Help! Octopus charging almost £900 for a month's electricity!

[SusanSHelit]

So I've recently swapped from a pre pay meter to octopus. I've just xh to see my first bill and while my gas is perfectly reasonable it's claiming I've used just over 3000kwh of electricity and charging me just under £900 for August!

I've emailed them but I'm in a bit of a panic as when switching I had emails off them to say they'd checked my meter (smart meter) and everything was in hand but clearly something has gone wrong. I can't even speak to anyone on the phone until Monday

I live in a tiny three bed (two box rooms) terrace, I don't think I could use that much electricity in a month if I tried!

Wise mumsnetters what do I do? 😭

Can you take your own readings and compare them to the ones they are giving?

Would that not just be from now though not from the start of August?

But you need to see if the readings they have correlate to the readings on the meter. Did you have starting readings for when you swapped over?

Take a reading every day for a few days and work out from that your average monthly usage. Did you not give a starting reading when you switched? Or a last reading to your previous supplier?

I didn't manually but had an email to say they were receiving readings from my meter

Your meter isnt powering the whole street is it?

They're claiming 3000kwh from 4th July to the 9th August which just isn't possible

Is there anything in your house that could be draining electricity. Hot tub! Air conditioner unit! Electric heated dryer

You can take your own readings and compare them.

No, I have a tumble dryer but I haven't used it a great deal for obvious reasons.

No air con or anything. My electricity usage hasn't been any more than it usually would be in summer. I've lived in this house three years and when I was on pre pay meter was only paying around £70 electricity in June. It's quite a bit more in winter obviously but I switched to octopus thinking that paying the same £150 a month direct debit for gas and electricity would make life easier, not expecting to be almost £900 in debt in the first month in summer

Is what the meter showing comparable to what they’re stating on the bill? Are the readings on the bill marked as Actual, or are they for some reason marked as Estimated, even though you have a smart meter?

If you take a meter reading and then take a meter reading 24 hours later, see what kWh it’s showing as you using during that timespan. Then see if that seems reasonable or if it’s way too high for a days worth of usage.

"I live in a tiny three bed (two box rooms) terrace, I don't think I could use that much electricity in a month if I tried!"

You're correct. You couldn't. I live in a large detached house in Northern BC, Canada, and we used to have electric only heating, an electric hot water tank (which is a crappily inefficient method of heating water - think along the lines of only ever using the immersion heater on a UK hot water tank!) Electric oven, regular use of the tumble dryer, etc...

Even in wintertime, with outside temperatures well below -20°C for weeks on end, we wouldn't consume that many KWh in a single month!

Btw Monday is a bank holiday so call them on Tuesday rather than wasting your time on Monday

I’d be concerned that they had the wrong reading of old meter reading or something. I changed my meter for a smart meter and they put a sticker next to
it with the finish reading of old meter and starter of newcdo I’d check that marries up with statement.

I’d be concerned that they had the wrong reading of old meter reading or something. I changed my meter for a smart meter and they put a sticker next to
it with the finish reading of old meter and starter of newcdo I’d check that marries up with statement.

That’s 100kw a day!
We use 8kw a day in the summer and we’re a 500m2 property with 4/5 adults

They've made a huge mistake

Read the meter every day at the same time every day. Take pictures of each reading
Then tell them they are wrong

Have you recently switched to a Smart Meter? Octopus made an error with the last recording the engineer took before switching, and when I questioned it because of a higher than normal bill, they double checked the images the engineer had taken and realised they had overcharged me, so I was given a refund. I hope this gets settled, OP!

My meter hasn't been changed I've just switched suppliers. Will take a reading today. I'm working nights tomorrow and Tuesday so this is a bit of a nightmare.

My direct debit hasn't changed, that's still £150 but that should be putting me in credit for winter!

Get your closing bill from your old supplier, it will state the closing meter reading. Check the new supplier is using this reading

I don't have a closing bill I was on pre pay

Octopus does this. It's an estimate. Email them and tell them you do not give permission for that much to come out of your account. Did you take a reading when you switched? Give them that and the current reading.

I can't see any indication that it's an estimate. It's a bloody bonkers one if it is

Does it roughly correlate with what the meter says now, or is it way off?

Have you checked what the usage is saying in the app.

They are pretty good at dealing with issues via email. It does take time though.

The app is saying 167kwh used not 3000 which is a lot more reasonable