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? 😭

What was the final reading from the previous supplier? That's the start reading you need for Octopus.

While it will get sorted out, I agree that you need to check the date for your DD.

Refunding usually takes a couple of days so you don't want that one coming out. If it is imminent then I'd cancel it.

You can send an email to state this is what you have done until correct billing information is issued because this is most definitely wrong and like everyone else I'd think it likely they've just started with a zero balance in error.

The fact the app knows what you've used suggests they hold the right information but it's been incorrectly applied in the billing.

My direct debit is only £150 so I'm not too worried about that. I'm also in the fortune position of recently receive a small (2k) I her so even if the whole £900 came out I wouldn't be in hardship (just very pissed off!). I've had a dd confirmation email of £150 though separately from my bill/statement so I don't expect that to happen

This.

You should always manually read the meter when you change supplier.

It's clearly an error though, so hopefully it can be sorted easily.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/guides/average-bill.html?source=Energy-Google-PPC&cid=PPC.cid_cname=BG-PPC_Energy_Drive-Action_Conversion_Non-Brand_Generic_Always-On_High4&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19630094082&gbraid=0AAAAADvuo5BtuIZb6K4tAvfc3Q-l7aa-O&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8KrFBhDUARIsAMvIApZ5a3dQCP5NxUbl7gCPFGLw1LAwRub7Uw0fY4BsRwoJmEMBXCkz0eYaAsK2EALw_wcB

This may be useful information for you.

on your smart meter screen can you flick back through the daily readings and find the reading for the date that your contract with them started? Or tally up the daily KWH usage to get a true estimate ?

Update! They replied today and asked me to send a photo and video of the meter and have amended my balance to a much more reasonable £50! Not bad customer service at all

Well done you 💯. That's a good outcome 😃

So what are the actual opening and current meter readings?

Good result. Well done to you ( and Octopus).

Is it good customer service? Seems that if you hadn't chased them they would have pursued you for the wrong amount. You had to fix their error.

To be fair, the OP flagged it very rapidly and the information on the app was correct.

It may well have been picked up as an unusual reading (it's cannabis farm level usage) by their systems.

But we'll never know. Just glad OP doesn't have the worry any more