Closing bill - charged for usage in Feb 2024

Pat38493

I have just received a closing bill from Octopus for a property that I moved out from.

As part of the bill, they have charged me about £75 for charges from February 2024.

I think this might be “correct” in that I seem to remember noticing that they had not charged me for a period when I changed tariffs or suchlike, but, isn’t there a rule that they can’t charge me if more than a year has elapsed or did i imagine that?

If I am correct, what regulation do I need to quote back to them to get this waived?

MWT

Pat38493 said:

I have just received a closing bill from Octopus for a property that I moved out from.

As part of the bill, they have charged me about £75 for charges from February 2024.

I think this might be “correct” in that I seem to remember noticing that they had not charged me for a period when I changed tariffs or suchlike, but, isn’t there a rule that they can’t charge me if more than a year has elapsed or did i imagine that?

If I am correct, what regulation do I need to quote back to them to get this waived?

You are referring to the back-billing rules, but that only applies if the amount they are charging was not covered by an existing balance on your account at that time.

Generally Octopus are pretty good at correctly applying that rule, but I would look carefully at the additional charge and make sure they have used the correct tariff, just in case. 

Pat38493

MWT said:

Pat38493 said:

I have just received a closing bill from Octopus for a property that I moved out from.

As part of the bill, they have charged me about £75 for charges from February 2024.

I think this might be “correct” in that I seem to remember noticing that they had not charged me for a period when I changed tariffs or suchlike, but, isn’t there a rule that they can’t charge me if more than a year has elapsed or did i imagine that?

If I am correct, what regulation do I need to quote back to them to get this waived?

You are referring to the back-billing rules, but that only applies if the amount they are charging was not covered by an existing balance on your account at that time.

Generally Octopus are pretty good at correctly applying that rule, but I would look carefully at the additional charge and make sure they have used the correct tariff, just in case. 

I am pretty sure it was not covered - I keep a spreadsheet of all the bills they issue and all the charges and readings, and there was never a discrepancy between the amount they charged and the readings they quoted (they just completely failed to bill a short period of time - I cannot remember if it was because the smart meter didn’t work temporarily or because I changed between 2 smart tariffs in the middle of a billing period but either way, it never appeared on a bill before).

Even if the smart meter had a fault, it was then working for many months after that so they had plenty of opportunity to detect the issue in the meantime.

Also I am on variable DD

QrizB

When did you move out of the property?

You refer to it as a closing bill, so I'm assuming you owe them money? How much do you owe? When did you last make a payment on this account?

Pat38493

QrizB said:

When did you move out of the property?

You refer to it as a closing bill, so I'm assuming you owe them money? How much do you owe? When did you last make a payment on this account?

Actually sorry I just realised - they have charged me for the missing energy in February 2024, but then on the bill there is “reversed electricity charge” for the same amounts, so actually they have correctly applied the rule - I just had not studied the bill closely enough yet.