Ofgem guaranteed standards, compensation withheld - RESOLVED

Chrysalis

Interesting you got billed at lower rates as well, Octopus are so all over the place in how customers are handled.  It feels like its a wheel of fortune to ask them to do something.

masonic

Chrysalis said:

Interesting you got billed at lower rates as well, Octopus are so all over the place in how customers are handled.  It feels like its a wheel of fortune to ask them to do something.

Yeah it was billed as Tracker. There's no excuse to do otherwise, unlike Agile where they need the HH data and they can revert to Flexible if they don't get it. A few days later and the lower rates would have been Flexible. Somehow I managed to jump ship just before the recent price spike.

Boohoo

masonic said:

masonic said:

After some fruitless back and forth with an Octopus AI chatbot, I had a look in my account and there is a new deduction of £2.17, backdated to 9th Jan. This is exactly correct for my final day's usage. I've not received the bill yet, but it looks promising. I only spotted it as something had eaten into my £40 compensation payment that I've been trying to get out.

Confirming my final bill has just dropped. Final reading was entered as "Customer reading". They confirm they will now pay out the remaining £37.83 of the compensation.

You and myself had some discussion about my incorrect last meter readings in the Tomato Energy thread.
I sent an email last week and got a reply today saying as a gesture of goodwill they have reimbursed me the £12 odd into my account.
Octopus said as the read was high for one day but outside the tolerance for a dispute they couldn't change it. They also said it was Tomato Energy that gave them the reading.

masonic

Boohoo said:

masonic said:

masonic said:

After some fruitless back and forth with an Octopus AI chatbot, I had a look in my account and there is a new deduction of £2.17, backdated to 9th Jan. This is exactly correct for my final day's usage. I've not received the bill yet, but it looks promising. I only spotted it as something had eaten into my £40 compensation payment that I've been trying to get out.

Confirming my final bill has just dropped. Final reading was entered as "Customer reading". They confirm they will now pay out the remaining £37.83 of the compensation.

You and myself had some discussion about my incorrect last meter readings in the Tomato Energy thread.
I sent an email last week and got a reply today saying as a gesture of goodwill they have reimbursed me the £12 odd into my account.
Octopus said as the read was high for one day but outside the tolerance for a dispute they couldn't change it. They also said it was Tomato Energy that gave them the reading.

I don't think they had anything from Tomato Energy in my case. They forced a bill to avoid backing down when they insisted I couldn't have my compensation until the bill was issued.

ryanm8655

masonic said:

Earlier this week I received a £40 credit to my Octopus Energy account for them failing to provide a final bill within six weeks of a switch. I am somewhat sympathetic to them as there is a fairly good chance some or all of the blame lies with my new supplier, Tomato Energy. However, them's the rules.

With no sign of a final bill materialising, I requested to access this compensation, but received the following reply:

"Unfortunately, the credit will be automatically applied to your account, and we cannot process a withdrawal directly to your bank account until the final bill is created."

This does not seem correct. The information on Ofgem's website suggests there is a 10 working day window in which they must compensate you if there is a breach. While it is not stated explicitly, I do not see how a customer can be considered compensated if the money is not made available to them. Crediting it to an energy account from which the customer is not allowed to withdraw it surely cannot meet the obligation.

The relevant legislation is a statutory instrument The Electricity and Gas (Standards of Performance) (Suppliers) Regulations 2015 (link, as amended 2024 to uplift compensation to £40). Regulation 8(7) states:

"(7) Where a customer requests that a payment actually or potentially due to be made to the customer under these Regulations is made by a particular payment method, the supplier must not unreasonably withhold agreement to make the payment to the customer by that method."

I've not been provided with any reasonable grounds for refusing to credit this payment to my bank account. I still have a valid variable direct debit in place, and this can be used to collect payment for my final bill if and when it is produced. My final bill will be under £3, since Octopus took a smart reading from my meter the day before my switch and have billed me up to that date already.

I am inclined to take the position that if this £40 compensation is not made available to me within 10 working days of the breach, I should claim a further £40 under regulation 8(3)(a).

Do you know if this rule applies when you close an account or only when switching? I.e. if I close my account do they have to bill me within 6 weeks? I haven't switched to another supplier as I moved somewhere with bills included.

masonic

ryanm8655 said:

masonic said:

Earlier this week I received a £40 credit to my Octopus Energy account for them failing to provide a final bill within six weeks of a switch. I am somewhat sympathetic to them as there is a fairly good chance some or all of the blame lies with my new supplier, Tomato Energy. However, them's the rules.

With no sign of a final bill materialising, I requested to access this compensation, but received the following reply:

"Unfortunately, the credit will be automatically applied to your account, and we cannot process a withdrawal directly to your bank account until the final bill is created."

This does not seem correct. The information on Ofgem's website suggests there is a 10 working day window in which they must compensate you if there is a breach. While it is not stated explicitly, I do not see how a customer can be considered compensated if the money is not made available to them. Crediting it to an energy account from which the customer is not allowed to withdraw it surely cannot meet the obligation.

The relevant legislation is a statutory instrument The Electricity and Gas (Standards of Performance) (Suppliers) Regulations 2015 (link, as amended 2024 to uplift compensation to £40). Regulation 8(7) states:

"(7) Where a customer requests that a payment actually or potentially due to be made to the customer under these Regulations is made by a particular payment method, the supplier must not unreasonably withhold agreement to make the payment to the customer by that method."

I've not been provided with any reasonable grounds for refusing to credit this payment to my bank account. I still have a valid variable direct debit in place, and this can be used to collect payment for my final bill if and when it is produced. My final bill will be under £3, since Octopus took a smart reading from my meter the day before my switch and have billed me up to that date already.

I am inclined to take the position that if this £40 compensation is not made available to me within 10 working days of the breach, I should claim a further £40 under regulation 8(3)(a).

Do you know if this rule applies when you close an account or only when switching? I.e. if I close my account do they have to bill me within 6 weeks? I haven't switched to another supplier as I moved somewhere with bills included.

Yes, there are provisions for both. The 6 weeks starts from the later of the date when you no longer have responsibility for the supply and the supplier is notified of this.