Huge yearly bill after switching to the Octopus Energy

perur

Hi,
I've been a customer of Octopus back in 2020 and switched to different supplier due to better deal. All went well and correct bill was raised and switching process was completed without any problems.
In 2024 at the beginning of November I switched back to Octopus due to some cashback extras and better deal, however I had a problem with signing up online (I'm guessing due to the fact I was customer before) and I couldn't setup my account, add meter readings or add Direct Debit, etc. I called them 2-3 times to resolve this matter and eventually all was "sorted" apparently.
I'm usually keeping on top of things and monitoring water, gas and energy bills, however due to Xmas and some family circumstances I totally forgot about it base on the fact the customer representative said all is "sorted".
In October (29th to be exact) I've got the bill from Octopus with some estimation usage and some 3-6 months break downs due to changes in Standard Variable tariffs. And payment date was set in 2 weeks time, which was pretty scary.
More or less base on estimated billing they did over the last year, I can see there is no much difference between estimated reading and readings on meters, so no issues over here.
Since that I called their customer service and setup higher DD payment as I've got some spare pennies (not great at this time of the year), however to pay back it will take me at least 1year or even longer. Technically even the customer service lady was nice, I couldn't see they're sorry for this at all.
Fair enough, this is kind of my fault as I didn't call them or try to figure out this earlier, however I've got feeling this is totally wrong to raise the bill and ask for payment of 2,5k within 2 weeks time (ah, worth to mention that this bill ended up in spam folder as well , so if I wasn't checking spam folder from time to time I would be in troubles). Pretty sure they've got something in place to raise an alerts/concerns that customer A didn't provide readings or no estimated bill was generated e.g. within 1month or 3months.
I'm just puzzled how they've got this high customer satisfaction from some online websites, where they're not working that wall IMHO.
Lastly, is there anyone having similar experience? Did anyone complain to them as even the bill seems to be right, I'm a bit stressed and need to plan my next year carefully to pay this back month by month.

Thanks

ZilianStoleMyMoney

Were you unbilled since Nov 2024 and only recently got the bill? Sorry I tried to follow along with your post, but I am assuming this is the case. Am I correct?

perur

Yes, that's correct. It was exactly 2nd of November 2024 and few days/weeks I paid final bill with old supplier.
Last emails from 2nd of November with welcome message.
"Your electricity switch is officially complete. Congratulations - you're now a customer with Octopus Energy."
"Your gas switch is officially complete. Congratulations - you're now a customer with Octopus Energy."
No bill raised until 29th of October 2025 when I've got 2,5k to pay.

debitcardmayhem

Did you set up a direct debit?

QrizB

perur said:

No bill raised until 29th of October 2025 when I've got 2,5k to pay.

Did you make any payments during that period? I'm guessing not?

perur said:

Since that I called their customer service and setup higher DD payment as I've got some spare pennies (not great at this time of the year), however to pay back it will take me at least 1year or even longer. 

And they are letting you catch up over a year, not asking for £2500 immediately?
What exactly is your complaint?

ZilianStoleMyMoney

It certainly seems Octopus didn't do due diligence and to contact you when no billing was generated during that time - but to be fair the same could be said about the customer not contacting them to say - "Where's my bills?"

I think if this was to ultimately reach Energy Ombudsman's door after you complained about it with no resolution, they would side with you. But for now, it sounds like you had a talk with an agent to agree on a monthly DD mandate to pay your ongoing energy and extra towards the balance remaining. Sadly that balance will be based on meter readings they took so you had used that energy, I am assuming the agent took your readings at that point to generate the bill. Usually they would have a rough bill at this point and could have discussed with you steps to help manage the debt more. So you would have to pay for your usage and yeah for a long period of time of non-billing it can be a daunting thing to be told.

If you feel that the next year you have agreed to pay a bit extra to help pay it off is a bit much, you can ask for more options from Octopus - perhaps a longer time to do so - usually they will want to clear the debt as quick as possible, but some instances that is going to be difficult to impossible with some customers, so they will reluctantly have longer periods to pay back a debt. It is certainly worth looking into.

There is 3rd parties out there that can help also, if you end up finding it difficult to make ends meet each month, consider having a friendly word with your local Citizen's Advice Bureau or even an organisation like Stepchange, some people feel a bit off going to someone like that but there are impartial and it is a free service, they could help go over outgoings and ingoings and even help mediate with companies to change payments.

