Smart meter broken by clock change

Can'tsayno

Last year we had a smart meter installed about a week before the clocks changed and started the move to octopus energy so we could take advantage of their go tariff. 

But when the clocks changed the meter stopped sending data. And we couldn’t go onto the go tariff. It took two meter changes to try to sort and one of the installation engineers said that around here they all lose sync when the clocks change.  It took multiple calls to get another engineer as octopus were not interested in trying again but eventually they agreed and it was July when we finally got a working meter and on the tariff, our bills reduced by about £60 a month. 

Well guess what?! Yep. Clocks changed this weekend and we have a notification from octopus that they are no longer getting meter data. 

Does anyone know how on Earth this can be fixed other than waiting for March and the clocks to go forward again?

It is going to cost us a fortune if we are moved from our usual 5p kw/h overnight to the current standard rate. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

worrywart_3

I think only octopus can answer this one 

QrizB

Can'tsayno said:

Does anyone know how on Earth this can be fixed other than waiting for March and the clocks to go forward again?

It is going to cost us a fortune if we are moved from our usual 5p kw/h overnight to the current standard rate. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

It sounds like you are on an Octopus smart tariff, probably Octopus Go? You need to chase it up with Octopus. Try emailing their smart meter team at smart@octopus.energy and ask them to sort it out.

MWT

Can'tsayno said:

Well guess what?! Yep. Clocks changed this weekend and we have a notification from octopus that they are no longer getting meter data.

How exactly did you get this notification from Octopus?

It isn't unusual for data to occasionally go missing for a day or even a few days and then it is recovered later, that doesn't prompt any notification from Octopus so somewhat surprised to hear that in the short space of time since the clocks went back 2 days ago that you have already received a notification?

Which make and model of meter do you have?

Millions of smart meters have been through several years of time changes without problems so wondering what is special about your meter or location?

[Deleted User]

Sadly, suppliers have very few levers to pull when there is a firmware issue with either a comms hub or a meter. The former are managed by the DCC and the latter by meter manufacturers. If I was you I would be emailing smart@octopus.energy

The smart operations team at Octopus are probably amongst the smartest in the industry.

wild666

I was surprised that when Octopus took over Avro accounts that I had an option to get 30 minute readings on my SMETS 1 smart meter, which I have done and I download the readings after midday every day.
If you cycle through the settings on the METER, NOT THE IHD, then you should get a list including date, time, standing charge, reading and credit if it's prepayment. 
If the meter is at fault then they won't get readings for billing. 

[Deleted User]

wild666 said:

I was surprised that when Octopus took over Avro accounts that I had an option to get 30 minute readings on my SMETS 1 smart meter, which I have done and I download the readings after midday every day.
If you cycle through the settings on the METER, NOT THE IHD, then you should get a list including date, time, standing charge, reading and credit if it's prepayment. 
If the meter is at fault then they won't get readings for billing. 

Ofgem is currently consulting on 30 minute usage information as a default. Future tariff comparison tools will pull data from your meter (with your permission) and use it to select the cheapest time of use tariff. Octopus billing for its time of use tariffs is based on 30 minute usage and not index readings.

Can'tsayno

MWT said:

Can'tsayno said:

Well guess what?! Yep. Clocks changed this weekend and we have a notification from octopus that they are no longer getting meter data.

How exactly did you get this notification from Octopus?

It isn't unusual for data to occasionally go missing for a day or even a few days and then it is recovered later, that doesn't prompt any notification from Octopus so somewhat surprised to hear that in the short space of time since the clocks went back 2 days ago that you have already received a notification?

Which make and model of meter do you have?

Millions of smart meters have been through several years of time changes without problems so wondering what is special about your meter or location?

Thanks for that. It is an unusual one. I spoke to octopus this morning and they are going to chase it up. If it wasn’t for the fact the meter installer alerted me that this may be a problem I would never even given it a thought but it fits with what happened last year and what has happened again this year.

Yes we are on the go tariff and we use it to charge my car overnight and it has massively reduced Our electricity bills.

Octopus metering team he’s going to look at it and hopefully keep us updated they are requesting the data from the comms company as it appears the meter is actually still connected but they are not getting the data.We have had issues in the past where a day or so dated goes missing and then it comes back but this is definitely different. They said they could see the data just stopped at exactly the hour the clocks changed.

When I hear something I’ll post back