“Really disappointing how much this company has gone downhill. The perks are getting worse, prices are no longer competitive and the customer service when you actually raise a complaint is poor. I’ve been a loyal customer for years with multiple accounts and basically got generic responses and excuses rather than anyone actually addressing the issue. Loyalty clearly means very little to them now. There are much better options out there, I’d definitely shop around before signing up or renewing.”
“⭐ 1 STAR – Extremely poor experience with Octopus Energy
I would give zero stars if I could.
I moved into a new-build property in March 2025 and transferred my electricity and gas to Octopus shortly afterwards. What followed was over a year of repeatedly chasing Octopus to resolve basic smart-meter and In-Home Display (IHD) problems.
The gas meter was not properly commissioned, despite the property having had the smart meter installed months earlier. There were repeated remote commissioning attempts, requests for information, delays and periods where I heard very little. Eventually an engineer had to attend the property in April 2026 before the gas meter was finally commissioned.
The IHD has been an even bigger problem. It has never worked properly for me. Octopus made numerous attempts to commission it, including multiple join requests, replacement IHDs, troubleshooting, requests for install codes and escalation to their smart-metering specialists.
At one point Octopus discovered that the IHD had actually been incorrectly registered on their system as a PPMID rather than an IHD. They corrected their own error, but the problem still wasn't resolved.
There were then further issues with an old IHD remaining registered against my account, which Octopus eventually identified and removed. Another join request was sent, but the IHD still failed, repeatedly showing messages such as "Connecting to smart meter" and "Lost network".
Throughout this process I repeatedly cooperated with Octopus, provided photographs, serial numbers and information, made the IHD available for troubleshooting and positioned it immediately next to the external meter when requested.
Despite all of this, Octopus eventually tried to suggest that I was not cooperating because I had not left the IHD outside next to the external meter for prolonged periods. The irony is that the meter is installed externally and the IHD is an indoor electrical device, with no internal battery despite having a battery compartment. I had already positioned it immediately adjacent to the meter when carrying out their requested troubleshooting.
They also suggested that I had been using the wrong/old IHD, despite the fact that it was Octopus who had the old device registered on my account and subsequently had to identify and remove it.
After months of this, I had no choice but to take the matter to the Energy Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman upheld my complaint concerning both the smart-meter communication issue and Octopus's customer service. The Ombudsman found that the matter had been prolonged, had caused unnecessary strain, inconvenience and frustration, and that I had spent significant time chasing Octopus. They also found that Octopus had not acknowledged its customer-service failings.
The Ombudsman required Octopus to provide a £100 goodwill payment, a written apology and action regarding the IHD.
The £100 was initially credited to my account by Octopus, then removed when the matter was escalated to the Ombudsman because they said the Ombudsman might determine the remedy.
Eventually, after more failed attempts, I switched supplier.
What should have been a relatively straightforward smart-meter/IHD commissioning issue turned into more than a year of emails, failed commissioning attempts, repeated troubleshooting, incorrect information, internal registration errors, delays and having to repeatedly chase for progress.
The most frustrating part was not simply that something went wrong. Technical problems happen. It was the way the problem was managed and the amount of time and effort I had to spend trying to get Octopus to take ownership of it.
I have now moved to another supplier and, frankly, I am relieved to have drawn a line under it.
If you're considering Octopus, my experience would be to think very carefully about how they handle problems when things don't go according to plan. The initial experience may be fine, but my experience of their complaints and smart-meter support was extremely disappointing.
One star because zero isn't an option.”
“Octopus Energy are a poor utility provider. Left me without power, messed up a migration to pre-payment and never satisfactorily resolved a complaint I had with them. Poor all round I am switching supplier to Home Energy.”
“Faulty meter for nearly 4 weeks now. Engineer supposed to be here between 8 and noon which is why I've taken the day off work. No show and heard nothing. Phoned them at 1.30 but they haven't got back to me. Really bad!!”
“We had solar isntalled by Octupus. The company they used went into administration. In feb/ March time we noticed our battery has not been working. We called the team and haev been patiently waiting for someone to help us. An appointment was made in August however it was booked with the wrong engineer and they hae bumped us back to the bottom of the list again. I am a 94 year old man. Because i have had to pay for electricity the whole way through summer i will not have enough money to get through winter this year. My son and granddaughter have called on my behalf as i am not getting anywhere and no one wants to help me. to any of you thinking about using Octupus please don't they just want to take your money. Makes me think they have broken the system on purpose so i can not resell back to the grid.”
