I've been with Octopus Energy for several years now and I have had nothing but praise for them and their revolutionary attitudes to the established norms in the energy industry resulting in cheaper bills for all, especially if you are willing to alter your consumption pattern.
Their billing over the years has been accurate which is a testament to their back office systems that can cope with the 30 min variable rates of Octopus Agile.
Over the last year or so I have been on the Octopus Go Faster tariff which is ideal for our circumstances.
Now call me a bluff old traditionalist but I do like to see what my bills are based on ie the meter readings. Octopus have managed to do this quite satisfactorily over the years.
I can see what my bill is based on and I can check it against my smart meter should I wish to do so.
Now however, Octopus 'in an effort to clean up the bills' have decided that for smart meter customers there is no need to show meter readings on their bills because 'people are only interested in consumption'. To me that is like a bank saying that from now on, in an effort to clean up our statements, we shall only show transactions without the all important balance figure or b/f or c/f figures - a crucial element is missing. It seems to be an unnecessary dumbing down of a bill. With previous suppliers who had for some reason or other bungled their billing process, it was good that I could refer to photos of meter readings and cross refer to meter readings shown on bills to quickly restore order. This will be a more difficult process should it occur with Octopus. They say I can always find my latest meter readings on their website but I can't find them there.
According to the OFGEM Standard Licence Conditions there doesn't appear to be a clear requirement to show the meter readings that the bill is based on but just clearly show the consumption figures. This is a bit of an omission in my opinion.
Should I move with the times and accept change, even though my experience tells me this is a mistake in the making?
Their billing over the years has been accurate which is a testament to their back office systems that can cope with the 30 min variable rates of Octopus Agile.
Over the last year or so I have been on the Octopus Go Faster tariff which is ideal for our circumstances.
Now call me a bluff old traditionalist but I do like to see what my bills are based on ie the meter readings. Octopus have managed to do this quite satisfactorily over the years.
I can see what my bill is based on and I can check it against my smart meter should I wish to do so.
Now however, Octopus 'in an effort to clean up the bills' have decided that for smart meter customers there is no need to show meter readings on their bills because 'people are only interested in consumption'. To me that is like a bank saying that from now on, in an effort to clean up our statements, we shall only show transactions without the all important balance figure or b/f or c/f figures - a crucial element is missing. It seems to be an unnecessary dumbing down of a bill. With previous suppliers who had for some reason or other bungled their billing process, it was good that I could refer to photos of meter readings and cross refer to meter readings shown on bills to quickly restore order. This will be a more difficult process should it occur with Octopus. They say I can always find my latest meter readings on their website but I can't find them there.
According to the OFGEM Standard Licence Conditions there doesn't appear to be a clear requirement to show the meter readings that the bill is based on but just clearly show the consumption figures. This is a bit of an omission in my opinion.
Should I move with the times and accept change, even though my experience tells me this is a mistake in the making?
.
