Octopus Energy Alleging Debt?

[nick7602]

HI And Good Morning

 

I am disabled person and registered disabled.

 

My energy supplier Octopus Energy allege we owe £467.16......

 

We informed Octopus we were moving  away from paying Direct Debit due to the ridiculous fluctuating amounts taken from our budget account each month, we set up with Octopus a Standing Order the amount has been taken from our account each month with no issues, there wasn't any debt carried over when we dissolved the Direct Debit and set up the Standing Order, yet we keep getting debt letters through the door?

 

My Wife has E Mailed phoned and contacted Octopus Energy, but we still keep getting these debt letters, when its clear to us that we do not owe this money, today we have received a Final Notice which is crazy, the letter states that we haven't made contact when we have, and we have the E Mails to prove it.

 

So Im lost, we have never missed a payment to Octopus, all we did was move to a Standing Order. 

 

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Mr N Kinson

 

[BankFodder]

start off by sending them an SAR

[nick7602]

Morning Bank Fodder

 

Thank you I will, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this, Im very very careful with my debts and know where the last pound is going from our budget account, so as you can imagine I am shocked, we are still paying Octopus??

 

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Mr Kinson

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

can you not get on your online portal on their site and download all the bills?

 

dx

 

[nick7602]

Hi DX

 

Interesting point, Im not sure, but I will try. 

 

Bank mentioned to send an SAR, you wouldn't by chance have a template would you?

 

 

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

click sar

 

dx

 

[nick7602]

it appears I am being charged twice per month because I am on Standing Order?

 

the following was agreed by the Octopus Energy Operator

 

Hi Lisa,

That's nots not a problem, I can see you have been paying by bank transfer, do you want to continue doing this or do you want to set up a direct debit.

Kind Regards,

Beth

 

On Tue, 28 Mar 2023 at 04:35, 

I have previously written to you regarding this account explaining I have been in hospital and my husband has mental health issues and he didn’t change our account number on our standing order.

 

As he is on benefits and I am a low paid key worker we can only afford the £110.00 we are currently paying as we are struggling with our rent and council tax increases too.

I have updated our account to the correct number as of now

Sorry about this confusion but I have written to you previously with no response

Kindest Regards

 

 

This was only agreed on the 12th Of April 

 

 

 

 

From: Octopus Energy <hello@octopus.energy>
Date: 12 April 2023 at 11:52:25 BST
To: 
Subject: Overdrawn account
 



Hi,

That is not a problem, have a nice day.

Kind Regards,

Beth

On Tue, 28 Mar 2023 at 17:36, wrote:

Hi
Thank you so much for replying to my email
Can we stay with the SO at the moment as it seems to cause less stress to my husband!!
Kindest regards
Mrs 

[nick7602]

Hi

 

I am being charged £125 to £132 every two weeks, so my £110 monthly payment which was agreed by Octopus Energy on the 12th of April is in effect going nowhere, I-am actually increasing the debt by £147 each month

 

Im just so worried now, as you know I am disabled.......i really don't know what to do.....I just cant afford £257 per month on just electric

 

[unclebulgaria67]

At work today one of my colleagues was complaining of similar issues with Octopus.

 

I think you will have no choice but to cancel all payment arrangements to Octopus and send them a letter of complaint explaining why you have had to cancel the payment arrangements.  

 

And once you have complained to Octopus if they don't resolve to your satisfaction, then go to the Energy Ombudsman.

 

/images/bitmap/ombudsman-share-image.png

Energy Ombudsman: Here to help with gas & electricity complaints

WWW.OMBUDSMAN-SERVICES.ORG

---

Do you have an unresolved complaint about your gas or electricity provider? Find out how we may be able to help.

 

[brassnecked]

You have been submitting monthly meter readings if not a (not so) Smart meter?  Just to make sure they aren't chasing assumed debt as in estimated bills? Asking just for completeness.

 

[Bazooka Boo]

I'm with Octopus, not through choice mind, however.

 

Each and every time they have informed me that they were going to increase the DD amount, the latest being by £67 due to the Govt stopping their energy help payments.

I have simply emailed them stating that this isn't possible and that the DD must remain at it's current level or I will cancel it and set up a SO.

 

They have always agreed and the DD has remained the same.

