Octopus Energy Simply Ripping Customers Off

JonGP

In reply to zxzxzx.  I was with British Gas before and everything was fine until about 5 or 6 months before I left.  I would submit meter readings on the last day of each month.  Suddenly I started to get estimated bills that were sometimes 2 or 3 times higher than the actual readings.  I took pictures of the readings and sent to them but it made no difference.  My DD went through the roof.  

Trying to sort it out took more time than I was willing to commit to it.

In the end, as I estimated I'd overpaid by £4K and climbing and they just kept fobbing me off, I took them to the small claims court and they settled before the court date.

I switched to Octopus at that point.  I just think switching is pointless as they are two of the biggest and the rest are likely to be the same.  

It seems like I disagree with everyone on here, but I don't think it's at all unreasonable to just expect Octopus to do what they say and advertise.

Yes, I can swap and the grass is always greener on the other side, until you get to the other side and realise you may as well stay with the devil you know.

Octopus offer X,Y and Z and here is the cost, so that's all I want, X,Y and Z, nothing more and when it goes wrong,  I'd actually like them to sort it out.

FreeBear

BarelySentientAI said:  OFGEM have also stated that direct debits should be set such that no customer goes into debt at any point in the year, and the supplier needs a good reason to be doing it differently.

You don't need AI to do a simple multiplication.

OFGEM have also stated that the supplier needs to provide a clear and understandable calculation when asked for the level of DD. If you look at your bill, it will give an estimated annual consumption (in kWh) for both gas and electricity. Simply multiply these two numbers by the unit rate, add the standing charges for the year (along with VAT at 5%), and divide the whole lot by 12 - This should be close to what Octopus have set your monthly DD to. Not rocket science, and you don't need AI or spreadsheets.

Ildhund

MP1995 said:

If they have 7mln customers and make £700 per year off each of them and then refund them, the interest they are making is staggering at 4%, £196mln

To clear this up energy suppliers do not earn interest on any customer credits.

The latest actual figures are here: customer credit and customer debt and arrears. They're very different from your back-of-an-envelope sum. 

In the last quarter of 2023, when credit balances should be at their peak in anticipation of higher winter costs, they averaged £3.1Bn. The total owed by customers then was ... £3.1Bn. The total customer credit held by energy suppliers fell in 2024Q1 to £1.7Bn, while debt and arrears rose to £3.3Bn. I don't think the suppliers are making much money out of customer balances.

Watch out next month for another quarter's figures. 

JonGP

FreeBear said:

BarelySentientAI said:  OFGEM have also stated that direct debits should be set such that no customer goes into debt at any point in the year, and the supplier needs a good reason to be doing it differently.

You don't need AI to do a simple multiplication.

OFGEM have also stated that the supplier needs to provide a clear and understandable calculation when asked for the level of DD. If you look at your bill, it will give an estimated annual consumption (in kWh) for both gas and electricity. Simply multiply these two numbers by the unit rate, add the standing charges for the year (along with VAT at 5%), and divide the whole lot by 12 - This should be close to what Octopus have set your monthly DD to. Not rocket science, and you don't need AI or spreadsheets.

Absolutely agree.  AI simply allows one to upload documents quickly and get answers quickly.  The problem is, my actual bills are around £32 on average per month higher, than my online account, taking standing charge for both fuels, actual useage according to the app and VAT @ 5%.  So that's one issue.

The other is the most I've used in the last 12 months is £201.42, dropping down to just under £40.  The most my DD should be is £201.42, not £211.77.  

I've got a complaint in with them already so when they do finally reply, I'll ask to go on variable DD and pay with Amex as soon as they notify me of my charge.

My wife and I travel 2 or 3 times per year using BA airmiles, so thanks for suggesting this.

Qyburn

JonGP said: 

The problem is, my actual bills are around £32 on average per month higher, than my online account, taking standing charge for both fuels, actual useage according to the app and VAT @ 5%.  

What do you think is incorrect on the bills, the meter readings, or the unit rates and standing charges? At this stage don't compare the bill with some other idea of what if should be. Just check that the bill is correct in itself. If the bill's incorrect in any of those ways then that's unarguably an issue to address.

wrf12345

With Octopus you have the option of variable direct debit (via phone call for some reason), with British Gas, on their new system, you don't and it was a constant battle to avoid DD increases. There is also a prepayment meter option using existing Smart meter, which is now the cheapest option. Ofgem should not just have said no debts should be built up but also said where an account is in credit there should be no increase in DD's - Ofgem have tripled their workforce over the past few years and the boss apparently earns 300k a year (with amazing job prospects in the energy industry) so you would have expected some form of intelligence within that dismal organisation. 

MP1995

I suspect anyone that defends Ofgem and that they are for the consumers to be given short shrift. They have failed the consumer time and time again.

The buck stops at the top as they say.

BarelySentientAI

MP1995 said:

I suspect anyone that defends Ofgem and that they are for the consumers to be given short shrift. They have failed the consumer time and time again.

The buck stops at the top as they say.

I suspect that most people who decided that OFGEM are not for the consumers are focusing on a particular policy or decision that they do not agree with.

Most times that they are accused of having "failed" boil down to "someone made a profit and I don't like it" or "I wanted a different decision".

OFGEM should not be a customer advocacy group.in the manner many seem to suggest.

mmmmikey

We fairly regularly see posts here from users on business tariffs who pay far more than domestic users - the reason being that business tariffs are not subject to the Ofgem price cap. So I don't think anyone can argue that we wouldn't be paying more if it wasn't for Ofgem's intervention.

And of course, there are lots of customers who's supplier failed and benefitted from the Ofgem SOLR scheme which protected their credit balances.

And there are the prepayment meter customers who now pay the same standing charges as everyone else - another example of Ofgem protecting the customer.

Ofgem are not all bad.....

MattMattMattUK

mmmmikey said:

Ofgem are not all bad.....

Most, indeed the vast majority of the criticism of Ofgem that we see on here is from a very vocal group of people who think that someone else should pay for their energy supply and usage, they continually demand to be subsidised and claim that would be "fair".