Octopus Energy Bills

[DrFfybes]

With every supplier I've had in the past, the monthly bill/statement has both gas and Electric on the same one.

However Octopus send me 2, sometimes 3, bills per month, with different time periods for the 2 sources. I have solar but both sources are on the same tariff name.

Is this normal, or is it just my account?

Thanks.

Paul

[bluedonkey]

I used to get two bills from E.On when I was with them earlier this year, gas and electric, dated one day apart.

[clissold345]

I'm an Octopus customer (with smart meter). I get two emails a month from them. One tells me how much gas and electricity I've used, one tells me how much they're going to take via direct debit.

[DeepSporran]

Like previous poster I normally get 2 emails from Octopus per month but it took a while to settle down as a new customer switched from a failing supplier in September 2021. I already had a smart meter. For about a year I got separate bills for gas and electric and sometimes several bills per month for one or the other. It has been stable now for quite a while - one email with the bill and a second to advise on the imminent DD collection.

[Boots]

I'm with Octopus for both, but just a single bill and a single payment.

[Howard]

Living in a rural area and with a variable Octopus tariff suitable for an electric car their billing has been eccentric over several years. They need reminding to send bills and dealing with them is a nightmare.

Our current electricity bill which I am looking at now is, I exaggerate not, more than 250 pages long. Luckily I didn't print it . It shows daily usage. The first few pages show the costs involved and they cover a series of charges and credits going back six months which are not explained.

We don't have the complication of solar panels.

The final charge for electricity is roughly correct as far as I can tell from my own meter readings but life is too short to delve into the workings.

Gas bills are slightly less complicated but there have been errors which seem weird given that we have smart meters.

regards

Howard

[quelquod]

I’ve been with Octopus for a while now. As for a previous respondent 2 emails/month - one to warn of an upcoming DD, the other with a straightforward (and accurate) dual fuel and solar export bill. An irritation for months is that I’m not allowed to reclaim any of my overpayment (around £1500 presently, 6 times my DD) as they claim not to have up to date meter readings although I have smart metering and their website always has relatively current readings shown. It hasn’t bothered me enough to push yet. Communication is poor - emails take a week turnaround and always take 2 or 3 attempts to explain and resolve a query. About as OK as most utilities but I don’t agree with Which?’s high rating.

[DrFfybes]

Well, I sent them an email a few hours ago and they came almost straight back apologising for the omission and have generated a gas bill as well. I haven't checked the reading against the meter yet but at least it was sorted quickly.

Paul

[XFool]

Jeez!

I think I'll stick with BG and my quarterly bills...

[gt94sss2]

With every supplier I've had in the past, the monthly bill/statement has both gas and Electric on the same one.

However Octopus send me 2, sometimes 3, bills per month, with different time periods for the 2 sources. I have solar but both sources are on the same tariff name.

Is this normal, or is it just my account?

You can ask Octopus to make the monthly billing date of your gas and electricity statements the same.

I did and I get a combined statement.

[Maroochydore]

I don't have a 'smart' meter, although Octopus are trying to make me have one by saying the present electric meter has met it's certification expiry date and they must fit a smart meter because they don't fit traditional meters. Oh, and whilst we're there we'll change your gas meter for you. I won't go into my response. Apparently I can't refuse because the meter needs changing (checked this fact independently).

However, in respect of billing (and one reason why I don't want a smart meter,) I like manually sending in my meter readings. I do it when I want to, sometimes after three weeks, sometimes after seven weeks. If I do them both at the same time I get one bill which covers both gas and electricity. If I do them seperately I get two bills.

I have a Variable Direct Debit set up so they can take exactly what I owe which they would do 10 days after the submission. However I tend to make a credit card payment directly through my online account which precludes them utilising the VDD. The amount then sits in my instant access savings account earning 4.75% until it's time to settle the credit card statement.

Every little helps.

