We downsized and got a smart meter… why have our Octopus utility bills skyrocketed? TAP ON THE CASE

Two years ago, my husband and I downsized from a three-bedroom house to a two-bedroom apartment. Since we moved, our energy bill has almost quadrupled.

Our supplier, Octopus, charges us almost £430 a month for electricity.

In our previous house we paid around £90 a month for gas and electricity (the new house has no gas).

When I asked about this, I was told that nothing could be done unless I had a smart meter installed. Octopus said this would make our accounts more accurate, so I agreed.

I had to wait six months for a technician and was then told that it was not possible to connect the meters. I have now had three separate meters installed, but none worked properly.

I have continued to make monthly payments of £120, which is the level our direct debit was set at when we first moved into the flat.

We currently have a debt of £1,859 on our account.

We experience this as stressful and it has consequences for our health. MD, Northumberland

Helen Crane from This is Money replies: Like many downsizers, you and your husband are retired and moved to a smaller house to save on living costs – but the opposite turned out to be true.

You told me that your bills have never been correct since you moved into the apartment, but no one seemed to be able to pinpoint the problem.

It’s a similar story to this couple, who found the cost of making a cup of tea shot up from 1p to £5 – in this case after they had a smart meter installed.

You have agreed to a smart meter. You have had a new meter installed, not once, but three times.

You even checked how much your neighbors in your apartment building were paying for their energy, and discovered it was much less than you were. But nothing seemed to get your bills back to normal.

You have submitted a formal complaint to Octopus several times. Your last complaint was closed in July 2024 even though you said the issue was not resolved. You were told you would receive a call back next week, but it never arrived.

Octopus reversed some of the charges on your account in April 2024 due to the problems you’ve been having, but in October your direct debit was increased again to £430 per month – much more than you think you’ll be using.

You sent another complaint to Octopus customer service and to the CEO’s email address in October, but said it was not acknowledged.

I contacted Octopus to ask what was going on.

She has checked your account and carried out remote ‘technical checks’ of your meters, but says she has found no problems with this.

You have an Economy 10 setup on your meter, which means a total of three measurements over two meters.

It records your energy consumption during the day and at night separately, as you are charged different rates.

This is a common cause of confusion on energy bills, but after investigating, Octopus said it had not caused any problems in your case and the energy consumption it had charged you for was still correct.

Instead, it thinks there’s an appliance in your home that’s using a lot more energy than you think.

You have no idea what this could be since most of your appliances come from your previous home where the bills were fine.

‘In cases like this where someone feels their energy usage is incorrect, but we can’t see any issues with the meter, we typically run a ‘creep test’ on the meter to determine if there are any appliances that are using more energy than expected,” said a spokesperson.

‘We should have tried that before changing the meter in 2023, and the fact that a new meter still gave high readings means there is probably something in the house using more power than MD expects. We are happy to help her investigate this further.’

But Octopus also said that they had not dealt with your complaints as well as they would have liked, and therefore wrote off your outstanding balance of £1,859.

It is advisable to have an electrician examine your heating system to ensure there are no underlying problems that could have caused the skyrocketing costs.

When I told you about this, you didn’t buy it. You decided that you no longer wanted to be an Octopus customer and decided to switch to another supplier, EDF.

You would not have been able to do this before because there were debts on your account.

You’ve since switched and say your invoices seem much more accurate so far.

You also think you’ve managed to solve the mystery of why your accounts have gone haywire.

When you came to EDF, you were asked for your meter readings because they seemed too low.

You sent a photo of your meters to EDF and it explained how the three different measurements work, and that one should refer to daytime energy consumption, one to nighttime and the third should be the total.

After re-examining your Octopus accounts, you think it added the day value to the total value, rather than adding the day value to the night value – which would explain the much higher cost.

I submitted this to Octopus, but it did not respond to that specific question.

You have also filed a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman, which means it is being investigated again.

Whatever the outcome, I hope that your worries about your energy bills are over and that you can enjoy your retirement in peace.

TAP ON THE CASE