Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Umiamz

Irratus_Rusticus said:

[Deleted User] said:

They rolled out 3 firmware updates in 6 months which for a time stopped import; export and then import and export. As the meters retain 13 months of import data and 3 months of export data, the supplier managed to recover all the data. 

When data is pulled from a meter it returns an index reading and an XML data file which contains 48 by 30 mins of usage data blocks. The Kaifa problem was that the XML file was being returned without any data. As you know, these tariffs are deemed beta and in situations where data cannot be recovered, Octopus reserves the rate to charge at its flexible tariff rate.

FWIW, I had 3 days of missing data last week as picked up by Octopus Watch. When I checked the App this morning, the missing data started populating the spreadsheet. If Kraken had tried to raise a statement on Friday, then it would have stalled which is why I recommend waiting until there is a second monthly default.

Just ordered first smart meters from Octopus today. They must be keen. Will fit both on Friday. New world from what you say here, mind. "Kaifa problem" etc. I understand certain 'smart' tariffs need loads of data, so seems bit scary data can go awol. But -presumably- user like self just continues sending in readings every month and taking pictures now and then, so life is never totally windswept and storm-tossed? Held out against smart meters until now. Trust nothing called 'smart'.

Been with Octopus for three years. Never a problem. 

No need to send readings yourself unless Octopus explicitly ask for them. I haven't sent my own readings since I went with smart meters 3 years ago.

[Deleted User]

Umiamz said:

Irratus_Rusticus said:

[Deleted User] said:

They rolled out 3 firmware updates in 6 months which for a time stopped import; export and then import and export. As the meters retain 13 months of import data and 3 months of export data, the supplier managed to recover all the data. 

When data is pulled from a meter it returns an index reading and an XML data file which contains 48 by 30 mins of usage data blocks. The Kaifa problem was that the XML file was being returned without any data. As you know, these tariffs are deemed beta and in situations where data cannot be recovered, Octopus reserves the rate to charge at its flexible tariff rate.

FWIW, I had 3 days of missing data last week as picked up by Octopus Watch. When I checked the App this morning, the missing data started populating the spreadsheet. If Kraken had tried to raise a statement on Friday, then it would have stalled which is why I recommend waiting until there is a second monthly default.

Just ordered first smart meters from Octopus today. They must be keen. Will fit both on Friday. New world from what you say here, mind. "Kaifa problem" etc. I understand certain 'smart' tariffs need loads of data, so seems bit scary data can go awol. But -presumably- user like self just continues sending in readings every month and taking pictures now and then, so life is never totally windswept and storm-tossed? Held out against smart meters until now. Trust nothing called 'smart'.

Been with Octopus for three years. Never a problem. 

No need to send readings yourself unless Octopus explicitly ask for them. I haven't sent my own readings since I went with smart meters 3 years ago.

As Octopus doesn’t use index readings for its time-of-use tariff tariffs, then supplying manual readings will not generate a statement. 

Umiamz

[Deleted User] said:

Umiamz said:

Irratus_Rusticus said:

[Deleted User] said:

They rolled out 3 firmware updates in 6 months which for a time stopped import; export and then import and export. As the meters retain 13 months of import data and 3 months of export data, the supplier managed to recover all the data. 

When data is pulled from a meter it returns an index reading and an XML data file which contains 48 by 30 mins of usage data blocks. The Kaifa problem was that the XML file was being returned without any data. As you know, these tariffs are deemed beta and in situations where data cannot be recovered, Octopus reserves the rate to charge at its flexible tariff rate.

FWIW, I had 3 days of missing data last week as picked up by Octopus Watch. When I checked the App this morning, the missing data started populating the spreadsheet. If Kraken had tried to raise a statement on Friday, then it would have stalled which is why I recommend waiting until there is a second monthly default.

Just ordered first smart meters from Octopus today. They must be keen. Will fit both on Friday. New world from what you say here, mind. "Kaifa problem" etc. I understand certain 'smart' tariffs need loads of data, so seems bit scary data can go awol. But -presumably- user like self just continues sending in readings every month and taking pictures now and then, so life is never totally windswept and storm-tossed? Held out against smart meters until now. Trust nothing called 'smart'.

Been with Octopus for three years. Never a problem. 

No need to send readings yourself unless Octopus explicitly ask for them. I haven't sent my own readings since I went with smart meters 3 years ago.

As Octopus doesn’t use index readings for its time-of-use tariff tariffs, then supplying manual readings will not generate a statement. 

I know, but OP didn't indicate whether they were interested in time-of-use tariffs or not.

My mother is on Flexible for gas and electricity and also has smart meters. She asked me the same question about whether to submit readings "just in case".

Telegraph_Sam

Meter readings no longer appear on my statements (although I know that they are registered in the background) and OP have not been able to come up with an explanation so far. Rather than bin my smart meter with its smart readings I tend to agree with your mother and intend to send in meter readings at the beginning / end of each charge period. "Just in case" things go adrift in time to come. Otherwise there is no check of last resort.

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

Meter readings no longer appear on my statements (although I know that they are registered in the background) and OP have not been able to come up with an explanation so far. Rather than bin my smart meter with its smart readings I tend to agree with your mother and intend to send in meter readings at the beginning / end of each charge period. "Just in case" things go adrift in time to come. Otherwise there is no check of last resort.

You cant actually submit meter readings if octopus are reading your smart meters. You can store them for your own prupose or you can call and email them the readings, but i very much doubt they'll take any notice of it, as they have all they need from your meters directly.

Umiamz

I was switching a family member to Tracker yesterday. They have working smart meters but the last step of the Tracker switch was to submit readings and there was no way to continue otherwise. Clicking either of the Submit buttons went straight to the main Account page, without confirming whether the switch was successful.

We emailed Octopus to tell them what had happened and included meter readings. Later we noticed that a statement had been produced using those readings. Whether that was because we’d sent those readings or whether it was part of the Tracker switch is not clear…

Telegraph_Sam

That last comment is very interesting. The question is  is there some secrecy surrounding the readings? If not and the smart meter is doing its thing  then to me it is common sense to publish and use them to keep a check on the invoiced consumption. If they are not available anywhere then it's time to put the smart meter back in its box and revert to sending in manual readings.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

That last comment is very interesting. The question is  is there some secrecy surrounding the readings? If not and the smart meter is doing its thing  then to me it is common sense to publish and use them to keep a check on the invoiced consumption. If they are not available anywhere then it's time to put the smart meter back in its box and revert to sending in manual readings.

You can see all of the monthly readings used for billing using the Octopus app. It is one of the few features that make it worth having the app over using their website. It is natural that an energy supplier will ignore customer readings if they have a more authoritative source of the information. This would be true if they sent a meter reader to take readings from your dumb meter, or they have a feed directly from your smart meter.

Smart meters have multiple registers and the displayed reading is often a calculated total that needs to be broken down into constituent parts to be applied to your account (you can usually access the breakdown via the menu system of the smart meter, but this could be challenging for many customers).

Manual readings are obviously useless for TOU tariffs, yet they are still associated with each bill and available in the app.

k_man

My bills for Gas Tracker also show start and end smart meter readings.

Telegraph_Sam

I would be very reluctant to rely on my ancient mobile plus App to come up with credible readings. On the othet hand I have a smart meter + IHD here at home which seem  perfectly capable of doing the job as is. These must be the same source data as used by OP. Question: Why can't the monthly opening and closing readings be shown on the.invoices?? From latest posts perhsps there is hope ..