I have 36 solar panels, but Octopus says my energy bill is £3,400
Assuming that the bill was an internal error, I contacted Octopus and was told that the company had not been able to take smart meter readings for more than 15 months. I had not been told about this prolonged failure, nor the fact that a technician had taken a manual reading in April. Furthermore, Octopus had switched me to a different tariff without my knowledge.
Fortunately, my home energy management system records precise consumption data so I have accurately calculated my energy usage — but Octopus refuses to accept any external readings.
It denies any wrongdoing and insists that my only option is to escalate the case to the Energy Ombudsman. Its proposed resolution was a £400 discount, which does not come close to addressing the error.
Steven, address supplied
Holly Thomas writes
Despite your significant investment of about £34,000 in solar panels and battery storage designed to reduce your energy costs and environmental impact, you were landed with a rather extraordinary energy bill.
It was all the more confusing because Octopus had, after the installation of your solar panels, acknowledged the fact that your bills would be reduced by cutting the amount of your direct debit from £595.09 a month to £146.32.
This amount more than covered your bills for over a year so the arrival of a bill for £3,436.23 for 15 months of usage must have come as a bolt from the blue.
The fact that Octopus refused to accept your own readings simply made matters more infuriating.
I spoke to Octopus and after some digging it turned out that your smart meter — a first-generation Smets 1 meter — was not so smart after all. Not only was it not properly communicating with Octopus’s systems, but it was in fact merrily adding extra units that you weren’t using — for more than a year.
First-generation smart meters were found to have issues if customers changed supplier and have been known to go “dumb” so that they do not communicate at all. It has been the source of many issues with these devices, and is the reason they have been replaced with Smets 2 meters, but a case where a meter makes up numbers altogether is a new one to me.
Octopus has now calculated your correct usage and amended your previous bills. It said that you had paid £146.32 a month for 15 months since October 2023 and that your total bill should have been £2,797.68, instead of the £3,400-plus it had demanded. It meant that you still owed Octopus £602.88 but it has wiped this balance as a gesture of goodwill.
Octopus said: “The first-generation smart meter wasn’t properly communicating with our systems resulting in the customer being charged more than expected, which we should have caught sooner and fixed faster.”
You now have a new smart meter which, so far, is working fine and you are pleased this is finally sorted.
According to the latest government data, 66 per cent of homes in Britain have a smart or advanced meter, with more than 90 per cent of them working correctly.
Earlier this year, the energy regulator Ofgem proposed new rules which DO or WILL mean that consumers will get automatic compensation if smart meters that don’t work are not fixed within 90 days, as well as for installation delays and problems. The government says this is part of work to bring down bills for and “rebuild consumers’ confidence in the energy sector”.
After years of resistance, I have recently decided to bite the bullet and get a smart meter because I feel that I can no longer ignore the fact that they give access to the most competitive energy tariffs. I’ll let you know how I get on — watch this space.
Our ‘pub in a church’ proceeds have gone Awol
I have been using a SumUp machine to take payments for over two years with no trouble at all until last month. Our village holds a “pub in the church” once a month (with a licence) run on a not-for-profit basis.
Drinks are paid for using the SumUp machine and the money goes directly to a Lloyds bank account. We have different volunteers each month to run the pub. Last month money was taken via the SumUp machine but instead of going to the usual account, the money went into a SumUp business account — a sum of £133.96. I didn’t ask for this account and ever since I have been trying to retrieve the money with no result. I can’t access it because the app is asking for identification to verify me, but as I didn’t set it up there is a problem.
I contacted SumUp using the online chat, I phoned and spoke to a robot, and I have emailed the support centre with no response other than to say that they will be in touch soon, but nobody has responded. This has been going on for over three weeks now. It might help if I could speak to somebody in person.
I would just like to retrieve the money so it can go into the correct account.
Name and address supplied
Holly Thomas writes
You started the pub in the church with permission from the parochial church council as a way of bringing the community together. Since the church is the only public building in your village it is used as a community space as well as for holding services and religious events.
SumUp machines have been a superb solution for street traders’ community events such as yours because they enable card payments on the go without having to install a card machine like those you would find in a shop or restaurant.
SumUp looked into your case and told me that on the evening the payment device was used, one of your volunteers accidentally activated a SumUp business account within the app.
This account is designed to be the default destination for payments, giving next-day access to money. Your usual account is slower, meaning that you wait 1-2 working days between taking the payment and being able to withdraw funds.
Because the business account is a more complex financial product, its activation triggered a standard regulatory identity check and the funds were frozen until that could be done.
SumUp moved quickly to redirect the funds into the usual channel and gave you a masterclass on the phone on how to reconfigure payout settings so that funds always go directly to your preferred bank account.
You were also shown how to set up “employee profiles”, which will ensure that volunteers can take payments for the village event without being able to accidentally activate new products or change account settings.
SumUp also apologised for giving you the runaround when you tried to reach someone. It has offered you £25 as a goodwill gesture, which you have accepted and will put towards the cost of your event.
SumUp said: “A high volume of incoming requests significantly delayed the response. This is not at all reflective of the service standards the company strives to uphold.”
You are relieved that this is now sorted for future pubs in the church. Cheers!
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