4 months ...no bill

lillypoo

I've been in my new home since the end of may. Had one month with British gas (electricity only)then switched to octopus . I have a smart meter which was already in the house when I moved in. 

Did all the switch over correctly 

But I have so far not been billed by octopus at all. They do take my direct debit, but every month my credit just goes higher.
I emailed them and it's apparently because British gas are disputing the opening reading. They tell me that they cannot bill me when there's a dispute with previous supplier.   Octopus are great at communication but how long can this go on?  I have no idea if my monthly payment currently has me in debit or credit . 

[Deleted User]

Hi,

have you had a final bill from BG yet?

Easy to keep track of usage and payments, set up a wee spreadsheet, and update at least monthly.

daveyjp

Forget the smart meter for now, it may be dumb if you have changed  suppliers.

You have the meter readings from when you switched, you can take a meter readings today, you know your rates so you can work out how much you owe.

Take from that figure how much you have paid by DD and you know if you are in debit or credit

[Deleted User]

The gaining supplier is responsible for getting the transfer reading independently validated. With a working smart meter, this shouldn’t be an issue. Has the smart meter ever worked properly? 

One possibility, is that the meter has in the past been used on BG’s free weekend tariff which was a dual register tariff. When BG closed this tariff down, it changed to a single register/index reading. The reading that you should have provided on transfer was just the R1 reading not the total reading shown on the meter/IHD. The dispute might be about the missing free units.

MWT

[Deleted User] said:

The reading that you should have provided on transfer was just the R1 reading not the total reading shown on the meter/IHD. The dispute might be about the missing free units.

That was my first thought as well, it is an easy mistake to make and will result in a mismatch when it is validated.

wild666

I was on BG's free weekend tariff and when I moved from them because they were putting the DD up before the end of the contract, I assumed it was to start making up for all the free electric I used whilst I was with them.
The Smart meter still kept giving a duel reading after I left BG so around 16 kWh per month was missing from my actual bill, that was only £1.70 per month, when I realised this, due to another post on this site, I contacted the supplier and they made my monthly readings a duel reading but upped my monthly DD by £16, the £16 more than cleared the usage not billed in under two months. When I left that supplier they also only did one reading box for usage until I told them that there were two readings from the meter, they added an extra box for the second reading but they didn't increase the DD. 
The meter stopped giving two readings in late September 2019 so each month I put in they same reading for the second reading it asked if the reading was correct every month and I clicked yes. 

Just press the B button, you might have to press A & B together, it's years since I did this, then cycle through the readings on the meter if it has a duel reading then the meter will read TOTAL, ACT 1 & ACT 2, as you cycle through, take the readings of both ACT 1 & 2 if it gives two readings, then on the Monday take another reading, if ACT 2 has increased then the meter is still taking readings as if you are getting free electric for eight hours, one day per week, if not then the reading would be the same for the last ACT 2 reading

 Do not use the IHD for the readings as this only gives the total readings NOT ACT 1 & 2 

milgo

If you would like to update the thread with your opening meter reading that you supplied to Octopus and another meter reading for now, the tariff that you are on or the rates per kWh and daily standing charge that you are paying Octopus then I'm sure that someone on here would be happy to either help you work out or work out for you how much in £ you have used on electric since joining Octopus.