Octopus Energy: most-reported complaints
Automated analysis of 3,669 public Trustpilot reviews published 2026-06-15 to 2026-09-27. TrustScore 4.8 from 876,929 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is Octopus Energy legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Reviewers most often report that Octopus Energy's support is unhelpful, with 317 instances accounting for 42% of identified complaints. Billing errors are the second most common issue, cited in 211 cases (28% of complaints) and showing a rising trend. Additionally, 127 reviewers (17%) found support unreachable, while 78 cases (10%) involved account or app problems.
How to reach Octopus Energy
These are the contact details Octopus Energy publishes on its Trustpilot profile, as of our last check on 2026-09-27 — phone 0808 164 1088, email [email protected], address UK House, 164-182 Oxford Street, London, London, W1D 1NN, GB.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2016-02-24, uses Trustpilot’s paid features, uses Trustpilot’s AI-assisted replies, and last replied to a negative review on 2026-09-25. Trustpilot ranks it 4 of 38 in Energy Supplier. We last checked this profile on 2026-09-27 and found 200 new reviews. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Official complaint record
Citizens Advice (Q4 2025): 3.78★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2024): 3.4★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2023): 2.52★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2022): 3.35★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2021): 3.75★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2020): 4.15★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2019): 3.95★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2018): 3.95★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q4 2017): 4.15★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2025): 3.75★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2024): 3.2★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2023): 2.52★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2022): 3.05★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2021): 3.95★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2020): 4.3★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2019): 4.15★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q3 2018): 4.3★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2025): 3.75★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2024): 2.85★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2023): 3.3★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2022): 3.25★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2021): 3.95★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2020): 4.15★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2019): 3.75★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q2 2018): 4.3★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2026): 3.67★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2025): 3.42★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2024): 2.52★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2023): 3.65★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2022): 3.15★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2021): 3.85★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2020): 3.85★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2019): 4.05★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Citizens Advice (Q1 2018): 3.8★ Citizens Advice customer-service rating. source
Ofgem (Q4 2025): 495 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q4 2024): 844 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q4 2023): 1142 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q4 2022): 1040 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q4 2021): 593 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q4 2020): 507 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q4 2019): 254 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q4 2018): 168 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2025): 560 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2024): 1841 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2023): 1133 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2022): 823 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2021): 613 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2020): 565 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2019): 266 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q3 2018): 132 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2026): 476 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2025): 570 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2024): 1598 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2023): 1126 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2022): 662 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2021): 563 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2020): 475 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2019): 223 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q2 2018): 229 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2026): 538 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2025): 747 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2024): 1155 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2023): 1110 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2022): 649 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2021): 488 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2020): 450 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Ofgem (Q1 2019): 239 complaints per 100,000 customers. source
Official figures reported by the regulator/ombudsman named; independent of our review analysis.
Forum footprint: 808 MoneySavingExpert forum discussions mention this company (browse). Roughly 0 of the top, relevance-sorted search results were posted in the last 90 days — an approximate figure by construction, not a true recency count. Recent thread titles: “octopus energy 'representatives' houding me to get a smart meter”, “Praise for outcome re Complaint to Octopus Energy.”, “Avro customers can now login to Octopus Energy”.
Elsewhere: 4.7★ on Google (7,367 reviews) · 4.8★ App Store (250,535) · 4.4★ Google Play (47,159) · 4.37★ Reviews.io (9,915)
TrustScore over time
4.8 → 4.8 across 15 census measurements since 2026-08-11. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal: 2026-08-11 (96%, 3.5d) · 2026-08-15 (97%, 3.5d) · 2026-08-18 (96%, 3.4d) · 2026-08-21 (97%, 3.5d) · 2026-08-24 (96%, 3.5d) · 2026-08-27 (96%, 3.4d) · 2026-09-01 (96%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-04 (97%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-07 (97%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-10 (97%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-13 (97%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-16 (97%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-20 (97%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-23 (97%, 2.9d) · 2026-09-27 (97%, 2.9d).
Severity: 27% of this company’s 750 graded complaints were classified as severe (money lost, an essential service cut off, or a problem unresolved for months). See the harm index.
Reviewers here waited a median of 0.8 days between the experience and publishing their negative review (1154 reviews record both dates).
Octopus Energy operates in 6 markets we track — compare its complaint mix by country.
Official record vs what reviewers say
Solid: CITIZENS_ADVICE complaints per 100,000 customers, Q4 2017 to Q2 2026 (67 quarters of official data). Dashed: our share of complaints about “support unhelpful” over our census window. The two series measure different things over different periods and are shown for context, not as a like-for-like comparison.
Independent findings
Which?’s 2026 energy supplier survey scored Octopus Energy across 15 published metrics.
- complaints performance: 8/15
- accurate payments: 3
- clarity of statements: 4
- contacting your supplier: 8/12
- customer communications: 3
- customer score: 79
- ease of contacting: 4
- overall customer service: 4
- smart meters: 5/10
- supporting customers who need it: 10/10
- switching: 3/5
- total score: 74
- usefulness of communications about energy costs: 3
- value for money: 3
- which assessment score: 69
The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint about this company’s advertising:
- 2025-07-30 (Social media (paid ad)) — A paid-for Facebook ad for heat pump installation made unsubstantiated price claims and failed to include material information about a government grant, including eligibility crite
These are the findings of the named independent body, reported here with attribution — they are not our conclusions and are separate from the review analysis above.
