13 April - Thames Water is mainly crap (in rivers). Octopus Energy is mainly clapped
I have been mulling over the compilation of a list of
reasons why it is impossible for me to vote Conservative at the forthcoming
General Election and among them is allowing more than 50% of any utility company
to be foreign owned. Transport, Energy, Water and the major strategic Telecommunications
providers would be among them. Foreign ownership is potentially dangerous and
allowing it is the action of a traitor.
Ergo, no vote for the Globalist Conservative Party which one might say is also
more than 50% foreign owned.
Councillor Francis is in credit with his Water Bill but Thames Water wants to
increase his payment by 22·5%. I think I can top that. How about something like 700%?
It is widely accepted that Octopus Energy is the best provider from a customer
service point of view and I wouldn’t dispute that. Having come to them via British Gas and Scottish Power I am well aware what poor service is, but Octopus
is not perfect as the following images may illustrate.
Thanks to the solar panels and storage battery my electricity consumption is low
and with no one around indoors to moan that the house is cold my gas bill is reasonable too.
I have been paying £50 a month in Winter - which doesn’t cover the consumption - and £25 a month in
Summer when consumption is close to zero. Overall it works and last May I accepted
a refund of £600 which was in part a hang over from paying £120 (pre-battery) in the Winter months.
As you can see, my £50 payment will reduce to £25 in a week’s time when the
credit balance will increase to £352. By the end of Summer the credit will
probably go over £400 which will easily see me through next Winter.
Octopus Energy think I should be paying £172 a month which is 50% above my
highest ever bill which was very much a one-off.
If I click the ‘How is this calculated?’ button it tells me that they have looked
at my history and “have built up an accurate usage prediction” which is
obviously the purest bulls**t. They have my history back to 19th January 2018. Six times I have asked them exactly how they
calculate the £172·03 and now have a small collection of fantasy stories. I have
given up asking, there is obviously something seriously wrong with Octopus’s algorithms but
presumably it is a big earner from more gullible consumers.
You may also note that they won’t allow me to have my £327 back; not that
I have any intention of asking, it is the right sort of balance to keep my
account out of trouble for another year.
The energy cost shown in the third image is from the date the cap changed on 1st
April and not typical of a whole month bill. That cap reduction managed to increase my electricity
bill because the standing charge is such a large proportion of the bill. It went
up more than the electricity went down!
Despite the one failing, Octopus is still my best choice of provider.
Note: Thames Water once issued my 90 year old aunt with a summons for a persistent unfixed water leak in her house. When they eventually discovered that the leak was in their pipe under the road outside they absolutely refused to send her a letter of apology for scaring the life out of her. Awful company, can’t wait for it to go bust!