Octopus Back Billing Query help

Northernerrner

Hi, I will try to keep it brief, i have dual fuel smart meters with Octopus, we overpaid in summer and had a credit bal of over £1,000 (stupid I realise this now) however thought we can reduce DD over winter and use up the credit, so last week Feb 2025 we were £647CR was then charged £125 for Gas, Elec is estimated just over £300 for Jan period but no bill as yet, minus the gas we are now £522CR then DD paid in of £200 on 03/02 taking us to £722CR. this is where it gets interesting. Octopus then added a charge of £1,458 for Electricity, i just thought must be error, contact them and this has been ongoing since last week now. turns out the charge is for electricity for the period 14/10/2021 - 29/11/2021 (roughly 6 weeks) they sent me a statement via e mail with a bill saying it looks as though there was a period from 14/10 - 29/11 2021 where we didn't charge you for the energy you used we've now added these charges to your bill, so your account is completely up to date. they have added the £1458, written off £736, taken all my credit of roughly £722 and i now have a balance of zero, not to mention Jan electric bill isn't in yet so will be minus just over £300 when that arrives as no DD due to be paid until 1st March now, going round in circles with them, cited back billing rules and i am covered, have never been informed of this charge in the past, have never been billed for it before, have not stopped them reading meters, they have never chased me for it, it was a complete shock and the first time i have been made aware of the charge, one of the readings on the bill is an estimate too. it has been escalated to a proper complaint now. i just kept getting told that the billing team have confirmed this charge is correct and they can't write off any more of it as it would leave me in credit! the fact they've stolen all my credit doesn't seem to matter, and if i'm going to be facing financial difficulty, like the £300+ elec bill about to drop for Jan (no idea why this hasn't arrived yet, i guess had they billed me for Jan, I would of had less credit on my account for them to steal?) then they can help me work out a payment plan with their credit team....please someone tell me this is ridiculous and they can not do this? everything i have read on Ofgem and citizens advise states they can't charge me for energy used over 12 month's ago? but they have and they are sticking to it. lesson learnt not to have credit on account, if no credit was on there they would have waived the full £1458 and this was confirmed to me on the phone, just don't know how we are going to pay the extra fuel we need over the next few months without having that credit on there to help us :-( I have already cancelled my DD to them and will be willing to get in to debt by £722 just to make myself feel better and in theory that's my credit they have taken, then i will pay for the energy i use each month by bank transfer, unless hopefully this is sorted, i will also go to the ombudsman but just not sure if I will win or not? Thanks

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

It's hard work plodding through that solid wodge of text.

You're likely to get a far better response if you split it up into manageable paragraphs and use upper case letters at the start of sentences.

Gerry1

Cancelling your DD was unwise.

Paying on receipt of bill will be significantly more expensive.

You may also find that your credit rating will be adversely affected. 

You need to have exhausted Octopus's complaints system before you can go to the ombudsman.

Gerry1

Not a good idea to accuse a reputable company of stealing.

If they've taken too much money it will be because of an error or incorrect estimate, not theft.

Northernerrner

Thanks I was mainly after some assistance with back billing rules, from what I have read on Ofgem and citizens advice the bill from 2021 should not be added to my account, regulations ban them from charging for energy used over 12 months ago.  I can't seem to find anything else, yet here I am with a £1,400+ bill on my account from 3 years ago that I knew nothing about.

t0rt0ise

Unfortunately they are correct. They can take any money you have already paid on account to pay for past bills. They couldn't get you to pay more which is why they've written off the rest. But why are your electricity bills so high if you also have gas?

MeteredOut

t0rt0ise said:

Unfortunately they are correct. They can take any money you have already paid on account to pay for past bills. They couldn't get you to pay more which is why they've written off the rest. But why are your electricity bills so high if you also have gas?

This is the one bit of back billing rules that many people do not realise, and is one reason why it is not a good idea to allow a large credit to build up on your energy account.

Northernerrner

t0rt0ise said:

Unfortunately they are correct. They can take any money you have already paid on account to pay for past bills. They couldn't get you to pay more which is why they've written off the rest. But why are your electricity bills so high if you also have gas?

Thanks for the reply, Oh that's sad news then, especially as they have included the monthly DD we paid at beginning of Feb in the credit and not left us any to actually pay Feb Electric bill, we tend to run at higher amounts over winter, mainly heating, tumble dryer and a Jacuzzi hot tub. I work hard for these and just thought it's worth paying more over summer to get in credit then we can reduce the DD over winter/xmas and use up the credit.

QrizB

A hot tub is a huge electricity drain, so that will probably explain the size of your bills.

On the plus side, if they'd billed you for £1400 back in 2021 you'd have had to pay for it all; as it is, half of it has been written off.

Have you checked the meter readings on your bills for the last four years and made sure it all makes sense now? They've billed you for every kWh you've used for the period, and haven't double billed for anything or missed any other gaps?

Northernerrner

Hi, just an update, I had to send a pic of my current meter, they had a billing specialist look over it as the charge for 2021 was high and they re billed my full account there are so many charges added and taken off but all jan charges have been added and im now 1070 in credit! I have no clue but it's a win for me. I'm having them set me up on a variable dd and they are refunding the full credit balance to me, I'd rather it be in my bank than with them, I think I'll go enjoy my morning coffee in the hot tub now. Thanks guys. 

MWT

Northernerrner said:

I have no clue but it's a win for me. I'm having them set me up on a variable dd and they are refunding the full credit balance to me, I'd rather it be in my bank than with them, I think I'll go enjoy my morning coffee in the hot tub now. Thanks guys. 

Personally I'd take the time to work out the correct answer as there really is only one right balance and it may not actually be the one you see now, so that could change and they can reclaim any refunds made.

I went through a long process of getting my father-in-laws account correct after mistakes were made moving from 2 rate 'Go' to single rate Tracker. At times he was up or down as much as £2,000, but the final correct answer was around £400.

I always knew what the balance should be as it is simple to work out from the opening and closing meter readings along with the payments made. I didn't stop until Octopus got to the same number as me.