Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

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 ..

Are you still on Go Faster? If so, the meter reading isn't used for billing, the half-hourly consumption data is.

Irratus_Rusticus

Someone mentioned meter reading problems on smart meters? I randomly landed on a short Youtube vid that explained how to find elec and gas meter readings on the IHD3 widget. Wasn't mentioned by Octopus nowhere. Or fitter.

My changeover went better than hoped. Booked last Monday and engineer turned up Friday as planned as was driving away within 40 minutes leaving me with two new meters. Said he'd fitted 14 smart meters already that day.

Wasn't expecting any goodies for a few days, but the wee IHD coughed up gas and elec use and pricing within the hour. Today Octopus provided csv downloads but only the elec half-hour figures were provided. From this forum, new to check the flashing gas LED on the Hub, and then checked my gas meter on CAB's smart meter checker. All good. Finally, signed up on n3rgy.com and they gave me my miscreant half-hour gas figures. All less than 24 hours from new smart meters fitted. 

Can't last I expect. Only beef is the IHD3 has no rechargeable battery in it. 

Telegraph_Sam

Yes.
Two sides of the same coin. If the system is working then the totall of the half hourly consumption data should be the same as the difference between the the monthly readings. Otherwise why have a meter that records the latter? Publishing these should just provide a cross check that both sre in. sync.

Alnat1

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.

How can you put a smart meter back in it's box? It's attached to your wall with wires or pipes coming out of it, measuring how much gas or electricity you're using.

If you mean the IHD (In Home Display) that is just a toy and has nothing to do with Octopus getting meter readings.

Octopus actually suggest that if you would like a bill to be generated, input your meter readings online. You can do this as often as you want. If you don't enter readings they will bill at least every 3 months unless you said at sign up you want them monthly.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yes.
Two sides of the same coin. If the system is working then the totall of the half hourly consumption data should be the same as the difference between the the monthly readings. Otherwise why have a meter that records the latter? Publishing these should just provide a cross check that both sre in. sync.

The meter needs to record accumulated usage so that you have the freedom to leave a TOU tariff or change supplier. Also, you'll remember that the terms of the contract say that if Octopus can't get half-hourly readings from your meter for any period, they "will charge you as we would a customer on our Flexible Octopus variable tariff", which would fall back to readings rather than consumption data. They will therefore take a reading from your smart meter at the same time as generating a bill from your consumption data, so that they have this in case of being unable to get the consumption data for the next bill.

This reading can be accessed via the website as well as the app. You can find it by going to Meter Readings -> Submit Electricity Reading (no need to actually submit one). I don't know why they only show the latest reading and not a more complete history as they do in the app.

The most important cross check to do is total consumption (the amount you're charged for on the bill) vs increase in monthly reading. I am sure Octopus is already doing this.

[Deleted User]

masonic said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yes.
Two sides of the same coin. If the system is working then the totall of the half hourly consumption data should be the same as the difference between the the monthly readings. Otherwise why have a meter that records the latter? Publishing these should just provide a cross check that both sre in. sync.

The meter needs to record accumulated usage so that you have the freedom to leave a TOU tariff or change supplier. Also, you'll remember that the terms of the contract say that if Octopus can't get half-hourly readings from your meter for any period, they "will charge you as we would a customer on our Flexible Octopus variable tariff", which would fall back to readings rather than consumption data. They will therefore take a reading from your smart meter at the same time as generating a bill from your consumption data, so that they have this in case of being unable to get the consumption data for the next bill.

This reading can be accessed via the website as well as the app. You can find it by going to Meter Readings -> Submit Electricity Reading (no need to actually submit one). I don't know why they only show the latest reading and not a more complete history as they do in the app.

The most important cross check to do is total consumption (the amount you're charged for on the bill) vs increase in monthly reading. I am sure Octopus is already doing this.

Just to add my often repeated words of caution. The IHD displays the total of the 4 registers whether they are in use or not. Unless the consumer is 100% sure that only one register has been used, then the readings requested on a switch must be taken from the actual meter. 