 

https://octopus.energy/blog/what-to-do-cant-afford-payments/#setpaymentamount

 

In essence, YOU tell them what the DD amount will be each month.

 

 

[nick7602]

Good Morning:  UncleBulgaria, Brassnecked, And Bazooka Boo.

 

Thank you Unclebulgaria for your advice yesterday of which I am now considering, also sorry for the late reply.

 

Brassnecked, Thats interesting, no I haven't been submitting meter readings, although the meter readings sent to me by Octopus don't seem to far away from the current meter readings, ( Octopus Estimated Reading 56661 )  ( Live and Current Reading: 56534 )

 

Bazooka Boo: We cancelled the DD, and set up a SO due to the fluctuating monthly bill, this was agreed by Octopus, and an Email trail exists as can be seen above where Octopus agreed to the £110 monthly payments,

 

however Octopus have now sent a threatening final demand letter, stating that we have never contacted them, when we have, and we have phoned them numerous times with a plethora of conversations,

 

thankfully my wife has always reverted back to E Mails as proof of contact....and we have the email to hand stating they agree to £110......

 

So do you think I should press ahead with the complaint to them , or just cancel the SO and complain as suggested by Unclebulgaria above........

[Homer67]

@nick7602 when you set the replacement SO up did you:

 

a) cancel the existing DD?

 

b) check the details you used to set the SO up such as your Octopus account no were correct?

 

[nick7602]

Hi Guys

 

I have attached the bills sent to me by Octopus Energy for you all to look at

Octopus Energy Billing 2022 to 2023.pdf

 

 

 

 

any thoughts??

 

[unclebulgaria67]

You have fallen behind with paying amounts for usage, due to number of estimated bills. There was a sudden jump when a meter reading was provided.

 

You need to provide more regular meter readings to Octopus and set the monthly amount, so annually you are covering most of the usage.

[nick7602]

Hi Uncle

 

Jan to March our payments of £110 are missing for the bills?....the government money payments have been included but not my payments?

 

Hi Homer, quite interestingly..........the latest STO number is different to all previous STO numbers for some reason

 

I cancelled the Direct Debit??

 

 

 

[Homer67]

@nick7602 I wonder if there's an issue with your SO and Octopus are not receiving your payments?

[nick7602]

Hi Avatar

 

I think you have hit the nail on the head, my wife and I have had words, seems that she spoke to Octopus and they gave us the recent STO number because of confusion so a new Account number was set up for this recent address, however she omitted to tell me that when she spoke to Octopus they alleged that they haven't receive a couple of payments.

 

On checking the bank account, all payments have been received by Octopus..even though a couple are not showing on the Bills

 

How should I play this guys?....there has been a mess up it seems....by Octopus....clearly we owe money but Im not convinced now its the amount stated by them

 

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Send a complaint asking them to find out where the missing payment are.   Provide them with all information you have available to help them find the payments.

 

As advised before. You should be paying based on what you would have to pay annually.  Normally energy companies tell you roughly how much your annual bills will be based on your usage.  

[nick7602]

Thank you Unclebulgaria for your kind help and understanding 

[nick7602]

Hi Guys

 

Here is the response from Octopus, after the pre amble of Im sorry etc from Octopus. here is what they are saying sent the 4th of May to me.

 

Regarding the missing payments, I have reviewed your account, and I can confirm that we have received your payments for the months of January to March 2023. However, it seems that these payments were not applied to your account correctly. I have now updated your account with the missing payments, and we will re-bill you based on this information. You should receive an updated bill within the next 24-48 hours at the latest.

Regarding your request to move to a fixed payment account, I can certainly look into this for you. Please note that this may result in higher monthly payments, as you will be paying for your energy usage on a fixed basis rather than a variable basis. I will send you an email with more information on how to switch to a fixed payment account.

 

Is this right?...... it appears to me that I am being penalised because I wont allow them to dip into my account as and when they feel enhancing their cash flow 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes quite often if a customer wants to pay by standard order, the energy companies want an amount that covers approximate annual usage + a percentage to cover possible increased energy consumption e.g., cold winter.

[nick7602]

Thank you Uncle

 

I will say they haven't updated the Bill yet however......but it is soon after Bank Holiday