, app 64.70kwh used but billed 72kwh. Interestingly there is KWH on my billed usage when I wasn't even in the country and the house was empty.  Octoaid shows 65.52 kwh for the same period.

    It's quite hard to check recent months because my billing has been all over the place (hopefully I will now get a monthly bill again instead of random bills for random amounts of days!)
  • Just a thought - I wonder if the way the meter reading in m3 is converted to kWh is something to do with this, particularly in relation to the timing, i.e
    when is the calorific value applied?
  • Archerychick
    Archerychick Posts: 626 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Name Dropper
    The latest response from Octopus said that it was because the app was showing in m3. Which obviously it’s not when in some cases it is more than what is invoiced and sometimes it’s less. 

    It’s very strange, and octopus don’t even seem to be able to explain it. The latest offer I had was a decent amount of compensation but I want to understand why really

    Fortunately I have all of my usage logged in a spreadsheet so I’ll work out how much it’s out by over the last year and see what it’s out by overall 
  • glennevis
    glennevis Posts: 790 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Are the dates always in pairs. i e. 2 consecutive days every time?
  • focusonskill
    focusonskill Posts: 23 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 10 June 2024 at 1:54PM
    Are you using Octopus Tracker tariff by any chance?
    I am on gas tracker and my bill isn't based on my actual daily usage recorded in the app.
    Instead my bill is based on total usage over the billing period with an estimated daily usage assigned to each day (wich isn't my actual daily usage).
  • Archerychick
    Archerychick Posts: 626 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Name Dropper
    glennevis said:
    Are the dates always in pairs. i e. 2 consecutive days every time?
    No, they’re not. Sorry that was just how I gave them examples 
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