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Outfox Energy meter reading issue
I have an electric smart meter and have an understanding how much electricity I use.
On 12th Jan I changed energy supplier from Home Energy to Outfox Energy on a fixed tariff.
The final Electric meter reading for Home Energy was 15636.0 kWh
I logged onto my Outfox Energy account this morning and found my first Energy Statement. I noticed immediately that the Electric charges were a lot higher than expected.
Upon review I could see that they had used 14120.0 as the initial meter reading and the current reading was 16002.0.
The statement showed I had used 1882 kWh of electric @ 21.93006p per kWh = £412.72 + VAT = £433.36. The statement should have been 366 Kwh of electric @ 21.93006 per kWh = £80.26 + VAT = £84.28. Therefore an overcharge of £349.
When I looked at my meter readings on the Outfox website it reads
- 04 Mar 2026 - 16270
- 12 Feb 2026 - 16002
- 11 Feb 2026 - 15990
- 13 Jan 2026 - 14120
- 12 Jan 2026 - 15651
- 09 Jan 2026 - 15619
On 13th Jan a mystery reading was added to my account.
The Gas Meter reading was also incorrect but only by 1 unit. Home Energy final Gas Meter reading was 7466.0 whereas Outfox Energy starting was 7465.0
Again looking at the meter readings on the Outfox website it reads
- 12 Feb 2026 - 7538
- 13 Jan 2026 - 7465
- 12 Jan 2026 - 7474
- 09 Jan 2026 - 7466
I called Outfox and although they took 35 minutes to answer the phone the agent was very helpful and he said that he did not know where the readings for 13th Jan had come from - they were not my readings and he looked online at my electric smart meter and confirmed the reading had not been a live reading. He said he would make a correction for the electric but the gas was too small to change because it was only one unit out. The change will not affect me as I pay monthly direct debit and he cancelled the statement so it would not re-evaluate my monthly payment. He told me to look on my account in 20 days for an updated statement.
Thinking about it 1 gas unit works out to be 30.5 kWh @ 4.75692p = £1.45 + VAT = £1.52
I will not lose any sleep over £1.52 but raised here to make people aware that there is a glitch somewhere in the Outfox Energy billing system and in my case the bill was higher than expected. Any new Outfox users should check their meter readings are correct.
Comments
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As long as your start reading with Outfox exactly matches the final reading used by Home Energy, there shouldn't be any problem.
As they are not (at least for gas) then Outfox should be fixing that. They are responsible as the new supplier.
(I'm not suggesting Outfox will change the opening read, they may tell Home to change their closing read)
Or you could ask Home Energy, but they may refer you to Outfox to resolve.
They are both run by the same family anyway.
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On 13th Jan a mystery reading was added to my account.
Sounds like it's The Mysterious Third Party again... https://justsoyouknow.so.energy/posts/2110580-opening-reading-validation-process
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I have just looked back at my emails and photos.
My first email from Outfox was on 7th Jan Stating thanks for choosing Outfox Energy.
I then had an email from Outfox on 9th Jan requesting meter readings.
I looked on my phone and I have got photos of the meters with the readings on 9th Jan:- Electric was 15619 / Gas meter was 7466. These readings were sent to both Outfox and Home Energy.
I also have photos of the meter readings on 12th Feb which tally with Outfox readings on this date.
As per the Outfox agents comments all other readings were not customer readings.
This morning when I looked on the Outfox Website the dashboard said that I was £392.06 in debit.
Something has happened already as the Outfox Website dashboard now says I am £355.10 in credit but there are no statements yet. Will wait for 20 days to see what the statement says.
Out of interest I logged onto my old Home Energy Account and copied the meter readings on their website.
The electric reading of 14120 would date back to almost when I joined Home Energy in September 2025.
- 12 Jan 2026 - 15636
- 11 Jan 2026- 15636
- 09 Jan 2026 - 15619
- 01 Jan 2026 - 15500
- 13 Dec 2025 - 15243
- 11 Dec 2025 - 15224
- 01 Dec 2025 - 15104
- 13 Nov 2025 - 14860
- 11 Nov 2025 - 14844
- 01 Nov 2025 - 14695
- 13 Oct 2025 - 14474
- 11 Oct 2025 - 14457
- 01 Oct 2025 - 14321
- 15 Sep 2025 - 14118
I am hoping that it gets sorted and it is looking promising, but a warning for others who have recently joined Outfox to check the statements to ensure that they have the correct meter readings. Had I not checked I could have been out of pocket by £350.
