Octopus Tracker

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Is there a [50%] chance that the averaged price will be lower than the non-averaged?

If you are trying to use less on expensive days then it is more likely for averaged pricing to be more expensive. In general, weekend pricing tends to be a bit lower, and household consumption is likely to be higher, so that would stack the odds against averaged pricing being lower. In my case, I was away on holiday for half of my billing period, and by chance that was a more expensive period, so having my usage spread into this period cost me. In a normal billing cycle, the cost might only have been 1-2p different.

stripling

movingon said:

Thank you @bristolleedsfan.
They are still saying I will need to be billed on the Flexible tariff if my data cannot be retrieved, despite the above. However, I have persuaded them to suspend billing for now. They are still saying Tracker is billed based on 30 minute readings, yet it says daily readings on the FaQs. They say they cannot take daily readings from me, as only "smart" communication will do. It does not make any sense in the light of the above. 

This is a major problem I've been fighting with them over - they talk rubbish because very few, including higher ups, actually know or understand how Tracker works.  

I've got a long chain of emails from a senior member of staff and her colleagues literally making things up. When I've remained patient and provided evidence of their incorrect responses this person would come up with a new fiction. It has nearly driven me away.

They offered me £80 compensation but I pushed for written Process Documents for members of staff - basic stuff for efficient customer service - no chance.  They have no desire to improve. The fabled customer service is very hit-and-miss - more likely miss, these days. Octopus is going downhill bit-by-bit. 

Loads of us were quite happily on Tracker for years without smart meters. I used to submit readings weekly, the bills would arrive a few days later AVERAGED OUT.  They are telling you fibs. 

Qyburn

I suspect this is all going to result in Octopus hardening their position. They say that Tracker requires a functioning smart meter providing hh data. They would be perfectly entitled to stick to that.

masonic

Qyburn said:

I suspect this is all going to result in Octopus hardening their position. They say that Tracker requires a functioning smart meter providing hh data. They would be perfectly entitled to stick to that.

The introduction of the smart meter requirement is relatively recent and already represents a hardening. So what happened years ago is not all that relevant to today's position. The whole idea of Tracker is that you pay a set price for energy used on a particular day, and the only reasonable way to bill this accurately is by smart meter. The requirement was inevitable once a critical mass of customers could comply.

Telegraph_Sam

From the start I've been under the impression that both Agile and Tracker required data from smart meters in half hourly and daily intervals respectively in order for the system to tick - both technically and commercially. If this is not the case then I pass.
That said I have always submitted my own manual readings at the end of each billing period in order to throw up any discrepancies. Oh ye of little faith in electronics.

Doc_N

Octopus these days is one of those outfits, much like TalkTalk, where everything’s just fine - until it goes wrong. And at that point, unless it’s a very simple fix it can run on and on for months without any kind of resolution. They also do their very best to wriggle their way out of complaints finding their way to the Energy Ombudsman. 

And if you think they’re clueless on Tracker and Agile, combine Tracker with an Outgoing solar tariff and it’s ten times worse. They haven’t the remotest idea what they’re doing and not the remotest idea how to sort things out when they go wrong.

Pat38493

Telegraph_Sam said:

From the start I've been under the impression that both Agile and Tracker required data from smart meters in half hourly and daily intervals respectively in order for the system to tick - both technically and commercially. If this is not the case then I pass.
That said I have always submitted my own manual readings at the end of each billing period in order to throw up any discrepancies. Oh ye of little faith in electronics.

It's quite hard for Octopus to rigidly stick to this, whilst lots of people find that their smart meter doesn't report the information due to issues with the data reporting process, and/or faulty smart meters, and from what I understand it's very difficult to get a faulty  smart meter replaced right now because they are incentivized for installing new ones, and not for fixing existing ones.

Telegraph_Sam

I'm missing a trick here. I thought it was technically impossible for Agile, Tracker and such innovative tariffs to work without a smart meter to feed in the regular readings. If they were to rely on all consumers submitting manual reads every half hour 24/7, technical chaos would be the result. 

I am in the process  hopefully of combining (existing) Tracker with the Fixed Outgoing tariff so wait to experience what you are referring to

Pat38493

Telegraph_Sam said:

I'm missing a trick here. I thought it was technically impossible for Agile, Tracker and such innovative tariffs to work without a smart meter to feed in the regular readings. If they were to rely on all consumers submitting manual reads every half hour 24/7, technical chaos would be the result. 

I am in the process  hopefully of combining (existing) Tracker with the Fixed Outgoing tariff so wait to experience what you are referring to

For Agile yes that's right, but for Tracker, they can bill you a daily calculated rate based on the usage of the month if you have missing readings.

With Agile, if you have missing readings they bill the whole day (or maybe even the whole month) at flexible rate.

Telegraph_Sam

But if I'm on Tracker but without a smart phone then they can only charge me for the month's usage regardless if there are any missed readings. Averaged out per day I suppose.