WebVetted Beta
Recommendation
Proceed
Overall Summary
Safe
Why we think so

Octopus Energy (octopus.energy) is a well-established UK energy supplier with large user traffic (~10M monthly visits), a long-lived domain (registered 2015), valid TLS, and multiple official contact channels ✅. It appears legitimate and widely covered in recent news (spin-off of Kraken, renewable investments), but there are recurring customer complaints about billing and account handling. Proceed with normal caution: verify bills and use official support channels if you need refunds or escalations.

Confidence Score
90%

Risk Insights

🛡️

Large, legitimate operator

~10M monthly visits, 95% from the UK.
Domain active since 2015 with enterprise DNS/hosting.
No blacklist or Safe Browsing flags found.
⚠️

Billing complaints worth watching

Multiple forum and review reports of overcharging and slow refunds.
If you’re a customer, verify meter readings before paying disputed amounts.

Contradictory Signals

High operational legitimacy coexists with service-level problems that lead to loss reports; not evidence of fraud but increases consumer risk exposure.

Signal A: Strong corporate signals (traffic, WHOIS age, enterprise infra)

Signal B: Repeated customer complaints about billing and dispute handling

Category Scores

Identity 90/100
Reputation 78/100
Technical 95/100
Content 90/100
Legal 85/100
Business Validity 95/100

Red Flags & Warnings

  • Multiple customer reports of billing errors and overcharging that sometimes require large refunds or Ombudsman involvement.
  • Some Google Places locations show low ratings (2.x) and mixed local reviews, indicating uneven customer experience in certain offices/areas.

🔎 Detailed Checks & Analysis

Domain age & WHOIS

Score: 90/100
Passed

"Creation date 2015‑06‑29; RDAP shows NameCheap registrar entities and standard status flags. This long-lived registration is typical of an established company."

Reason: Domain registered in 2015 with RDAP records and stable nameservers; registration history shows multi‑year presence which lowers risk of impersonation.

Traffic & popularity (SimilarWeb)

Score: 92/100
Passed

"SimilarWeb metrics: ~10,002,112 visits (Aug 2025), pages/visit ~6.8, time on site ~252s — engagement consistent with product/service portal."

Reason: Very high monthly visits (~10M) and 95% UK traffic share indicate a major consumer brand rather than a small scam landing page.

Technology & infrastructure

Score: 95/100
Passed

"Technologies include Amazon hosting, nginx, Django, Stripe, Apple Pay/Google Pay, Sendgrid, and many vendor domain verifications in DNS TXT records."

Reason: Enterprise infrastructure detected (AWS hosting, Route53, CDN, payment/verification integrations) which matches legitimate operator patterns.

Contact information & channels

Score: 88/100
Passed

"Scraped contacts include hello@octopus.energy, solar@octopus.energy, emergency@octopus.energy and phone numbers (UK: 0808/080 etc; US toll-free 833-628-6888)."

Reason: Multiple published email addresses, phone numbers for UK and US, and active social profiles reduce impersonation risk and provide escalation routes for customers.

Blacklist / phishing checks

Score: 96/100
Passed

"Google Safe Browsing returned no risk; crypto scam sniffer flagged domain as not blacklisted."

Reason: No matches on Google Safe Browsing and crypto-scam lists; site appears clean of known phishing/malware threats.

Trademark / impersonation risk (USPTO)

Score: 50/100
Failed

"US PTO search returned zero results for 'octopus.energy' specifically; absence in USPTO does not imply absence of trademark protection elsewhere (UK/EU filings possible)."

Reason: No USPTO trademark entries found for the exact query, but strong brand presence in the UK/EU still presents possible jurisdictional trademark registrations not covered here.

Reputation & public reporting

Score: 80/100
Passed

"Recent Reuters/WSJ/TechCrunch articles cover corporate moves; consumer forums and review sites report billing disputes and occasional poor service experiences."

Reason: Mainstream media coverage and company press (spin-offs, investments) point to a legitimate enterprise, though consumer complaints about billing persist.

Your Next Steps

  • 1
    If you’re a customer, check recent bills against your meter readings and smart‑meter data; keep screenshots and timestamps as evidence.
  • 2
    Use the official contact channels listed on octopus.energy (hello@octopus.energy, emergency@octopus.energy, support numbers) and request written confirmation for any refunds.
  • 3
    If unresolved, escalate to the UK Energy Ombudsman or Ofgem (keep copies of correspondence and billing history).
  • 4
    Avoid responding to unsolicited emails or phone calls claiming to be Octopus — verify by contacting numbers on the official site.
  • 5
    Before paying large disputed sums, pause payment and open a formal complaint through Octopus’s published process to create a traceable record.

Evidence & Citations