“Octopus Energy is the most incompetent Energy provider I've had the displeasure of using. There is next to no customer service, and when you do get some, it seems like no one has any idea how to solve any problem. I have been left on read, and made to stay home from work waiting for engineers that never showed or gave notice, on MULTIPLE occasions. It took months of being left on read and almost daily calls for them to send an engineer out who was supposed to install a smart meter and then left without connecting it to anything. We have been trying to get an engineer out ever since and at the time of writing this that was 7 months ago. If you live in a building with multiple flats do yourself a favor and do NOT pick Octopus for your energy needs”
“i asked to have my daughter added to the account, Octpus energy explained what i need to do. My daughter sent an e mail with the account number whilst explaining to add her to the account, this was sorted within an hour, thanks Ben 👍”
“I switched to Octopus Energy in November 2025. Things were fine until February 2026, when my electricity meter stopped counting readings. After months of chasing them, a technician finally arrived in May to replace the meter.
However, the new meter caused the gas meter to have the same issue, and it has remained unresolved all the way through to August. Today, I stayed in all day because a technician was scheduled to arrive between 5:00 and 8:00 PM, but they never showed up, causing me to lose another day of work due to their customer service. Additionally, they often forget to send my bills automatically, and when they do, the import figures are counted but my export energy is ignored, which requires yet another call to get corrected.”
“I was able to speak to a human who could make sure I was able to choose Intelligent Octopus Go again for another year even though the app wouldn't give me that option.”
“I've recently changed from Octopus energy because they were trying to keep my repayments high when i was in a lot of credit. Since i've switched to British gas and saving a lot of money, Octopus energy are refusing to refund me the outstanding credit. Endless emails and goal posts changing for information they have already. Awful customer service.”
“Just had Damian to fit an ohme e pod charger ..what a lovely man .punctual , tidy worker explained everything assisted to set up app and how to use charger ..5 stars ..a very big thank you from a female that had no knowledge how to use it”
“I have a problem getting my car to charge. I have had 4 support calls, all of which have been excellent.
I am still to get my car to charge correctly but feel to be making progress. All support personnel have been both courteous and knowledgeable.”
“Two complaints, same mess every time
I keep hearing Octopus advertising their amazing customer service on the radio. I’ve dealt with them properly twice and both times it has been horrendous.
First time, they failed to bill my gas for months, then suddenly added nearly a year’s charges in one go. I had been sending meter readings and their own records showed that, but customer service kept blaming missing readings.
While the account was under complaint, they tried increasing my Direct Debit from £133.44 to £328.97. They later agreed a £317.87 credit, then closed the complaint before the final bill and change-of-supplier readings were sorted. When I made them reopen it, I was told the credit would have to be removed.
Now I’m dealing with them again over a missed-payment marker on my credit file, despite Octopus previously telling me in writing that no adverse marker would be added while the dispute was open.
Again, same pattern. Twice they said they had not heard from me when I had replied. They told me to check their website for the marker, then admitted it cannot be seen there. They said the removal had been sent to TransUnion, then hours later said I needed a Direct Debit for it to be removed.
Their emails sound polite, but nobody properly reads the history. You end up correcting them and doing their job for them.”
“British Gas has its issues, but Octopus Energy is on a whole other level of awful
Like many people, I spent years putting up with sub-par support from British Gas, but one particular interaction with an especially rude and annoying customer service agent on the phone was my absolute breaking point. I just thought, 'I've had enough now,' and started looking around to switch providers. Ironically, about a week after I started the switch, a British Gas representative called me back offering a better deal. To be fair, she was actually really nice on the phone—a stark contrast to the agent who drove me away in the first place—but it was too little, too late. I told her I'd made up my mind and went ahead to Octopus Energy.
To start with, Octopus was great. I even had occasion to talk to someone on the phone who was really nice and helpful, and I thought I'd made the right choice. I stayed with them for about five months. However, being self-employed, I unfortunately got ill and ran into a brief cash flow problem, leaving me owing about £80 for that month. I figured I'd work it out shortly.
Instead, about six weeks later, I got a phone call from a guy at Octopus. I explained the situation, and he bluntly told me, 'I should tell you, sir, but we've taken your account to collections,' and added that if I didn't pay it immediately, it could screw up my credit score for six years. Over an £80 shortfall for a single month! I couldn't believe it.
Within 10 days, I paid Octopus everything I owed and got out of there. I realized that even though British Gas is pretty bad, it is a hell of a lot better than Octopus. I'm back with British Gas now—I'm not particularly thrilled about it, BUT If anyone is thinking about switching from British Gas to Octopus, take my advice: stick with what you know, because Octopus was an awful experience."
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“Absolutely shocking regarding the…
Absolutely shocking regarding the information you are given. Promises of call backs, they don’t happen. Promises of emails with documents for that day, they don’t happen. One person gives you certain information speak to someone else they give you different information, then you receive an email with totally again different information. They all seem to be reading of different scripts and all trained differently but in turn messes you around not knowing what the hell is going on.”