I note that the App now shows readings but these are only the readings used at the last billing date. The App also uses the designations PEAK and OFFPEAK which may be incorrect. For example, I am on the Go Faster tariff and my cheap units are allocated to the OFFPEAK line and vice versa. 

masonic

Dolor said:

masonic said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yes.
Two sides of the same coin. If the system is working then the totall of the half hourly consumption data should be the same as the difference between the the monthly readings. Otherwise why have a meter that records the latter? Publishing these should just provide a cross check that both sre in. sync.

The meter needs to record accumulated usage so that you have the freedom to leave a TOU tariff or change supplier. Also, you'll remember that the terms of the contract say that if Octopus can't get half-hourly readings from your meter for any period, they "will charge you as we would a customer on our Flexible Octopus variable tariff", which would fall back to readings rather than consumption data. They will therefore take a reading from your smart meter at the same time as generating a bill from your consumption data, so that they have this in case of being unable to get the consumption data for the next bill.

This reading can be accessed via the website as well as the app. You can find it by going to Meter Readings -> Submit Electricity Reading (no need to actually submit one). I don't know why they only show the latest reading and not a more complete history as they do in the app.

The most important cross check to do is total consumption (the amount you're charged for on the bill) vs increase in monthly reading. I am sure Octopus is already doing this.

Just to add my often repeated words of caution. The IHD displays the total of the 4 registers whether they are in use or not. Unless the consumer is 100% sure that only one register has been used, then the readings requested on a switch must be taken from the actual meter. 

I note that the App now shows readings but these are only the readings used at the last billing date. The App also uses the designations PEAK and OFFPEAK which may be incorrect. For example, I am on the Go Faster tariff and my cheap units are allocated to the OFFPEAK line and vice versa. 

I appear to have 48 registers on my meter, though only two are non-zero. The app shows both of the non-zero registers and designates them Day and Night. Only one has increased since January 2022. Prior to that (while still on the same tariff) my energy was being divided between them, but not in proportion to my peak and offpeak usage. So for me, the readings are not very useful!

MWT

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yes.
Two sides of the same coin. If the system is working then the totall of the half hourly consumption data should be the same as the difference between the the monthly readings.

Actually, no, the two will not necessarily always be precisely the same, as the data is stored separately and rounded differently, also the daily index reading is not necessarily stored at the precise moment that the last half-hour period ends.

You can use either the half-hour data or the daily index readings to generate a valid bill, trying to reconcile the two will always leave you with small differences.

Fine if you can accept the small difference, not fine if you are going to see that as an 'error'...

[Deleted User]

masonic said:

Dolor said:

masonic said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yes.
Two sides of the same coin. If the system is working then the totall of the half hourly consumption data should be the same as the difference between the the monthly readings. Otherwise why have a meter that records the latter? Publishing these should just provide a cross check that both sre in. sync.

The meter needs to record accumulated usage so that you have the freedom to leave a TOU tariff or change supplier. Also, you'll remember that the terms of the contract say that if Octopus can't get half-hourly readings from your meter for any period, they "will charge you as we would a customer on our Flexible Octopus variable tariff", which would fall back to readings rather than consumption data. They will therefore take a reading from your smart meter at the same time as generating a bill from your consumption data, so that they have this in case of being unable to get the consumption data for the next bill.

This reading can be accessed via the website as well as the app. You can find it by going to Meter Readings -> Submit Electricity Reading (no need to actually submit one). I don't know why they only show the latest reading and not a more complete history as they do in the app.

The most important cross check to do is total consumption (the amount you're charged for on the bill) vs increase in monthly reading. I am sure Octopus is already doing this.

Just to add my often repeated words of caution. The IHD displays the total of the 4 registers whether they are in use or not. Unless the consumer is 100% sure that only one register has been used, then the readings requested on a switch must be taken from the actual meter. 

