Extra support for those who need it
Extra help for customers during the energy crisis
Please, please get in contact with us if you’re struggling with your bills. There are many ways we can help.
We set up the Octo Assist Fund in November 2021 as part of our campaign to help those worried about paying for their energy during this Winter. If you're an Octopus customer, you can access our Financial Support form here – a quick and simple online tool which asks you a series of questions about your financial situation.
We can offer a number of support options based on circumstances and need, including access to existing schemes, monetary support from the fund, or a loan of a thermal imagery camera to find heat leaks at home.
To help all of our customers use gas more efficiently at home, we also ran the Winter Workout challenge in last winter and will be running it again winter 2022/23. Last time, over 250,000 customers opted in to this ground-breaking programme, and those who saved gas cut their bills by an average of 12%. Collectively our customers saved nearly £4,000,000 in bills, and 14.3 million tonnes of CO2.
You can try out the simple tips that helped people cut gas bills and stay cosy here.
Priority Services Register
If you are of pensionable age, disabled or chronically sick we can add you to our priority services register (PSR).
You're also eligible if you:
- Are recovering from an injury
- Have a hearing or sight condition
- Have a mental health condition
- Are pregnant or have young children
- Have specific communication needs (such as if you don’t speak or read English well).
- You may be able to register for other reasons if your situation isn’t listed. For example, if you need short-term support after a stay in hospital.
You’ll be asked if you’d like to be added to the register when you join. If you’re already a member you can add yourself to the register in the “Priority Services” section of your account.
When you are on the PSR you can take advantage of our Priority Services designed to make your life easier:
- Nominate someone to take care of your account for you. We will send your nominated person your statements, as long as they agree to receive them.
- We can install a smart meter at no extra cost if you struggle to read your meter, or can't reach a prepayment meter to top up.
- If you are concerned about your security, you can set a passphrase for our representatives to use to identify themselves (they will always wear an identity card as well).
- If you are having trouble reading your statements for any reason, contact us and we will assist you.
Gas Safety Check
Eligible customers can receive a free gas safety checks once every 12 months. You can request a safety check if you receive means-tested benefit and either:
- live with a child under five years old
- live alone or with others and have reached state pension age
- live alone or with others and are disabled or chronically ill
- live with others who have reached state pension age or are disabled, chronically ill or under 18 years old.
If you are eligible, click below to get a free gas safety check:
If you're having trouble filling the form out, call us on 0808 164 1088 and one of our team members will help you.
Condemned Appliances
If an engineer is working at your home and discovers a dangerous gas appliance, they will attach a 'Danger Do Not Use' warning label to the relevant appliance, and give you a written gas warning notice.
This notice will include specifics about the dangerous situation. The engineer will let you know if the appliance can be repaired or needs to be replaced.
Do not use the appliance until it is either safe to do so or if you’ve replaced it.
An unsafe appliance won’t burn gas properly, which can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide gas is colourless and odourless, so you can't tell if it's present.
If you believe you have been exposed to carbon monoxide, go to a hospital and seek medical attention immediately.
Visit https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/ for more information.
*If you think a gas appliance is leaking, call the free National Gas Helpline immediately on 0800 111 999; help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy!
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