Octopus Tracker

t0rt0ise

Slinky said:

The only times I've had averaged Tracker gas bills twice this year are when I've been on holiday and no gas has been used for a week or two. I've used the Data Tracker on the Octoprice app which showed no missing data. The Octopus app showed no missing data either. But they averaged my bill with usage showing on days when we were lying on a beach in the sun. I contacted them about it, but the CS person couldn't or wouldn't understand the point I was making.  I worked it out that I was overcharged by a few pence, but that wasn't really the point.

I've contacted them via direct message on twitter/x and they've recalculated for me. As it turned out to be a few pence more expensive they asked me whether they should leave it as it was. They also said something about the half hourly readings being there but an additional daily read being missing.

Telegraph_Sam

Can someone pls put my memory right:
I thought it was with Agile that life revolved around half hourly readings and with Tracker it was once a day. Gas / electricity, with / without a smart meter ..

QrizB

Telegraph_Sam said:

Can someone pls put my memory right:
I thought it was with Agile that life revolved around half hourly readings and with Tracker it was once a day. Gas / electricity, with / without a smart meter ..

Yes.

The problem that @oldandwizend etc. is having is that Octopus seems to have taken a monthly reading and then profiled their consumption across the 28/29/30/31 days of the month, rather than taking individual daily readings.

I had a similar problem earlier this year, and could never get Octopus to accept that it was even happening:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81628252/#Comment_81628252

Per @t0rt0ise 's comment above, the difference might work out to be only a few pence and in the customer's favour; or it might not.

Telegraph_Sam

I agree that we should try to get clarity from Octopus for everyone's sake.  It seems to affect those with dodgy smart meters. Any difference between gas and electricity?

Alnat1

It seems to me that if there is one single 1/2 hour in the month when you don't use any gas then Octopus can read it as "missing data" and average the whole month.

With electricity this is unlikely to happen as there's always something drawing power, unless there's a power cut, when it's been reported that the above can happen.

Bendo

Alnat1 said:

It seems to me that if there is one single 1/2 hour in the month when you don't use any gas then Octopus can read it as "missing data" and average the whole month.

With electricity this is unlikely to happen as there's always something drawing power, unless there's a power cut, when it's been reported that the above can happen.

That isn't how it works. Zero consumption is logged as 0, missing data is no record.

oldandwizend

BootsMullery said:

However, if you go to My Energy in the Online Account, then scroll down past the kWh data to the bottom of the page, there you will find a link for "Take me back to the old consumption page". If you click that link then scroll down to the gas consumption figures, using the Month tab, it does show the last 29/30 days consumption in cubic metres.
But I haven't found how to go back further.

Ah! I had missed that! You can click on arrows at the top of the date panel and go back further though I suspect that if you go back some way and request data then it would either take some considerable time to produce or Octopus computer systems might grind to a halt!
Anyway, i have downloaded the last couple of months, together with the daily calorific values for my region from from the National Gas website, and am pleased to report that my calculations do, within acceptable limits, agree with my monthly bill.

This does beg the further question as to why I found what I needed courtesy of BootsMullery yet Octopus Customer Service tell me the data is not available?

Re Telgraph_Sam post. Both meters should report half hourly but as Calorific Values only normally may change daily then gas usage is aggregated daily.  I believe electricity prices my change half hourly.

Telegraph_Sam

I knew that there wouldn't be a simple answer.

My mobile won't give me the SC's for the North East.  Gas & El. Are these variable (daily if not 1/2 hourly)? 

QrizB

Telegraph_Sam said:

I knew that there wouldn't be a simple answer.
My mobile won't give me the SC's for the North East.  Gas & El. Are these variable (daily if not 1/2 hourly)? 

Standing charges on Tracker don't generally change until you change versions.

My Dec 24 gas tracker has had the same daily SC since I joined it.

Telegraph_Sam

So does the system tell you what you would be paying for both now if you were privileged enough to live in the North East ?