I note that the App now shows readings but these are only the readings used at the last billing date. The App also uses the designations PEAK and OFFPEAK which may be incorrect. For example, I am on the Go Faster tariff and my cheap units are allocated to the OFFPEAK line and vice versa. 

I appear to have 48 registers on my meter, though only two are non-zero. The app shows both of the non-zero registers and designates them Day and Night. Only one has increased since January 2022. Prior to that (while still on the same tariff) my energy was being divided between them, but not in proportion to my peak and offpeak usage. So for me, the readings are not very useful!

SMETS2 meters have 4 registers R1 to R4. What you see on an Octopus t-o-u bill is a daily usage statement with 48 slots.

When Octopus carries out its daily data pull, the meter returns the index readings plus an XML containing the 30 minute usage information.

To send the correct tariff information to my meter for Go Faster, Octopus has activated registers R1 and R2. If I was to switch tomorrow, I would go into the tariff matrix in my meter sub-menu and I would note the R1 and R2 readings. I would pass these to my new supplier without using the words peak or offpeak/ day or night. Ofgem has no rules on which registers should be set up for billing.

masonic

Dolor said:

masonic said:

Dolor said:

masonic said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Yes.
Two sides of the same coin. If the system is working then the totall of the half hourly consumption data should be the same as the difference between the the monthly readings. Otherwise why have a meter that records the latter? Publishing these should just provide a cross check that both sre in. sync.

The meter needs to record accumulated usage so that you have the freedom to leave a TOU tariff or change supplier. Also, you'll remember that the terms of the contract say that if Octopus can't get half-hourly readings from your meter for any period, they "will charge you as we would a customer on our Flexible Octopus variable tariff", which would fall back to readings rather than consumption data. They will therefore take a reading from your smart meter at the same time as generating a bill from your consumption data, so that they have this in case of being unable to get the consumption data for the next bill.

This reading can be accessed via the website as well as the app. You can find it by going to Meter Readings -> Submit Electricity Reading (no need to actually submit one). I don't know why they only show the latest reading and not a more complete history as they do in the app.

The most important cross check to do is total consumption (the amount you're charged for on the bill) vs increase in monthly reading. I am sure Octopus is already doing this.

Just to add my often repeated words of caution. The IHD displays the total of the 4 registers whether they are in use or not. Unless the consumer is 100% sure that only one register has been used, then the readings requested on a switch must be taken from the actual meter. 

I note that the App now shows readings but these are only the readings used at the last billing date. The App also uses the designations PEAK and OFFPEAK which may be incorrect. For example, I am on the Go Faster tariff and my cheap units are allocated to the OFFPEAK line and vice versa. 

I appear to have 48 registers on my meter, though only two are non-zero. The app shows both of the non-zero registers and designates them Day and Night. Only one has increased since January 2022. Prior to that (while still on the same tariff) my energy was being divided between them, but not in proportion to my peak and offpeak usage. So for me, the readings are not very useful!

SMETS2 meters have 4 registers R1 to R4. What you see on an Octopus t-o-u bill is a daily usage statement with 48 slots.

When Octopus carries out its daily data pull, the meter returns the index readings plus an XML containing the 30 minute usage information.

To send the correct tariff information to my meter for Go Faster, Octopus has activated registers R1 and R2. If I was to switch tomorrow, I would go into the tariff matrix in my meter sub-menu and I would note the R1 and R2 readings. I would pass these to my new supplier without using the words peak or offpeak/ day or night. Ofgem has no rules on which registers should be set up for billing.

No, I'm not getting the 48 from my bill, I'm going into my meter's menu to the reading matrix and scrolling through them all. The first two seem to marry up with what Octopus has (and add together to match my summed reading), I then have several pages of zeroes, not just the two expected for R3 and R4.

Edit: Just went out and double checked it. Under 'Tariff Matrix' the only relevant sub-menu option I have is 'TOU Register', and within that I have T01 to T48 with T01 and T02 containing the 'Day' and 'Night' readings, T03-T48 are all zero.