Energy firm Octopus sorry for chasing Hartlebury man over 6k wrong bill

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Energy firm Octopus sorry for chasing Hartlebury man over 6k wrong bill

James Pearson

BBC Political Reporter, Hereford & Worcester

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BBC

Peter Holden said he had been repeatedly chased for debt by Octopus for an unconnected gas bill

A man has accused energy firm Octopus of “relentlessly” pursuing him for almost four years for another person’s gas bill of more than £6,000.

Despite repeatedly alerting the firm to the error, Peter Holden, 67, of Hartlebury, Worcestershire, said since August 2021 he was sent monthly energy bills and had been chased by debt collectors.

The firm’s pursuit continued despite staff admitting Mr Holden was charged for a meter that shared the same serial number, due to an error in industry data.

After being contacted by the BBC, Octopus Energy’s commercial director said he had personally apologised to Mr Holden and they would organise further training for staff to avoid the mistake being repeated.

“It’s been very frustrating that I’ve not been able to get them to stop sending these bills,” Mr Holden said.

“It’s been very stressful because they’ve put that debt in the hands of debt collection agencies on three occasions to try and get that money from me – even though it’s not my debt.”

Since 2021, the erroneous account’s outstanding balance rose from about £1,500 to more than £6,000.

After being sent several final notices from debt collectors, a firm visited Mr Holden’s home for the first time in February.

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Monthly bills for an unconnected gas meter have been sent to Mr Holden’s home for almost four years

An Octopus customer himself, he claimed the energy firm had put more resources into pursuing him for the bill than in trying to find the missing gas meter.

“The people I speak to on the phone or on email are apparently interested…but seem powerless to make any difference to stop this happening,” he added.

On one occasion in September, Mr Holden received an email from an Octopus staff member offering a “sincere” apology for the distress caused.

While the email assured him he was not liable for the debt and would not receive further communication, bills continued to be sent to Mr Holden’s house.

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Peter Holden wrote to Octopus’ boss Greg Jackson (pictured) in September to complain about his firm’s handling of the case

Mr Holden said he had complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office after receiving bills in which he was personally named.

“Octopus seem like they have an information management problem,” he said.

The firm insisted letters were sent to “the occupier”.

In September, Mr Holden also wrote to Octopus’ chief executive, Greg Jackson, to complain but said he had not received a reply from the boss’ office until last week.

“We sent Peter a number of letters addressed to ‘the occupier’ which were about the debt of another customer,” said Mario Lupori, commercial director at Octopus.

“It was a complex situation where another account of ours had the same technical details as Peter’s meter and it took us too long to fix.”

After personally apologising to Mr Holden, Mr Lupori said he would stay in contact and hoped to restore his faith in the company.

The energy firm said Mr Holden’s personal details had not been shared and his credit score had not been affected.

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