Octopus Energy Simply Ripping Customers Off

Green_hopeful

I have found that Eon estimates the direct debit on an average usage for the type of property not the actual usage. My son has a one bedroom flat with two radiators and a towel rail. Because Eon has estimated his usage they try to put his direct debit up to about £160 a month a couple of times a year. His usage is much lower and he just emails and asks for the direct debit to remain the same and they agree. It’s mildly annoying to have to keep emailing but not so bad. 

EssexHebridean

As has been repeatedly stated by Martin Lewis - your DD has to be appropriate to your use. If you feel it is too high, the first thing is to do the sums - and if it IS too high, call your provider, tell them your workings out, and ask them to reduce it. As has also already been said on the thread - with Octopus it is even easier as it is simple to change the DD either up or down on their app - mine is currently set around £25 a month below where they feel it "should" be as I have credit sitting. Every few (6 or so) months I get an email from them saying they have reviewed it and will be increasing it - I just pop back on and adjust it back again. Yes - this probably does depend on your having credit, but in the situation being discussed in the thread, this is already confirmed as being the case, isn't it. 

They will not be changing your DD without telling you either - so that suggests that perhaps your email system is sending messages to junk, or for whatever reason you simply aren't seeing them. Probably worth checking your junk folder, and ensuring that anything that comes from Octopus is marked as safe. 

Honestly - nobody is trying to rip anyone off in the slightest! 

Archerychick

JonGP said:

Sounds like an aggressive title, but it's true.

I've been with Octopus Energy for about 5 years now and every year without fail, I have to request a refund of overpayment to the tune of around £700 each time.

Over the last 5 years I've complained about this and been given all sorts of spurious reasons why they overcharged me from computer issues, to changes in my payments adequacy review, to a spike in my energy useage right at the time my adequacy review is done etc.

This year I decided to look into this in more detail following an increase in my DD, but my useage has gone down considerably since both my children moved into their own homes in the last 18 months.

We have a Smart meter with an IHD, (in home display), installed October 2023.

At work we use something called ChatGPT v4.0.  This is a great tool for analysing things.  To save some time, I downloaded all of my bills from November 2023 to June 2024 and got ChatGPT to give me my useage by month in Kwh and £ for both gas and electricity. 

I then took the same dates and manually got the figures from my online account, (which by the way were different figures to the app).

GPT told me there was a discrepancy of around £32 per month on average between my bill and my online account.  

I first thought this was my standing charge, but when I checked I had included the standing charge in my manual figures.  I checked the bill date and filter in my online account to make sure I was comparing like for like and I was.

I then asked GPT to calculate my annual useage bases on the 8 months data I gave it.  Octopus Energy want £211.77 per month.  GPT estimated my useage to be £135.15 per month.

To confirm the figures from GPT, I did a manual check and got the same figure of £135.15.

So this formed part of my complaint to Octopus Energy. 

The second part was my IHD, which has never worked.  The installer told me it needs a few days to pick up the network.   I didn't understand this as my mobile can pick up a network,  so can my tablet and laptop.

Having had 3 IHD's and moved them to various places in the home on the advice of Octopus Energy and we live in Birmingham, they have never worked.  They now want to send a 4th.

The third part of my complaint was in April when I requested the last refund, I agreed with Jack the advisor I would pay £25 per month by DD and clear the bill in full by 1st of each month.  

This all seemed fine, but the next bill they increased my DD and never told me.

On 26th July I made a formal complaint and as of today, I have had various excuses for just receiving holding emails, people off ill, in meetings, on training courses, on annual leave.

My concern is Octopus Energy are overcharging people deliberately on their bills, which I think is illegal and inflating DDs deliberately.   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.  This also is illegal I think. 

I want to add, the only reason I had a Smart meter was because I kept getting emails from Octopus Energy, texts.  Everytime I logged into my account, I was forced to have to encounter the Smart Meter screen, I couldn't just log in, do what I wanted to and Exit, so in the end, to make my life easier, I agreed to have one.  Worst decision I made.

I have 3 weeks left of the 8 week complaint period and will then take this matter to the Ombudsman. 

That's my story.

Does anyone have any experience of raising complaints with the Ombudsman?

I’ve been with octopus for years and when I paid by fixed dd, I had no problems changing this in the summer months and winter months so I didn’t accrue credit. I am now on a variable direct debit with them, so they only take what the bill total is each month, it sounds like that could be a better option for you?

victor2

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%.  So that's one issue.
...

Are you sure you're not comparing apples with oranges?

You should be billed based on the actual readings from your meters for the days covered by the bill. What are you looking at in the online account to determine the bills are higher? Are you saying your DD's (not your "actual bills") are on average £32 higher than the actual usage cost?

As many have said, switching to variable DD will sort that out and use up any credit you have. I did that on an Octopus account I look after for a relative. All done by email within a day or so. No phone call necessary. She gets an email every month about 10 days after the statement is produced, saying how much they'll be taking (the balance on the statement) and when.

Qyburn

The OP's alleging that Octopus' billing is actually wrong, which is a different issue to setting the monthly DD.  However he's not clarified exactly why he thinks it's wrong.

MattMattMattUK

Qyburn said:

The OP's alleging that Octopus' billing is actually wrong, which is a different issue to setting the monthly DD.  However he's not clarified exactly why he thinks it's wrong.

Indeed, he claims he used Chat GPT to anlysie his usage, which it would likely not be competent to do having used it for various tasks, but also the opening post especially has an AI written feel to parts of it

MP1995

They did clarify a self check as well as AI

Qyburn

Struggling to make this tactful. OP please don't take offence, but using an AI bot to check the bill seems like you're struggling to understand it yourself.  Maybe you could post up one of the bills you think incorrect and we can have a look. Blank out MPAN and meter serial number as well as name and address.

pearl123

Octopus energy are the best Energy Company I've come across. Just adjust your dd down. At one point, I put my down to £10 a month. 

PhilCD

I've had some experience with another Ombudsman, and I felt the importance of keeping good records and their presentation: a timeline of key events and accurate data.