[brian5]

I have been with Octopus for several years now, they kept at me to get a smart meter, which i eventually agreed to, thats when everything started to go south.
within days of the meter being installed, they wanted to up my DD to over £400 a month based on smart meter readings....?, then for the first 3 months, no info was being generated on the display, before the instal I was in credit by a substantial amount and my DD was £100 and covering both fuels, Just, it took them several months to get that sorted, then every month they would increase my DD to almost £400, this was despite them not sending me any gas bills for several months, the first time, I called and told them to leave it as is, and they agreed, however, the next DD they took £400, when I spoke to them they told me it was a mistake, but they were not going to refund me, I had to then go in through "my account" to alter it, every month as they continually changed it. then once that settled down, they stopped sending a dual bill and only sent an electricity bill, for several months, I called and called, and was constantly told it had been fixed, eventually it did fix, but every 6 months or so it does it again, and has now started again as of mid december, I have just got my latest statement and bill and it only has electricity on it for the second month in a row, it still has an annual usage estimate for both fuels, and my annual gas usage estimate has apparently gone done by over £600 since the start of december,probably because they have not billed me for gas for almost 2 months.
Nothing has changed, my smart meter still shows gas baing used, yet they have stopped billing me for gas. So at some point in the near future I will get a massive gas bill and they will try to increase my DD to something ridiculous as they will "estimate" my annual usage on THAT bill.

[the0ni0nking]

I've not had any issues with Octopus (having been transferred to them when Bulb went bust).

However, today I received a bill covering me for 2 days (10th and 11th Jan) - I could perhaps understand that if my tariff had changed and this was the last bill under the old tariff but that isn't the case as there are still 5 months left on my fixed tariff. So will wait and see if I start getting a bill every couple of days now!!!!

As an aside, I have a Santander Edge account and my DD for energy is set over my usage so as to gain a little bit extra from the money back scheme from them.

Periodically, I request a refund to get the surplus back. It's prob c£100 a month too high with energy prices where they are on my tariff but no one seems to have noticed at Octopus and automatically reduced my DD.

[clissold345]

I'm an Octopus customer with a smart meter. I'm allowed to request a refund of my credit when they have up-to-date meter readings. (Why do I have to manually request a refund of my own money?) I just tried it and I get this message: "Sorry, we can't process a refund for you right now. Your account balance may not be up to date as we haven't received a reading recently. Submit a reading now, and once we've sent your statement, you can submit a refund request". If I remember, I'll request a refund again just after they send me the email saying how much gas and electricity I've used. It's a minor annoyance. Life continues ...

[didds]

another nail in the coffin for smart meters it seems.

Other's mileage may vary as is their prerogative.

didds

[brightncheerful]

Jeez!

I think I'll stick with BG and my quarterly bills...

After I switched from Eon to Octopus, instead of quarterly bills, I had to pay monthly, not DD but by credit card (which has a cash back). Fed up with remembering to pay so often, I now pay £300 to cover the cost for a few months.

[clissold345]

I'm an Octopus customer with a smart meter.

They now have meter readings available but I still cant have a refund. The message is as follows (see below). Ive emailed them asking to switch to variable direct debits, and asking for my balance to be refunded.

"Sorry, we can't process a refund for you right now

Your current balance is too low to automatically approve a refund online. If you'd like a human to process this refund for you, email us at hello@octopus.energy"

[clissold345]

They now have meter readings available but I still cant have a refund. The message is as follows (see below). Ive emailed them asking to switch to variable direct debits, and asking for my balance to be refunded. ... "

Octopus replied to my email within five hours. They've changed my payment method to variable direct debit (effective from next month). I'll get a refund on my current balance within 7 to 10 working days. They'll take a payment this month so I think it will take two months for my new balance to be reduced to zero. I could request another refund after this month's payment has been made - but I probably wont bother.

[clissold345]

Octopus replied to my email within five hours. They've changed my payment method to variable direct debit (effective from next month). I'll get a refund on my current balance within 7 to 10 working days. They'll take a payment this month so I think it will take two months for my new balance to be reduced to zero. I could request another refund after this month's payment has been made - but I probably wont bother.

The latest news is that my scheduled refund has been rejected (by their computer system?). This is apparently because my balance changed because my payment method changed. I don't understand this. They're taking this month's payment on 22nd Jan. I've now asked for a new refund to be done after that payment has been made.

[clissold345]

The latest news is that my scheduled refund has been rejected (by their computer system?). This is apparently because my balance changed because my payment method changed. I don't understand this. They're taking this month's payment on 22nd Jan. I've now asked for a new refund to be done after that payment has been made.

Octopus replied within two hours. The guy ignored my request to wait until after the payment on 22nd Jan. I should receive my newly-calculated refund of £56-01 within 7 to 10 working days.