What their policy promises
refund window: 2-3 days — meanwhile 41 reviewers in our census window reported refund delays.
“you should receive your money within 2-3 days”
Quoted verbatim from the company’s own published policy (source page); complaint counts are census classifications. As of 2026-09-12.
Policy-page monitoring
We monitor this company’s published policy page for changes. No changes have been detected since we started watching on 2026-09-01.
Automated change detection on the company’s own published policy page — a record of when the page changed, not a judgement on what changed.
Measured reply time: across 906 negative reviews that received a public reply, the median wait was 1.7 days — the company profile reports an average of 3 days. The two are measured differently: ours counts only replies we captured to negative reviews.
Reply quality: of 906 company replies to negative reviews analysed, 80% engaged with the specific problem and 16% were generic templates.
What employees say
Employees rate Octopus Energy 4.4★ overall from 2,198 reviews on Glassdoor — the inside view, kept separate from customer complaint statistics. Read the reviews there.
Review provenance: 2865 company-invited reviews in the recent window average 4.87★, while 127 organic (uninvited) reviews average 2.69★.
22% of its 2692 recent 5★ reviews came from accounts that had written only that one review when we captured it (the median across companies is about 39%). A high share is a reason to look closer, not evidence of fake reviews.
Sector benchmark: support unhelpful makes up 42% of this company’s complaints vs a 29% median across 111 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 194,066 of this company’s 876,929 Trustpilot reviews (22%) were written in the last 12 months.
What are the most common complaints about Octopus Energy?
Support unhelpful
317 reports · 42% of complaintssteady“Octopus have incorrectly switched our supply to another company, and attempted to charge my wife and I over £5000 of energy that we didn’t use.”
3 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“The lack of customer service and inaccurate bills were the main reasons I complained.”
The company replied on 2026-08-04: “Hello, Thank you for your response, We apologise for any inconvience caused and the service you have received regarding your Octopus account and the matter resulted in you reaching out to the energy…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
3 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Octopus still could not produce a record of three £25 payments”
The company replied on 2026-08-25: “Hi there, Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. I sincerely apologise for the delay in resolving this for you and for the frustration it has caused. My name is Thuli, and I am one of the…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Billing errors
211 reports · 28% of complaintsrising since 2026-09“Their own meter history also contains multiple readings that actually go backwards”
5 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“keep getting sent wrong bills for someone else”
The company replied on 2026-08-25: “Hi Girish, Thanks for leaving a review. I am sorry you had this experience. We have reached out directly so that we can try to match your details to the correct account and get back to you to resolve…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
3 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Octopus have incorrectly switched our supply to another company, and attempted to charge my wife and I over £5000 of energy that we didn’t use.”
3 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unreachable
127 reports · 17% of complaintssteady“Emails go weeks unanswered.”
The company replied on 2026-08-07: “Good afternoon, Thank you so much for leaving a review, I am so sorry to hear about your experience, my name is Daniel and I am one of the leaders here at Octopus Energy, Firstly, I can give you my…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“long periods of not hearing anything despite contacting repeatedly”
The company replied on 2026-08-07: “Thank you for leaving this review. We really appreciate all feedback, even negative feedback. We are always looking to improve our service and use reviews like these to identify where we might have…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“due ridiculous high bills that Energy no way id use on a 1 bedroom bungalow”
The company replied on 2026-08-05: “Hello Anthony, Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry to hear of the poor experience you have outlined in your feedback to us. I am able to see that we have reached out to you directly this morning…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Account/app problems
78 reports · 10% of complaintssteady“9 months later n I still don’t have a working smart meter”
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Took over a month to get the credit back, needless to say without interest or apology”
The company replied on 2026-08-10: “Hi Gareth, Thank you for sharing your feedback. I truly appreciate you taking the time, especially given the delays and frustration you’ve experienced in getting this resolved. My name is Melissa,…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Octopus GAVE me the account information but then failed to take the money.”
The company replied on 2026-08-05: “Hi, Thank you for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback. I'm really sorry to read about your experience, especially given how long it took to get to the point where you were finally…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Missed appointments
53 reports · 7% of complaintsfalling“no technician arrived for electricity”
The company replied on 2026-08-12: “Dear John, I hope you are well, my name is Ellie and I am a Team Manager here at Octopus. I am so deeply sorry to hear this. I completely understand your frustration waiting in all day for an…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I’ve been scheduled three times for a smart meter and three times the engineers have failed to come install it.”
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Afternoon Engineer failed to show on Wednesday July 29 to fit a new smart meter.”
The company replied on 2026-08-10: “Hello there, Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback/ experience with us on TrustPilot. We appreciate all reviews as its a chance to improve our services going forwards and I am…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Overcharging
46 reports · 6% of complaintssteady“tries to force payment methods on people and if customers do not comply, then they threaten you with debt collectors.”
The company replied on 2026-08-10: “Hi there, Thanks for leaving a review. I am sorry you had this experience. I have not been able to locate your account with the details you have provided, so we have reached out directly so that we…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I’ve been charged over £3000 in gas and electricity for the last 6 months”
The company replied on 2026-08-06: “Hi there, I am really sorry to hear you are concerned about the high bills on your account. Our team have conducted a review of your usage and have determined that while you are a high usage…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“long periods of not hearing anything despite contacting repeatedly”
The company replied on 2026-08-07: “Thank you for leaving this review. We really appreciate all feedback, even negative feedback. We are always looking to improve our service and use reviews like these to identify where we might have…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Compare Octopus Energy with…
Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-09-27.