Yahoo Finance Glitch gives thousands of energy customers free gas – and they don’t have to pay it back
Thousands of energy customers have received a shock 99.9pc discount on their energy bills.
Unfortunately for them this was not the deal of the century but a glitch at supplier Octopus which meant customers had hundreds of pounds wiped from their bills.
Octopus sent an email to several thousands customers last week admitting it had billed them just 0.01pc for the amount of gas they used over the past few months.
The provider blamed the blunder on a “data feed error from a third party” affecting several thousand customers who have old imperial gas metres. All new gas metres are metric (that is, they record usage in cubic metres) but many households’ meters still register in cubic feet.
Octopus said it will not be seeking repayment from the customers who were undercharged and all of them have now been contacted.
A spokesman for Octopus said: “Several customers have since let us know they were aware the payments were lower than expected but that they were enjoying the discounts. Of course, we are offering further support to any affected customers as required.”
Customers who have not received an email should refrain from calling to see if they can get a discount, the provider said – adding that its phone lines were inundated with calls and that it wants to dedicate resources to vulnerable customers who need help paying their bills.
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Households across Britain have struggled to afford to heat their homes this winter, so the billing error will have been a welcome relief to those affected.
However Simon Francis of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, which represents over 60 campaigners and consumer organisations, said these customers now faced a nasty surprise.
“These same customers will now see a triple hit come 1 April. They will have to pay the full cost for their energy, the Energy Bill Support Scheme will come to an end and the Government is increasing the cost of the average energy bill by £500.
“This could spell disaster for many customers and we would hope that Octopus is actively identifying any vulnerable customers who may be affected to offer them extra support through this period of significant change.”
Under the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee, annual energy bills are limited to £2,500. But the cap will soar to £3,000 in April.
The analyst Investec forecasts this will drop to £2,165 from July as natural gas prices continue to fall through the year.
A spokesman for Octopus said: “We’re doing everything we can to help customers with their bills this winter, including grants from our £15m Octo Assist fund and free electric blankets, among other things.”
