Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Telegraph_Sam

Whenever the word "average" is used one has to be on one's guard. For me the proper comparision would be with the non- off peak Go rates where the savings are noteworthy but far less dramatic.
My "observations" from reading these threads make me believe that there are more likely to be hiccoughs when changing suppliers with smart meters than without. Not all suppliers are as switched on as Octopus. There are many exceptions of course and I do not speak from personal experience.

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

Whenever the word "average" is used one has to be on one's guard. For me the proper comparision would be with the non- off peak Go rates where the savings are noteworthy but far less dramatic.
My "observations" from reading these threads make me believe that there are more likely to be hiccoughs when changing suppliers with smart meters than without. Not all suppliers are as switched on as Octopus. There are many exceptions of course and I do not speak from personal experience.

Like I said, the overall average for me is around 9p, with EV use. Without EV, so in normal use it would probably be around 10-11p.....given todays prices thats a huge saving. If you had switched when we suggested it, you would have been on 13-14p/kwh (peak rate) so at present time would have been laughing.
In fairness the go peak tariff in the north east is now 14.99p/kwh but arguably the standing charge is higher than tracker at 25p. But i think at nearly 2p cheaper, plus the extra savings in the evening you would save money.

I think your reservations re smart meters during switching are a bit unwarranted. These forums are very skewed with people with problems, i would suspect the vast majority go through without any issues. Certainly there are lots of dumb meter customers that have problems during the switch too. Worst case scenario with a smart meter switch if it went wrong would be that youd have to submit readings for a bit, which is no different to what you're doing now anyway! But obviously this is a choice you have (at least for now), i suspect over the next few years they may become mandatory.....why wait when you can make savings now!!

Jonty6262

Dolor said:

Jonty6262 said:

How long do Octopus take to connect to your smart meter after your start date?

Plus does this mean I have the newer type of meter?

Meter type:

Smart (SMETS2)

EDMI ES-10A ES010AU3

Yes, you have a SMETS2 meter as the rollout of SMETS1 meters stopped well over a year ago. Your meter will already be connected to the DCC; however, no supplier can access your meter until the appropriate security certificates have been sent out via the DCC and industry databases etc have been updated. Once these have been completed, then Octopus will be able to pull data once a day from your smart meter. Reports suggest that this set up process might take up to 10 days. Thereafter, if you want to move to a ToU tariff, Octopus has to set up and confirm that 30 minute usage data is being received via its Adaptor TMA/CGI.

I have been informed by Octopus that the company who installed the meter failed to commission the meter which means they can not read from it.Thing is the supplier of the meter was SSE but since they installed it I moved to BG and they never had any problems reading it so it must have been commisioned😕

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

My "observations" from reading these threads make me believe that there are more likely to be hiccoughs when changing suppliers with smart meters than without. Not all suppliers are as switched on as Octopus. There are many exceptions of course and I do not speak from personal experience.

I think the opposite is actually true. I've had three separate instances of change of supplier readings being rejected, disputed, or lost due to the actions or inactions of non-half hourly data collectors. When I switched to Octopus, both Octopus and my previous supplier were happy with my final/starting reads, but the Octopus NHHDC computer said no! Eventually, using an obscure data flow via my previous supplier NHHDC Octopus were able to sort it, but it was driving me mad. Prior to that, I've had final reads replaced with estimates that put me out of pocket, but I couldn't dispute because that avenue is only available when the difference between deemed read and actual read is vast. Also, my fellow Yorkshire Energy refugees with smart meters experienced fewer problems with the SoLR and onward switches than those of us with dumb meters.

With a smart meter, the change of supplier process involves different data flows and the accuracy of the handover reading is more or less assured.

There is certainly more likely to be issues around installation and provisioning - they are more complex beasts, but as far as I'm aware new meters being installed are all smart. Yours will eventually need replacing...

