Moral dilemma

Ali60

Octopus energy

Sea_Shell

Ali60 said:

I cannot submit a meter reading as the meter does not show any numbers, just a string of meaningless (to me) letters.  As there are no numbers, I’m not sure how they will tell how much I have used.  I’m still paying the same direct debit asI was before I had the smart meter fitted and  am now approx £500 in credit and the company keep offering it back to me. 

Can you post a picture? 

Ali60

I really have tried to get it sorted, twice they have told me it has been sorted and is all fine and once I have had no follow up to the phone call.  

MWT

Ali60 said:

I cannot submit a meter reading as the meter does not show any numbers, just a string of meaningless (to me) letters.  As there are no numbers, I’m not sure how they will tell how much I have used.  I’m still paying the same direct debit asI was before I had the smart meter fitted and  am now approx £500 in credit and the company keep offering it back to me. 

That is a useful bit of additional information, so the supplier is neither collecting the data remotely, nor is there a functional display, so it is simply faulty.

Good to hear the DD is still running as that is very wise.

For now open a compliant that your meter is faulty and unreadable and you have reported it several times without resolution.

Ali60

I’ve sent photos to the company at their request, twice, but nothing has changed

gefnew

Take a picture and email it to them with your account details.
Get them to confirm they have received it,
and what action they intend to take.
Send to all departments that you can find in contacts section of web page.
Regards

MWT

File it as a complaint, not as a support request though, there is a difference...

QrizB

Ali60 said:

Octopus energy

Octopus have a dedicated smart metering team that you can email at smart@octopus.energy who might be bette rable to deal with this than their regular customer support team.

[Deleted User]

Ali60 said:

My energy company is not charging me for gas.  Ever since we had a smart meter fitted we have only been paying the daily standing charge for gas, the electricity is fine.  I have emailed them twice in may and July and after investigations they said all was working correctly. I phoned them in September and have had no follow up.  My question is, how many times am I morally obliged to tell them I’m not being charged.  Is three times enough?  I don’t want to switch as I’m on a fixed rate deal which is great value at the moment, but nor do I want a massive bill when they realise their mistake.

I think that you are hinting at Back Billing. You appear to have passed the test for Back Billing to apply after 12 months. If necessary, Octopus will estimate usage and then offset any charges with payments made during the write off period. As suggested above, email smart@octopus.energy

Octopus is now using a ‘bot’ to help them identify smart meter issues.

Streaky_Bacon

I really don't see the issue. You have raised it to them a couple of times. If you have done what you said, including sending photos, then I don't see why you should bother doing more.

Put the money aside as suggested, and they may eventually decide to bill you.

They can only bill 1 year back. So, if it takes them 5 years to bill you, you will have had 4 years for free.

In other threads you will see other advice regarding smart meters. If I understand correctly, they are a labour saving device which means that you never need to get down on your knees in a meter cupboard again, because all the meter reading and billing is automatically taken care of for you.