Octopus Energy Bills

[DrFfybes]

we are still waiting to be transferred. i get a request for a meter reading each month from both - even though octopus are not billing ius yet.

I was reticent to send a reading to octopus as well as shell lest octopus end up also charging as well as shell!

sounds like i maybe better off risking that than a stupid level of estimation?

Going slightly off topic, but I would submit them to the old supplier, and take photos until the changeover is complete, but not other with telling Octopus especially if you have a smart meter. Octopus probably want them to estimate your annual usage before you start but that info is available from your current supplier (if you go to uswitch once you enter your address it autofills (or used to) this info, as it does if you enter your neighbour's address )

My niece switched to Octopus a couple of weeks ago, her old supplier (Scottish) are insisting on using their estimates instead of the closing readings supplied. They did similar with me last year when I left, however as one was over and one under I gave up argueing for the four quid difference.My niece OTOH persevered over a much larger amount, so this week they sent her a bill with all the readings corrected, but saying she only paid £17 or so in Jan, rather than the normal payment they'd taken. Ended up screenshotting a bank statement to persuade them.

Paul

[DrFfybes]

I do wonder what would happen if I just let things run and see if it goes an entire year,

That won't happen I think. According to their blurb: If you have a non-smart meter, we do things a little differently. We won’t send you a statement every month. Instead, you can send us your readings and we’ll send you a statement within a few days. If you don’t send us readings, we’ll send you an estimated bill every three months.

Thanks, hadn't seen that, mainly as we do have a smart meter, they installed it last July. They have the readings on their system, they just seem unable to send us a bill based on them.

Perhaps I'll wait and see, we're in month 3 now.

So, I waited the 3 months, and nothing. No estimated bill, no request for a reading, just regular monthly electric bills. Then I thought I'd try and get some of my £800+ credit back, but nothing doing, it won't let me, I need to contact them for a refund.

The next step was to email them, asking for a refund. This resulted in them generating a gas bill for £462 for the period from 21 Dec to 21st March, using the Smart meter readings they'd been taking. However I still can't use the online system to get a refund of the £400+ I'm still in credit 'due to an issue with your meter'. I'll phone next week.

Re estimated bills - Their annual gas estimate now seems about right, possibly slightly too low. The annual Electricity estimate appears to ignore the solar panels.

[Maroochydore]

The next step was to email them, asking for a refund. I'll phone next week.

You could ask them, whilst you're on the phone, to put you on a Variable Direct Debit (VDD).

I'm with Octopus and on a VDD. I've not got a smart meter but when I submit readings I get a statement and the exact amount is taken from my bank 10 days after the statement date. If you are in credit, this will be eaten up before any VDD is utilised.

I'm assuming the same system works with smart meter readings/billings.

[didds]

They are useless. I've finally, after months, been told that we have been transferred from Shell to Octopus even though both companies for the last several months have simultaneously denied or insisted we are not or are with them at the same time.

I now find that even though this property has never been on mains gas (it was built in 1927 too) we now appear to have a dual fuel account for unfathomable reasons that nobody at Octopus can explain. This means I cannot send an estimated bill as it needs both readings (leccy and gas) filled in. The concern is that they will now bill us for gas we haven't consumed/cannot consume on an estimated reading - because we cannot provide a non existent reading.

Seriously unimpressed.

[didds]

They are useless. I've finally, after months, been told that we have been transferred from Shell to Octopus even though both companies for the last several months have simultaneously denied or insisted we are not or are with them at the same time.

I now find that even though this property has never been on mains gas (it was built in 1927 too) we now appear to have a dual fuel account for unfathomable reasons that nobody at Octopus can explain. This means I cannot send an estimated bill as it needs both readings (leccy and gas) filled in. The concern is that they will now bill us for gas we haven't consumed/cannot consume on an estimated reading - because we cannot provide a non existent reading.

Seriously unimpressed.

UPDATE: Spoke to them again today.

The email they requested with a photo of the meter which I sent last week "has not arrived".

They requested another.

It did not arrive.

Needless to say it has been sent / relayed fine, and I've not had any bounces for the attempts to send. I suggested to the customer service agent she needed to talk with her IT sys admins about what may be happening at their end. She said it had to be my end. I calmly explained that I've been amongst other things an email systems admin for 40 years plus.

She said she would raise a call .

She has asked for me to send the photo again. I have.

Very poor.




didds

[DrFfybes]

The email they requested with a photo of the meter which I sent last week "has not arrived".

They requested another.

It did not arrive.

Needless to say it has been sent / relayed fine, and I've not had any bounces for the attempts to send.

What size is the image file?
Embeded or attached?

A sub 1mb jpg should be fine for their purposes, I've not had any issues sending it as an attachent when they asked me for photos of my meters (the ones they'd installed a few months earlier).

Paul

[didds]

A sub 1mb jpg should be fine for their purposes, I've not had any issues sending it as an attachent when they asked me for photos of my meters (the ones they'd installed a few months earlier).

Paul

its almost 4MB - so you've probably nailed it Paul.

Of course there was no such caveat on their request.

I'll resend with a smaller sized jpg - cheers