I am not saying you are in a position that you have to do that, just offering it as an option you could consider

But certainly talk to Octopus on how this happened, I think if you complained about it, I think you are due compensation from all this to be fair. And remember it is ok, there is help out there, do not worry.

EssexHebridean

OK - so even if they didn't bill you, the money for the DD must have been accruing in your bank account if it wasn't being taken? 

I'd suggest you install the Octopus app and use that to keep a good eye on things going forwards. We've all been guilty of taking our eyes off the ball a bit for one reason or another, and unfortunately sometimes that does lead to a bit of a financial "surprise". If you've not been monitoring your bank account for the past year then it's probably a good idea to go through that now too - in case of any other discrepancies you're not currently aware of. 

I take it you have now given Octopus up to date readings, and set a reminder for yourself to do this monthly from now too? It might be sensible to try to arrange a meter swap for up to date ones that should at least send the readings for you if you forget - although you should still keep an eye on things once a quarter or so, and check readings against billing. 

If setting up new accounts with energy suppliers etc, it's always a good idea to keep an eye on your spam folders so if anything ends up there at first you can add their addresses to your safe senders list. 

MWT

perur said:

Pretty sure they've got something in place to raise an alerts/concerns that customer A didn't provide readings or no estimated bill was generated e.g. within 1month or 3months.
I'm just puzzled how they've got this high customer satisfaction from some online websites, where they're not working that wall IMHO.
Lastly, is there anyone having similar experience? Did anyone complain to them as even the bill seems to be right, I'm a bit stressed and need to plan my next year carefully to pay this back month by month.

They certainly seem to have something in place to review billing as it approaches the 12 month cut-off for back-billing and of course the customer service ratings reflect the vast majority of accounts that do not have any special issues. 

Have you asked them for a payment plan?

Obviously you should have noticed you were not paying anything, and should have at least put aside the money to cover it while it was being sorted out, but I'd expect Octopus to be somewhat accommodating if you asked to pay the outstanding amount over a few months...

SacredStephan

ZilianStoleMyMoney said:

I think if this was to ultimately reach ofgem's door after you complained about it with no resolution, they would side with you.

Ofgem is the independent energy regulator for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), and does not have a direct role in investigating or resolving customer complaints.

ZilianStoleMyMoney said:

I think if you complained about it, I think you are due compensation from all this to be fair.

What loss has the OP suffered?

ZilianStoleMyMoney

SacredStephan said:

ZilianStoleMyMoney said:

I think if this was to ultimately reach ofgem's door after you complained about it with no resolution, they would side with you.

Ofgem is the independent energy regulator for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), and does not have a direct role in investigating or resolving customer complaints.

ZilianStoleMyMoney said:

I think if you complained about it, I think you are due compensation from all this to be fair.

What loss has the OP suffered?

Yeah my bad, I meant the EO - Energy Ombudsman - no idea why I was thinking ofgem at this point lol

Suffered, she is now landed with a debt for unbilled usage and the supplier wasn't doing due diligence even after being talked to about it last year to have something fixed, so for nearly a year she wasn't billed - again as I said in the first paragraph she could have noticed no bills and said to them. But ultimately the supplier should have the account flagged for no bill in 6 months at least. This could have all been easily mitigated to a more manageable debt with half a year than nearly a full year of debt.

born_again

ZilianStoleMyMoney said:

SacredStephan said:

ZilianStoleMyMoney said:

I think if this was to ultimately reach ofgem's door after you complained about it with no resolution, they would side with you.

Ofgem is the independent energy regulator for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), and does not have a direct role in investigating or resolving customer complaints.

ZilianStoleMyMoney said:

I think if you complained about it, I think you are due compensation from all this to be fair.

What loss has the OP suffered?

Yeah my bad, I meant the EO - Energy Ombudsman - no idea why I was thinking ofgem at this point lol

Suffered, she is now landed with a debt for unbilled usage and the supplier wasn't doing due diligence even after being talked to about it last year to have something fixed, so for nearly a year she wasn't billed - again as I said in the first paragraph she could have noticed no bills and said to them. But ultimately the supplier should have the account flagged for no bill in 6 months at least. This could have all been easily mitigated to a more manageable debt with half a year than nearly a full year of debt.

Neither was the customer...

Energy used has to be paid for.

Personal responsibility. Never rely on anyone else to check your bills are being paid.