Octopus charging huge random amounts

[HousesofHolbein]

I'm so stressed out and wondering if anyone has any advice/similar experiences?

We have Octopus as our electricity supplier and as we have a set of solar panels we have both in and outgoing smart meters. I keep quite a close eye on our app as I find it interesting to see what power were generating and try to make good use of sunny spells to use solar power not the grid.

We have a direct debit payment set up for what we use and Octopus credit our account for the power we generate and export to the grid. I let a positive balance build up over the summer months to see us through the winter where we inevitably generate less and use more power.

Yesterday when I checked the app, we were nearly £300 I'm credit. Then this morning I got an email from Octopus saying they were increasing our monthly payment hugely to cover a shortfall. I checked the app balance which has dropped into the negative, firstly to -£180 but then by afternoon was reading -£900.

I rang Octopus and they seemed to think this was all above board and was just a 'balancing exercise' whereby someone has manually gone back through our account and spotted 'gaps in payments' that need retrospectively covering. They've issued bills with meter readings going back over a year listing usage of several hundreds of pounds. Nowhere on these new bills is there any mention of the payments they've received regularly that entire time, nor of any credit for energy exported.

I cannot understand how we have been paying them over £150/month for a lot of that period, plus using power that is 'free' by generating it ourselves for most of the year, and been earning money on the excess production and they've now managed to find that we're in debt to them by nearly £1k?

There have been no missed payments, no missed meter readings, continuous smart meter monitoring and a variable direct debit set up that entire time. We lead boring lives with no cannabis production or pottery kiln at the bottom of the garden.....

I'm at a complete loss and Octopus have been considerably less than helpful/reassuring.

Have they confused your account with someone else's? If you look at the current meter readings (on the physical meter, not the smart meter), do they match what octopus says?

Are you on a time of use tariff op?

Octopus are utterly bloody dreadful. We ended up taking them to the ombudsman (first time in my life I have ever done that) over none payment of our feed in tarrif. We won (back in bloody July) and they STILL haven’t paid us. You cannot get any answers on the phone or via email. They simply don’t respond. Total shower, will never, ever use them again.

I'm not sure what that means?

We're on a fixed 15m tariff for usage (I did this on advice from the MSE forum)

That sounds terrible!

I tried to ask them today how on earth we could possibly move forwards if regular payments, smart meter monitoring,.meter readings and my monitoring via app combined with then paying us for exported power doesn't protect us in anyway from them suddenly, without warning or explanation taking over £1000 from us?!

I need to sort this but absolutely want no further dealings with them.

I will check this tomorrow in daylight. Good idea.
I was at work while I was trying to sort this earlier - so stressful!

What's your tariff name?

So they are billing us right back to January 2024 when it was Flexible Octopus and now it is Fixed 15m

I've just downloaded all our bills going back to 1st January 2024.

All the meter readings for the new charges they've added over the last few days are the exact same as the meter readings we received on the bills at the tome.

So essentially they are billing us for all of last year's usage now, when we already paid for it in real time?

This is what they added onto the app just today!

Octopus have a terrible reputation. If you are having problems with them I'd recommend calling the Citizens Advice consumer service for energy problems. They are a statutory service and energy suppliers including Octopus are legally required to engage with them. You can get information here: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue-energy/

If you are in Scotland you need to contact Advice Direct Scotland instead of Citizens Advice because they have the same role north of the border.

Thank you

Do you also have an app for your solar panels.

Mine records import and export. I check this against my Octopus smart meter readings. It would be useful to write down each month as recorded on this so that you have something to challenge.

If you look up the number of KWH used over the period and multiply it by your rate what figure does it give you? You'll need to add about £15 a month for standing charges..

If you were on Agile, it sometimes drops connection for a few of the half hour readings and this can affect a bill being generated automatically.

Was the bill that you paid estimated or based on meter readings?

I think there's an error somewhere. Perhaps instead of filling in a couple of gaps it's rebilled the entire period.

I'd try and manually work out your bills based on the kWh per month. If you understand roughly what the figure should be it will help you.

You also need to check the app readings match the meter.

Complain and ask to be assessed under Back Billing. Do not close your complaint until this is done then if you're still not happy escalate to the ombudsman. Also Google Ofgem and Back billing.

We had this last year. Octopus kept recharging us and then crediting us, and recharging a different amount. We had 32 rogue entries over about a month. Sometimes the credits came first. Octopus were stunningly uninterested in making sure our balance was correct. Eventually the rogue entries balanced out and I got £70 in compensation.

I think they've essentially rebilled us and entire year again, not taking into account anything we've paid or earned with export.

I've cross references the meter readings and they're all basically ok, just we paid them at the time and don't need to pay them all again!

What madness!! Did it all just stop after that or did you then move suppliers?

I'm so cross that they've basically taken the £300 credit we had and tried to set up a DD to take hundreds of pounds more that isn't theirs!

I had this exact thing happen with Octopus once. Turns out someone had been out to manually read the meter and put the night and day readings in the wrong way round. Get them to double check their meter readings.

I've just had the same and am still trying to get to the bottom of it. Even if the charges are justified, I still want to know why they've occured and if its likely to happen again. So far the person responding just keeps telling me that they can't get answers from the Energy Specialist. I used to take manual readings and then switched to a smart meter but its the period of manual readings that they've added to my latest bill.

They just charge randomly. I never seem to get a monthly bill it's always electric and gas - gas - gas electric etc so I never know where I am . Went from £409 credit to £90 debt in a day

Back-billing hasn’t been allowed since 2018. Radio 4 Moneybox are running a feature today at 12 noon. Might be worth a listen? Good luck OP

Have you previously downloaded any bills before the change so you can compare and see what's changed - you might have them lurking in your phone/laptop/online drive?

Are all the payments you've made showing on the new bills?

Or are they saying the money they've paid you for the FIT is wrong and removed it from your account?

I've downloaded all of the monthly bills for the period.

Essentially they have rebilled us for more than a year (back to 1st Jan 2024), as though we have never paid them anything in that time, not generated our own power or accrued export income.

Hi,
I just had a Google because ours had suddenly gone from £81 or so in credit to -£700 within a month and we've only been with them a few months with no missed payments and a direct debit set up with the amount theybrecommended based on our meter readings. I can't see how the charge could have increased quite so significantly for us either!

They are not allowed to bill you for energy used more than a year ago, even if it’s their mistake: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-bill/you-havent-received-a-gas-or-electricity-bill-in-a-while/