Telegraph_Sam

A case of - to quote the legal people - " I rest my case" (= case proven?), or not??
I have yet to have the pleasure of switching with smart meters myself.so factual reports such as these are all the more convincing.

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

A case of - to quote the legal people - " I rest my case" (= case proven?), or not??
I have yet to have the pleasure of switching with smart meters myself.so factual reports such as these are all the more convincing.

As of 31 March, there were 19.8M domestic smart meters deployed and OPERATING in a smart mode. There were also in excess of 600,000 energy switches in the same month. A few ‘it has happened to me three times’ posts on a forum should not be seen as a widespread industry problem. At the moment, the customer switching process is the same for smart and non smart meters: that is, the new supplier still asks the consumer for a meter reading 5 days before the transfer of supply date. 

I just wonder what the smart meter nay sayers will do when the Government finally makes these meters mandatory?  

BeerSavesMoney

I’ve recently moved into a new property where I moved supply to Octopus Energy. The Secure smart meter wasn’t sending readings so I emailed Octopus to see if it could be resolved.

I got a reply the next day saying they had spoke to the Secure help desk who advised the meter was attached to the MPAN for another property in the building on their database. This meant Secure thought Octopus wasn’t the supplier and were blocking the connection.

I sent across a photo across to them as requested showing the meter serial number. They quickly replied to say they have raised this with Secure and they should be able to connect once Secure have updated their database (I was told the process usually 2-3 weeks).

I’ve been with Octopus at a previous property and always found them to offer great customer service, I also like how a bill is generated after submitting a meter reading. Unlike other companies I’ve been with in the past there’s more flexibility to control direct debit amounts and change payment date if required. 

Overall I’d recommend them!

masonic

Dolor said:

A few ‘it has happened to me three times’ posts on a forum should not be seen as a widespread industry problem.

For the sake of clarity, if you're referring to my ‘it has happened to me three times’ post, that was in reference to dumb meters, and there are Elexon reports of this being a genuine industry problem with manual change of supply reads going back years.

Dolor said:

At the moment, the customer switching process is the same for smart and non smart meters: that is, the new supplier still asks the consumer for a meter reading 5 days before the transfer of supply date.

You can simply take a look at the current BSC procedures for Half Hourly vs Non-Half Hourly Data Collection to see that this is not the case, BSCP502 and BSCP504, specifically the sections on Change of Supplier activities. For HHDC, the Data Collector is not required to send a valid data report to the old supplier via the infamous D0086 flow that has been the result of many delayed switches and issues with change of supply readings. In practice, suppliers are not requiring a customer read and the process instead involves collection of a read from the smart meter as close to midnight as possible on the day of the switch. . I don't know if all suppliers are now doing this.

BSCP504 states: "The reading closest to (ignoring sign) or on SSD is used to generate the SSD reading. If there are multiple reads on the same day then the precedence (if systems can cope) is Remote (1st choice), MOA Final, NHHDC, Customer Own reading (last choice)."

Telegraph_Sam

I am sure that that means more to you than to "dumb" consumers like me. Hopefully by the time smart meters become mandatory the various bugs will have been sorted and switches will have become routine without resort to the hi-tec.  Battalion of pigs has just flown overhead.

bristolleedsfan

niktheguru said:

Genuinely, the experience with smart meters on octopus is excellent, and they deal with any troubles very quickly (unlike some of the horror stories with other suppliers) My gas meter wasn't properly commissioned when they swapped it, so i gave manual readings, and they fixed it within a week completely remotely.

Sadly plenty of people including me are ending up with new dumb meters being installed, I had Electricity S/M install 22 March for mainly meter access reasons, Octopus couldnt connect to it, repeat engineer visit yesterday 8am, Octopus system was down, was down during preceeding week, engineer popped by to pick up something 5.5 hours later still down he replied which means meters fitted at least most of yesterday and many during last week are currently dumb plus others have new dumb meters months after so called S/M installation