Octopus Go random Billing

[ParHunter]

Hi

I am losing a bit of trust in Octopus with their billing. It seems they generate bills for random intervals at random times.

In July 2020 I was charged for the period 13/11/19-30/12/19. That is 6 to 7 months late!
In November 2020 I was charged for the period 04/10/20-08/11/20 This is on time!
In Jan 2021 I was charged for the period 31/10/19-03/10/20. One year in one go and several months late. On top of that it overlaps with the period 13/11/19-30/12/19. Was I charged twice for the period?

The support guy from Octopus had a look at my account and said everything is fine.

Is it possible to download the usage? I know they have a web page where you can enter the date and get a per half hour listing of your consumption.

Is anyone else getting these random bill intervals at random times?

 

[NorfolkMustard]

When I click on a bill on the site I get the full pdf, with the 30minute usage intervals of data. scroll down in the pdf to page 4 onwards - my bills are 32 pages long.

 

[Roy W.]

It sounds to me like your smart meter data is not reliably getting back to Octopus.

Even if there is no data for just one 30 minute period, that can stop the automated bill issuing. I get my bill, with the attached PDF with detailed usage data, like clockwork on the 20th of each month.

I’d contact Octopus again and ask them if they are getting your smart meter data reliably.

 

[ParHunter]

When I click on a bill on the site I get the full pdf, with the 30minute usage intervals of data. scroll down in the pdf to page 4 onwards - my bills are 32 pages long.

That is another issue. When I try to download a PDF I get an empty page.

 

[Cardo]

I had very random billing the first year I was with Octopus. After various support tickets over the year asking for a bill, things were eventually fixed and I’ve mostly had a bill each month. Mostly.

 

[Dilly]

I had very random billing the first year I was with Octopus. After various support tickets over the year asking for a bill, things were eventually fixed and I’ve mostly had a bill each month. Mostly.

Me too. At the outset, they were a bit random but never overlapping.they’ve been consistently monthly for some while now.

 

[rincewind]

That is another issue. When I try to download a PDF I get an empty page.

Is your PC set to open pdf's with a browser? This can be problematic. If so, change the default opening program to adobe pdf.

 

[Out and about]

Hi

I am losing a bit of trust in Octopus with their billing. It seems they generate bills for random intervals at random times.

In July 2020 I was charged for the period 13/11/19-30/12/19. That is 6 to 7 months late!
In November 2020 I was charged for the period 04/10/20-08/11/20 This is on time!
In Jan 2021 I was charged for the period 31/10/19-03/10/20. One year in one go and several months late. On top of that it overlaps with the period 13/11/19-30/12/19. Was I charged twice for the period?

The support guy from Octopus had a look at my account and said everything is fine.

Is it possible to download the usage? I know they have a web page where you can enter the date and get a per half hour listing of your consumption.

Is anyone else getting these random bill intervals at random times?

I've had the same exact situation, I was billed twice with octopus taking out over £800 from my account, I rang them explaining what happened and like yourself they couldn't find anything wrong, I even emailed Greg from Octopus and still waiting for an answer which has been a few months now, I was in credit with my account by £1800 which I can prove but they say there system doesn't show that, I'm just hoping it will eventually sort itself out, I suppose moral of the story is not to have such a healthy credit in future.
It has been such a stressful experience though.

 

[Alex987854]

I've had the same exact situation, I was billed twice with octopus taking out over £800 from my account, I rang them explaining what happened and like yourself they couldn't find anything wrong, I even emailed Greg from Octopus and still waiting for an answer which has been a few months now, I was in credit with my account by £1800 which I can prove but they say there system doesn't show that, I'm just hoping it will eventually sort itself out, I suppose moral of the story is not to have such a healthy credit in future.
It has been such a stressful experience though.

You probably need to email making it clear that it is a complaint rather than a query. This means you can then go to OFGEN if you don't get it resolved.

 

[Keeper]

If you’ve got the time and patience try adding up the Octopus daily half hourly consumption total for a day and see if it equals the total daily consumption that Octopus state. Mine have varied with a +20% difference on one day. All the days that I have checked the total are greater than the sum. One day I also had 2 half hourly totals repeated, with different figures, but added to the daily total. How can that happen unless done manually? Also, have you noticed that the daily consumption is adjusted upwards, up to 2 or 3 days after the the initial total is provided? How can that be? My meter reading excludes the Smart Charger consumption or the GO element. I get bills randomly too all of which seem high but impossible to check. It’s a right mess! Been in communication about it for a year with no resolution to date. Their best quote is “It’s currently just a beta service that you signed up to”. I thought that they were good initially but my suspicions have been raised. Be interested to hear if anyone else has experienced this malarkey.

 

[Mr Miserable]

Despite having smart meters I still take a photo of the meter reading every month. The photos came in useful during a dispute with the clowns at AES who swapped meters without recording any factual detail on the paperwork 2 years ago. So far with Octopus the figures tally with my bills.

 

[AMP_it_up]

Tell me about it! For the last year I have appeared to build up a large credit as they only billed me for gas usage and ignored the electricity smart meter readings. Then a few days ago my account was updated in one go to include all of the electricity for the last year, so I appear to owe several hundred pounds, but they seem happy to keep to the current monthly direct debit which was set up before we got our two EVs.
Then today I have received an email entitled "Your energy statement" with an attached pdf which starts with an estimate of the total annual cost for gas usage followed by pages and pages of electricity usage every half hour from 10 April 2020 to 24th January 2021 - WTF. They don't seem to know what they are doing with billing and the presented summary information is unclear.