Octopus Energy Variable Direct Debit

QrizB

We've had several (thelree or four, that I recall) forumites recently say that Octopus have produced an unexpected mid-cycle bill. This sounds like another of those.

With a fixed monthly DD, it makes no financial difference. With a variable DD, it changes the timing of payments.

Scot_39

I wonder if a smart missing one or two nightly updates might be enough - so the billing system retrying the initial request gets treated as a new out of sequence read in some way.

webstergm

So to clarify, I had my solar panels and batteries installed in Aug 2023, smart meter installed Feb 2024 and have received a monthly invoice on the 26th of the month since generated by the smart meter. The payment from my bank is taken 14 days later around the 9th of the following month. There has been rate changed during this period but it has never affected bill 26th payment 9th. It is only recently that Octopus have tried to take interim payments by stating a variable DD allows them to take payments whenever the smart meter generates a bill. They have not been able ti explain why, after nearly two years, my smart meter has started doing this. The new DD setup 2 January 2026 clearly states the payment date is the 6th so if Octopus try to claim additional payments in the same month on different days I will challenge it.

Bendo

In the grand scheme of things, what does it matter? You are still paying the same amount.  The time spent posting here about it, contacting them to complain, is probably a lot more involved than having looked at it and gone "thats odd, oh well".

squirrelpie

AIUI meters, including smart meters, do not generate bills. They just report consumption and related data as instructed. (See https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/our-smart-network/how-do-smart-meters-send-readings/ ) It is suppliers that generate bills or statements using the information sent from the smart meter. And it is the supplier's systems and ultimately their employees who are responsible for ordering those bills to be produced.

So it seems very reasonable to me to contact the supplier and ask for an explanation of why they are sending bills at any other time than that agreed with the customer.