Octopus Energy

[mj224]

As a final comment, I have changed provider.

But today I get an email saying I still owe £42 odd. No problem, so I ring up and offer to pay this residue. I was told it was an error, and that the new provider will bill me as appropriate. There was a small residue of £1 odd, and they would waive that. Excellent I thought, and said I would put that amount into a charity box on Octopus's behalf.

30 minutes later I had an email apologising for their error, and I still owed £42 odd.

With respect to Octopus, can they ever get their billing correct.........:-(

 

[RichardC]

As a final comment, I have changed provider.

But today I get an email saying I still owe £42 odd. No problem, so I ring up and offer to pay this residue. I was told it was an error, and that the new provider will bill me as appropriate. There was a small residue of £1 odd, and they would waive that. Excellent I thought, and said I would put that amount into a charity box on Octopus's behalf.

30 minutes later I had an email apologising for their error, and I still owed £42 odd.

With respect to Octopus, can they ever get their billing correct.........:-(

Who have you changed to?

 

[mj224]

Out of the pan into the fire...Ecotricity..:-(

 

[JodyS21]

As a final comment, I have changed provider.

But today I get an email saying I still owe £42 odd. No problem, so I ring up and offer to pay this residue. I was told it was an error, and that the new provider will bill me as appropriate. There was a small residue of £1 odd, and they would waive that. Excellent I thought, and said I would put that amount into a charity box on Octopus's behalf.

30 minutes later I had an email apologising for their error, and I still owed £42 odd.

With respect to Octopus, can they ever get their billing correct.........:-(

I just don't trust any of them really!
It only takes a few minutes to check the charges are correct, I've been having to check them every time a bill has been produced for the last year.

 

[Big Nige]

My initial billing was slow - about 2 Months also I think.

I switched to Octopus from Bulb last October and only got my firsty bill in June. This was after six months of chasing and constantly being fobbed off with no one ever getting back to me. My query was escalated twice with no results. In the end I complained to the Ombudsman and magically it was all sorted in 48hrs with an apology & £250 credited to my account. 24 hrs after that I had a mildly threatening email to cough up over £400 to bring my account up to date. This didn't even take into account the £250 they had paid me! Their argument all along was that the day/night readings (economy 7) had got swapped at changeover and they were getting no info from bulb. Personally, I don't believe them. All seems to be ok now, but on the whole I've been underwhelmed by Octopus.

 

[chowbenter]

I’m in a 4 bed detached house with garden room, charging 2 cars and I’m only £80 a month for gas and electricity combined on Octopus Agile and currently almost £300 in credit.

Blimey! Those were the days, When we got changed over from Avro energy to Octopus energy flexible tariff last year, Our monthly dual fuel bill doubled. They've just sent us another email saying we need to be paying a further £104/month
We're low usage & are already in credit over £200 & will not be using the gas central heating over the next 4-5 months which will put us further in credit, WTH!!!!

 

[Lguk]

I'm on a fixed deal with octopus until August. So I locked in at a cheap rate before 2 significant price hikes. By the time I renew in August the price hike due in October will likely be known. Despite my current estimated cost being £100/month, I've been increasing my DD to build a surplus as its likely to renew closer to £300/month and building a credit will ease the pain. Let's be honest 5p of interest that I'm put of pocket by is worth it to try and soften the price increase over 18 months instead of 12 and slowly condition myself to the higher monthly bills.

The better energy companies are trying to do similar for people, but not all are explaining to people what their costs are likely to be come October.

I'm also hedging my bets and stocking up on as much free/cheap hardwood logs I can get my hands on for my log burner.

 

[Brianlescargot]

Blimey! Those were the days, When we got changed over from Avro energy to Octopus energy flexible tariff last year, Our monthly dual fuel bill doubled. They've just sent us another email saying we need to be paying a further £104/month
We're low usage & are already in credit over £200 & will not be using the gas central heating over the next 4-5 months which will put us further in credit, WTH!!!!

I’m still £80 and still well in credit. I also have solar so actual bills will remain low over the next few months but I’m expecting prices to go up a lot when our current tariff ends. Personally I’m looking at going onto air source heat pump now and removing gas completely.

 

[Lguk]

My understanding was that ASHP and GSHP needed significant electricity to run and you would need grid electricity as you would be unlikely to generate enough solar during the winter months (was looking at air con, run on solar in the summer months previously) although my comment probably belongs in a different post.

 

[Brianlescargot]

My understanding was that ASHP and GSHP needed significant electricity to run and you would need grid electricity as you would be unlikely to generate enough solar during the winter months (was looking at air con, run on solar in the summer months previously) although my comment probably belongs in a different post.

Shouldn’t need significant, they are pretty efficient. I am also looking at battery storage which will be filled to capacity very night from off peak and solar during the day.

 

[Gomev]

I’m still £80 and still well in credit. I also have solar so actual bills will remain low over the next few months but I’m expecting prices to go up a lot when our current tariff ends. Personally I’m looking at going onto air source heat pump now and removing gas completely.

My understanding was that ASHP and GSHP needed significant electricity to run and you would need grid electricity as you would be unlikely to generate enough solar during the winter months (was looking at air con, run on solar in the summer months previously) although my comment probably belongs in a different post.

