Octopus energy: Public Service Announcement.

[SerendipityJane]

Think you sorted your direct debit after discovering you were several hundred pounds in credit ?

Think again. They will up it (and not tell you) because they can. At least that was the TL;DR of my interesting call with them.

Apparently my expectations of customer service are unrealistic - although they haven't put that in writing.

Me neither, i think the wheel of fortune has never been updated as they get more customers, its a bit of a scam.

DDs? they seem pro active and i can change the amounts very easily.

I've won the Wheel of Fortune. Only £2, but it's something.
Has anyone else joined Octoplus this year? The Saving Sessions were quite fun last year so I signed up again.

They didn't charge us at all for electric for months so it looked like we'd built up loads of credit, they then took the lot without warning or explanation and asked for more.
We then had an email saying "good news our prices are dropping" but then the new monthly charge for us ended up more! I feel like we get repeatedly screwed over by their lack of organisation

Would we lose credit if that happened?

I got moved to Octopus when Avro went under. I had a few teething problems at first (to do with the incompetence of Avro, not Octopus). My emails were answered within 48 hours and the issues were dealt with really swiftly - maybe that has changed since they have taken on more customers??

I have a smart meter so do not have to submit readings and get billed every month.

I've been with them 4 years and never had an issue, had my DD lowered a couple of months ago. I do wonder whether it's transfer customers who are having the problems.

I used to work for a national electricity company and I choose Octopus because they are brilliant. Great customer service, bill issued when you provide meter readings etc.

I think having read stuff on here that when Bulb customers transferred over there was a problem with the mapping, so transferring information from one system to another that seemed to cause lots of problems.

Re credit balances if you pay by monthly direct debit you will always build a credit in the summer which covers your usage in the winter. You can choose, like a PP, to pay on receipt of bill by direct debit but you will pay a lot more over the winter months than summer. Electric usually stays fairly stable however gas consumption obviously increases as a lot of people have gas central heating. I have a spreadsheet that I fill in and I have done for 15 years, I can see my consumption on a graph in that.

Totally agree as an ex bulb customer, they're absolutely dreadful in comparison

Never had any issues with Octopus. Always get an email when my direct debit changes.

Same here.

I have used many, many different companies over the decades and Octopus stand out as being by far and away the best customer service we've even had.

My direct debit has just been reduced by them - with accompanying e-mails that itis up to me, and I can change to a different amount or keep it as it is if I prefer.

I just pay monthly for usage and don't have a DD set up. I don't trust any energy company after Bulb not to just pull figures out of their arses and try to use me as their bank account.

I came to Octopus from Bulb and am very happy with them. Their suggested monthly DD has been pretty accurate. I do submit monthly readings for both fuels so I know exactly how much I'm using, I also worked out my average annual usage in kWh over the past 3 years to get my anticipated usage and when they inform of any price changes I use the new costs with that expected usage to calculate my expected annual charge so that I know if my DD seems reasonable. A few months ago the DD looked too high and I couldn't seem to change it on the online thing, emailed them and they responded within a few hours and changed the DD.
Sometimes I think that people are too ready to blame utility companies for problems, even though those people rarely submit readings or do any calculations of their expected fuel usage. If octopus doesn't charge you for months then lands you with a big bill it's your problem not theirs, you know you're using fuel so submit a reading and pay for it. Octopus gives you a bill and balance every time you submit a reading, I do it monthly but presumably you could do weekly if you wanted.

I work for Octopus (fairly senior and have been there pretty much from the beginning) and we work really hard to look after everyone. We've over 5 million customers now and we won't get it right all the time and so if we've messed up, please feel free to send me a DM and I will get it sorted. Possibly not tonight as I've had a wine but tomorrow if urgent (we've a big weekend team who can help too). (ps. I am a long term Mumsnetter, penis beaker, naice biscuits etc. but have changed names for this...)

Trust none of them. Submit readings regularly. Keep records and remember every additional bit of standing charge is cos some shotty company was allowed to exist and run away after gambling with money that wasn't theirs.

Ive been with them for about 18 months. Never had an issue. Im on a fixed DD and the email me before they take it every month to confirm the amount (not sure why as its always the same).

I submit my meter reading on the 1st of each month and receive my up to date bill a few days later via email.

When Im logged on I can see my DD amount too. Easiest utility company I have ever been with.

Thanks for your patronising comment, @GetWhatYouWant!

I have a smart meter, which Bulb got working fine but keeps dropping out with Octopus and they won't try to fix it or give me a new one. Like you, I track my usage & costs in Excel and have done for years. Octopus's statements are harder to read than Bulb's. I also find them less transparent (open) than Bulb. Plus, I don't like all the faux jocular stuff on their website. That's a personal preference, but I'm not 11 years old and my energy expenses are not a joke to me.

Perhaps remind yourself that a dissatisfied customer is not always a stupid customer?

@tentacles1001, that's very sweet of you! Hope you don't get swamped.

I have played the wheel of fortune every month for 2 years and I have won £1. I got about £10 on the saving sessions last year and will be doing octoplus this year.

I have a smart meter and I do really like regularly looking at my online account so I can track my energy usage.

If octopus doesn't charge you for months then lands you with a big bill it's your problem not theirs.

Fortunately the government recognises that it is their problem too and there are regulations in place to protect consumers.

I manage multiple properties and if I’d simply paid what the energy companies demanded, I’d be out of pocket to the tune of thousands of pounds. Billing errors happen far too often!

It would be incredibly unwise to start sending personal details and information to someone who claims they work for any company online.

Agree @bclspia but I will give an email address and a name to quote and I will pick up any contact up through our systems.

Hi tentacles1001 - perhaps you could post the email address/contact name on the thread so no-one has to share any personal details with you privately.

Only time I've EVER had responses from them (and managed to sort SOME stuff out, not all) is by contacting the CEO Greg Jackson on Twitter/X with a direct message - or Octopus' general 'page' on there

No - any credit is protected. However, it might be some time before the credit gets transferred between the supplier which has gone bust and the new one.

Happened to us when Utility Point went bust. We were moved to EDF and it was nearly 4 months before the credit was on our account. I had expected to get back almost £200 from Utility Point just before they went bust, which I had asked for and was agreed by them ( Our Credit balance was much higher than that). When I asked EDF for the same refund they refused and I was told that the only way I could get it refunded was if I moved suppliers - so I did just that! They were pretty crap anyway and customer service was non-existent.

We were very lucky. I got one of the very last reasonable fixes - with Sainsbury/Eon Next - and the offer was only there for less than a week, before no-one was offering fixes of any description online

Agree I've got a smart meter too, moved from Bulb, Octopus kept reducing my DD until it was a tenner a month (I'd already built up £1500 credit) they then just took the lot in April and I don't feel I had an adequate explanation. We've been waiting 4 months to have a 3 phase meter installed for an electric car and they have told me I could wait at least 6 months for installation yet I see them trying to sign up new customers all the time! Please just look after the ex-bulb customers first!

The website and the language they use is awful. I feel the whole company is run by and for rude Gen Zers. I don't want cartoons and to be directed to apps and the website and emails all the time, sometimes I want to speak to an actual adult who can resolve a query.

If the pp @tentacles1001 is very senior can you please put some effort into adequate staff training, proper recording of conversations, training your staff to take the action they say they're going to take, not treating us like idiots and as a pp says where's the common courtesy to the customers you've poached from companies that have gone bust?