Octopus Energy achieves 85% automation for critical suppliers within 9 days with Rossum

Octopus Energy is a UK-based, Ofgem-regulated energy company, operating in 18 countries. Octopus operates through multiple divisions, including energy supply, energy trading, and an electric vehicle leasing arm (Electroverse), each generating its own complex invoice volume.

What was the challenge?

Octopus was running a template-based OCR system that was slowing down invoice processing. Every new supplier or invoice layout required raising a ticket to build a template, test it, and release it.

• Hundreds of tickets were permanently open, creating delays and processing gaps.
• The team was touching 70–80% of all documents, leaving almost no capacity for anything else.
• Late payments were a real risk: as an Ofgem-regulated company, paying critical energy suppliers late was a reputational risk.
• No KPI tracking existed: pulling data to report on AP performance was extremely difficult, leaving management with no visibility into the team’s work.
• There was no room to grow talent: the team was locked in a cycle of processing and paying, with no time to develop broader finance skills.

The Solution

Octopus Energy selected Rossum for its AI-first approach and its ability to process documents without prior knowledge of their layout. During the RFP, Rossum was the only solution that could process “blind” documents live during the demo.

The rollout began with the largest UK entity going live in August 2025, followed by expansion into Spain and Germany. Expansion is still in progress.

Key capabilities at the heart of the implementation include:

• AI-powered data memorization and GL coding: When an invoice is opened, the line-item coding is already populated.
• Duplicate detection: Identification of duplicate invoices reduces risk and manual effort.
• NetSuite integration: Once an invoice is approved in Rossum, it appears in NetSuite within seconds.
• Workflow routing and visibility: Invoices are automatically routed through approval workflows, enabling visibility into where every document sits in the process at any time.

Reporting: Octopus is actively using Rossum’s newly launched Conversational Insights capabilities, enabling real-time insight into outstanding invoices and end-to-end processing times.

“My team love it because it’s very easy to use. I have people with very different skill sets — some are very tech savvy, some are not — and everyone finds it easy to use.” – Tracey Prince, Finance Transactional Manager, Octopus Energy

The Results

The transformation delivered results across every dimension the AP team cared about:

• 85% automation for critical suppliers within 9 days of going live: the risk of late payment (and reputational damage) was eliminated.

• 50% of AP team promoted: team members moved on to other parts of Octopus Finance or promoted into higher-skilled accounting roles.

• Full visibility for leadership: The Group Financial Controller now receives regular, data-driven reporting on AP KPIs.

The Future

Octopus Energy and Rossum are only at the beginning of their journey together. The immediate roadmap includes:

• Going live with remaining UK entities, including the energy trading and Electroverse EV divisions
• Expanding into Italy, where the complexity of e-invoicing and Italian fiscal governance requires a more involved implementation approach
• Rolling out to the US and, further down the line, APAC

“Rossum gave me the opportunity to upskill my team. 50% of the AP team moved into a more senior role within the business, and those who stayed have time to learn new things and serve the business better.” – Tracey Prince, Finance Transactional Manager, Octopus Energy