If looking at heat pumps if you haven't seen this it might be worth a look. It's not about whether you should get one but what you need to do to assess your property for requirements and what else you will need to do. Very informative.

 

[Gomev]

Really good podcast with Octopus Founder & CEO Greg Jackson and Bobby Llewellyn (Fully Charged). Some interesting topics covered including hydrogen.

 

[Brianlescargot]

If looking at heat pumps if you haven't seen this it might be worth a look. It's not about whether you should get one but what you need to do to assess your property for requirements and what else you will need to do. Very informative.

I’ve researched thoroughly. Currently there is £7.5k cash back on installation in Scotland. Our heating is never higher than 17 degrees so not looking for a boiling hot house. Nice ambient temperature will be ideal.

 

[Lguk]

My house would be somewhat useless in its current state. Its old, has crittal single glazing and an extension with a polycarb roof. I'm planning on ripping that down and replacing with a modern extension with solar on the roof (south facing) but conservation zone may render that cost prohibitive. Hydrogen boilers when the time comes is lkley to be the most cost effective. Thanks for the links.

 

[jamesie]

I had a Vaillant heat pump installed mid March and so far very happy with it.

 

[Gomev]

My house would be somewhat useless in its current state. Its old, has crittal single glazing and an extension with a polycarb roof. I'm planning on ripping that down and replacing with a modern extension with solar on the roof (south facing) but conservation zone may render that cost prohibitive. Hydrogen boilers when the time comes is lkley to be the most cost effective. Thanks for the links.

Not sure that hydrogen is a go-er, see the interview with Octopus CEO Greg Jackson above post #52.

Re living in a conservation area, in reality very little is different to any other area. You only need to check for local Article 4 directions that restrict normal permitted development, otherwise everything is the same as anywhere else.
The local Authority may not like what you do and wave the 'conservation badge' at you but they have very little power, so unless it's in that Article 4 restriction you can do whatever everyone else can do that's not in a conservation area.
Checkout the Planning Portal for guidance. (NB Conservation areas are included in the term Designated Land). Believe it or not Local Authority Planning departments use that site too and recommend the public to use it as a first port of call when planning something).

Apologies to anyone who was aware of this anyway but hopefully useful to someone.

 

[BowlingBrian]

I’m still £80 and still well in credit. I also have solar so actual bills will remain low over the next few months but I’m expecting prices to go up a lot when our current tariff ends. Personally I’m looking at going onto air source heat pump now and removing gas completely.

One thing to take into account with an ASHP is that they run at a lower temperature 45deg C as apposed to a gas boiler that runs at 80deg C so you will need to increase the size of your rads by the same proportion.

 

[Gomev]

One thing to take into account with an ASHP is that they run at a lower temperature 45deg C as apposed to a gas boiler that runs at 80deg C so you will need to increase the size of your rads by the same proportion.

Not necessarily, see the YouTube posted above in post #53, a common misconception. It is more comparable to underfloor heating, constantly on with a lower temperature.

 

[Gr44]

Has anyone put an emersion hot water heater on a timer for the overnight 4 hours slot to use instead of the gas boiler? I take it the pictured would do the job but is it cheaper?

Appreciate this is a very old post, but I would strongly look into the heating element in your photo, it appears to be of an old design before a new law came in to mandate a thermal shut-off in immersion heaters.

My understanding is this law was implemented due to a number of them failing, and continuing to heat water beyond the set-point on the thermostat, causing the water to boil, flow back into the cold water tank and the cold water tank to rupture, causing a tonne or so of 100*c water to flood through your ceilings.

Having had mine go, and boil the water... thankfully spotted before any harm was done, quite bizarre seeing steam coming out of the cold water taps when frantically draining it down though!

Replacements are £10-20 and a 5min job (consult a trade if not sure obviously)

Again, apologies for the post revival, but would rather others were aware - the thought of a tonne of boiling water crashing through the ceiling with my toddler underneath was scary enough!

 

[Archev]

Appreciate this is a very old post, but I would strongly look into the heating element in your photo, it appears to be of an old design before a new law came in to mandate a thermal shut-off in immersion heaters.

My understanding is this law was implemented due to a number of them failing, and continuing to heat water beyond the set-point on the thermostat, causing the water to boil, flow back into the cold water tank and the cold water tank to rupture, causing a tonne or so of 100*c water to flood through your ceilings.

Having had mine go, and boil the water... thankfully spotted before any harm was done, quite bizarre seeing steam coming out of the cold water taps when frantically draining it down though!

Replacements are £10-20 and a 5min job (consult a trade if not sure obviously)

Again, apologies for the post revival, but would rather others were aware - the thought of a tonne of boiling water crashing through the ceiling with my toddler underneath was scary enough!

Yes I agree with all that entirely. It’s a terrifying scenario. Thankfully, many direct immersion heater and indirect, boiler heated, thermostats are now required to have a thermal cut out incorporated. These can sometimes be swapped for the (hopefully) few remaining older uncontrolled types. And bear in mind that these uncontrolled units can include the more “modern” unvented or mains pressure type cylinders. These latter will at least have a back up pressure and temperature safety relief valve but this shouldn’t be deemed to be a replacement for the cut out.
In short - if there’s any doubt - have the system checked - it doesn’t take long.