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Checking statements on receipt of them should be something people do automatically. No company can be trusted these days.
3 -
I have to say I've been following that advice since the days the North Eastern Electricity Board first supplied us. I don't think the lack of trust is a recent phenomenon. :)
3 -
I joined in early January. I have just seen an email dated 16th Feb from Outfox Energy stating 'your statement is ready to view - please login to your account'
I only saw the statement for the first time this morning and it was the first I knew of the initial readings they had used. When I joined there was nothing on the web page to advise the initial reading after 30 days this is the first time that I have seen the info.
I have just looked back to 12th September 2025 when I moved from Octopus to Home Energy and the readings / bills align perfectly.
Agree checking properly is a must. Also having a note of the meter readings when you request to move supplier, on the date they ask for a meter reading and on the date that they tell you they are going to move supply over. The only record I have are the photos that I took of the meter when they asked for a meter reading. I can see these are on the web page but there are other readings that do not correspond to antthing that I supplied. On the statement it states 'your read' by reading that was not supplied by me. The Outfox agent confirmed this to be the case.
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When I moved to Octopus a few years age, my readings and the smart meter readings were ignored. They used the estimates from the aforementioned "mysterious third-party", which were weeks out.
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You can complain to the gaining supplier if the readings used are outside the allowed tolerance (250kWh for electricity, 1200kWh for gas I believe).
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Update 9th March 2026 - Got email this morning from Outfox Energy stating YOUR STATEMENT IS READY.
Logged onto my account and the statement is exactly the same except for the date which was 16/02/2026 and is now 09/03/2026.
Instead of calling Outfox energy this morning I tried the online chat instead and got an email of the chat transcript.
See extract of Chat below for interest - Am still hopeful that they will resolve but disappointed they have uploaded the incorrect statement again. Nothing is easy now and seems like we have to fight for everything.
Chat started on 09 Mar 2026, 09:58 AM (GMT+0)
(09:58:55) *** IOWJJBTM2025 joined the chat ***
(09:58:55) IOWJJBTM2025
Energy Statement is incorrect again
(10:01:06) *** Aneez joined the chat ***
(10:01:17) Aneez
Hello there IOWJJBTM2025
Thank you for reaching out to us and thank you for your patience.My name is Aneez I will be happy to help you with your queries.Before we get started I'll just need a few pieces of information from you so that I can confirm your identity, Without the answers, I won't be able to locate your account and assist with any account-specific queries: /Your full name/Your Date of Birth/The first line of the supply address/The postcode of that address/Your contact number
(10:02:34) Aneez
Thank you for confirming this for me.I can assist you with your query, please just stand by while I look into this for you
(10:04:49) IOWJJBTM2025
Spoke to your agent Aaron on 6/3/26 because the initial readings on the energy statement were incorrect. Initial Readings on incorrect statement were Electric 14120 and Gas was 7465. We agreed they were incorrect and the statement was withdrawn. Got a message this morning to say a new statement was available. It is exactly the same and is still incorrect.
(10:05:35) Aneez
Please ignore that message, as I can confirm our internal team are still working on correcting your opening reads.
(10:06:35) IOWJJBTM2025
OK my concern is that you will increase my monthly payment on an incorrect reading.
(10:07:34) Aneez
I can assure you your DD has not changed, and will not be changed until resolved and amended
(10:08:13) IOWJJBTM2025
To restate - My final Electric meter reading with Home Energy was 15636. The final Gas Meter reading was 7466
(10:09:11) Aneez
Correct yes.
(10:09:28) IOWJJBTM2025
These are the readings that should be used as my start readings. Are you going to remove the statement again?
(10:10:50) Aneez
The statement will be removed once the opening reads have been corrected
(10:12:11) IOWJJBTM2025
Please advise when this will be resolved. I have a smart energy meter and can supply 30minute readings for each day of what electricity I have used if you need.
(10:13:20) Aneez
Please allow up to 10 working days from 06/03/2026
(10:15:03) IOWJJBTM2025
OK will ignore statement and will look on 20th March for update.
(10:16:52) *** IOWJJBTM2025 left the chat ***
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"According to energy industry rules, your reading must have a difference of more than 250 electricity units (kWh) for an electricity reading, or a difference of 39 imperial gas units (you'll see ft3 on the meter) or 125 metric gas units."
That equates to 1310kWh -1502kWh depending on the Calorific Value.
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