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Huge yearly bill after switching to the Octopus Energy
Comments
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OP be incredibly careful about asking for any sort of payment plan with Octopus, as this may well end up on your credit file.
As for the compensation question - the OP hasn't suffered a loss as such, as they would presumably have used the energy anyway - they haven't been left worse off by the failure to bill. There shouldn't BE a debt - as if the money wasn't being taken to cover the bills because the DD failed, the money should still be in the account it wasn't taken from!🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her3 -
As said in my initial post and in the reply you quoted, I did say the customer also never took steps to ask why they never got a bill etc. However the supplier should have been more aware, as she did raise up the issue back when switching Nov 2024 last year, to be told it was or will be "sorted" (customers words).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.
But as I said to the OP it is the amount you need to pay, but advised her to call in and see if it can be spread out more and to check CAB or Stepchange for a bit of advice and help and potential mediation.0 -
This is potentially extremely problematic advice as it could end up with the OP having an Arrangement to Pay marker placed on their credit file.ZilianStoleMyMoney said:
As said in my initial post and in the reply you quoted, I did say the customer also never took steps to ask why they never got a bill etc. However the supplier should have been more aware, as she did raise up the issue back when switching Nov 2024 last year, to be told it was or will be "sorted" (customers words).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.
But as I said to the OP it is the amount you need to pay, but advised her to call in and see if it can be spread out more and to check CAB or Stepchange for a bit of advice and help and potential mediation.🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her0 -
She has a plan in place already that will take 1 year, which will be reported to credit agencies anyway. Which will be there for 6 years (5 in Scotland).This is potentially extremely problematic advice as it could end up with the OP having an Arrangement to Pay marker placed on their credit file.
Another option she has is to go PAYG and pays it off from top ups over time. And that can be annoying as hell.0 -
Failure to pay the bill that has already been raised and was due within 2 weeks can also result in a late payment marker, so not sure there is any route here that doesn't have some potential implications for their credit file other than just paying the bill...EssexHebridean said:
This is potentially extremely problematic advice as it could end up with the OP having an Arrangement to Pay marker placed on their credit file.ZilianStoleMyMoney said:
As said in my initial post and in the reply you quoted, I did say the customer also never took steps to ask why they never got a bill etc. However the supplier should have been more aware, as she did raise up the issue back when switching Nov 2024 last year, to be told it was or will be "sorted" (customers words).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.
But as I said to the OP it is the amount you need to pay, but advised her to call in and see if it can be spread out more and to check CAB or Stepchange for a bit of advice and help and potential mediation.
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Thanks for a genuine support @born_againborn_again said:
Neither was the customer...ZilianStoleMyMoney said:
Yeah my bad, I meant the EO - Energy Ombudsman - no idea why I was thinking ofgem at this point lolSacredStephan said:
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 this was to ultimately reach ofgem's door after you complained about it with no resolution, they would side with you.
What loss has the OP suffered?ZilianStoleMyMoney said:I think if you complained about it, I think you are due compensation from all this to be fair.
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.
Energy used has to be paid for.
Personal responsibility. Never rely on anyone else to check your bills are being paid.
It's easy to say than done. I understand my mistake and in 20years of dealing with energy companies I never own them penny. My point is still the same that me as a person is having 10-15 different payment to go through where their business is to deal with the energy sector and their customers. I'm not saying they're terrible, just IMHO it's something wrong with their processes and if I don't raise a voice they will still do it to other customers.
E.g. even I didn't do anything, why they couldn't raise the same bill after 3months or 6 months???
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I am sympathetic to your situation, you acknowledge your own part in it and I do understand the shock it must have been to suddenly get a bill for so much money.perur said:
Thanks for a genuine support @born_againborn_again said:
Neither was the customer...ZilianStoleMyMoney said:
Yeah my bad, I meant the EO - Energy Ombudsman - no idea why I was thinking ofgem at this point lolSacredStephan said:
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 this was to ultimately reach ofgem's door after you complained about it with no resolution, they would side with you.
What loss has the OP suffered?ZilianStoleMyMoney said:I think if you complained about it, I think you are due compensation from all this to be fair.
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.
Energy used has to be paid for.
Personal responsibility. Never rely on anyone else to check your bills are being paid.
It's easy to say than done. I understand my mistake and in 20years of dealing with energy companies I never own them penny. My point is still the same that me as a person is having 10-15 different payment to go through where their business is to deal with the energy sector and their customers. I'm not saying they're terrible, just IMHO it's something wrong with their processes and if I don't raise a voice they will still do it to other customers.
E.g. even I didn't do anything, why they couldn't raise the same bill after 3months or 6 months???
For summer perspective they have over 7 million customers, that's more than 19,000 customers' accounts to check per day to get through them all in a year. If what happened to you was happening on a wider scale then yes it would be fair to say they need to put something (or something more) in place to prevent this, but if it is just a few isolated cases due to human error (which is also the case for you not noticing your bill) then there is an argument that it's an unfortunate accident, just one of those things. Even automated systems aren't perfect because they can glitch.
The second bit in bold, raising your voice needs to be in the form of feedback so they know that this has happened, and then if it's happening to others as well they'll know they need to do something about it.0 -
Possibly not, but it may well be that Octopus will allow them to do it via raised DD payments, and not report it. if it were some of the other suppliers, I'd say that would be less likely - but as it is...actively asking for a longer period though almost certainly will gain them an AP marker, though.MWT said:
Failure to pay the bill that has already been raised and was due within 2 weeks can also result in a late payment marker, so not sure there is any route here that doesn't have some potential implications for their credit file other than just paying the bill...EssexHebridean said:
This is potentially extremely problematic advice as it could end up with the OP having an Arrangement to Pay marker placed on their credit file.ZilianStoleMyMoney said:
As said in my initial post and in the reply you quoted, I did say the customer also never took steps to ask why they never got a bill etc. However the supplier should have been more aware, as she did raise up the issue back when switching Nov 2024 last year, to be told it was or will be "sorted" (customers words).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.
But as I said to the OP it is the amount you need to pay, but advised her to call in and see if it can be spread out more and to check CAB or Stepchange for a bit of advice and help and potential mediation.🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her0 -
They are on raised DD payments to cover it and they said it would take 1yr to clear. I was advising them to call up and extending that period to perhaps 18 months or 24 (2 years). Since it is a debt it will 100% be reported that she is repaying it back.0
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No offence intended 👍perur said:
Thanks for a genuine support @born_againborn_again said:
Neither was the customer...ZilianStoleMyMoney said:
Yeah my bad, I meant the EO - Energy Ombudsman - no idea why I was thinking ofgem at this point lolSacredStephan said:
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 this was to ultimately reach ofgem's door after you complained about it with no resolution, they would side with you.
What loss has the OP suffered?ZilianStoleMyMoney said:I think if you complained about it, I think you are due compensation from all this to be fair.
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.
Energy used has to be paid for.
Personal responsibility. Never rely on anyone else to check your bills are being paid.
It's easy to say than done. I understand my mistake and in 20years of dealing with energy companies I never own them penny. My point is still the same that me as a person is having 10-15 different payment to go through where their business is to deal with the energy sector and their customers. I'm not saying they're terrible, just IMHO it's something wrong with their processes and if I don't raise a voice they will still do it to other customers.
E.g. even I didn't do anything, why they couldn't raise the same bill after 3months or 6 months???
I was replying to ZilianStoleMyMoney & there comment on compensation. & placing all the blame on the company.
Something I see a lot of that sadly people do not notice these things.
Life in the slow lane1
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