Smart meter faulty reading (electric only)

amschneider67

Hello there,

Basically I started with octopus and got a contract for 24months with a fixed rate. I got a free fancy smart meter with them in november. Now, what is important to know is that I'm a saavy person and careful of my money. Since I had a Economy 10 meter I always followed the night tarif for my programed heating (wet electric) to save money. Before the smart meter I was using 75% night tarif and 25% day tarif, so it was expensive (can't do anything about it in this economy) but not too crazy. Since I had the smart meter installed they forgot to send me my bills online and after 2.5 months I asked for the bills. They made me a huge bill going from when I changed the meter in late november to early february. They charged me £700 which comes to £280 a month instead of the usual £150. The bill showed me I used 75% day tarif and 25% night tariff which is the opposite of what I was doing before. My habits didnt change, I'm living alone and work full time, and I don't go crazy on electricity neither. I don't even use my clothes dryer, just let them hang to dry naturally. I don't even cook that much since I don't eat breakfast and have coffee at work, since I eat lunch there I dont cook until the evening. On my days off I might cook twice and do a laundry weekly but that's it.

I contacted them and they said their reader is 99% accurate which is obviously wrong. I showed them the proof by looking at my smart meter device which showed me that last Friday was the most expensive day of the week with spending £8. It so happened that that day not only I was working but I went out to drink. And coming home late at night I only spend 2 hours in my house that day actually using it. 

Long story short, they told me I'm wrong and I need to do a creep test, which I will be doing shortly. I have red that smart meters can often be faulty because of energy saving lightbulbs and other devices, that semi-concealed meter boxes are not adapted for smart meters and that a semi-detached house can be an issue with smart meters as they can pick up the kw/h from next door. I don't know if that's true since I'm not electrician and that is why I'm here today. 

My question Is: has anyone experienced this and found out what the issue was? And how did you deal with it and with the energy company?

PS: I forgot to mention that i did double check with Octopus after changing the meter and they said my economy times didn't change at all.

I apologise for the long post.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

amschneider67 said:

PS: I forgot to mention that i did double check with Octopus after changing the meter and they said my economy times didn't change at all.

Despite Octopus's statement, I suspect your economy times have indeed changed.

What hours do you think you have cheap-rate energy for? Have you checked those on the meter?

Robin9

Ignore what the IHD toy in your kitchen and go by the meter itself - in a meter box or in your garage.

Take readings from it  now if you can - you may have to press a button several times to get R1, R2 and total.   Go back in an hour and read again -     of R1 and R2 which has advanced.   You will then know which is the day rate.   Compare this with whats on your bill.

Its quite possible that R1 and R2 are the wrong way around.

amschneider67

Robin9 said:

Ignore what the IHD toy in your kitchen and go by the meter itself - in a meter box or in your garage.

Take readings from it  now if you can - you may have to press a button several times to get R1, R2 and total.   Go back in an hour and read again -     of R1 and R2 which has advanced.   You will then know which is the day rate.   Compare this with whats on your bill.

Its quite possible that R1 and R2 are the wrong way around.

 I already had a look on my meter and I can't find my hours. When i moved in the house back in July, the last owner left me the times for my meter which was three different time slots for the night tarif. I asked Octopus to double check for me just in case and they said the same so it was fine. And when I changed the meter I thought I ask again just in case anything changes since it's a smart meter now. My meter actually has four different "settings". T1 to T4 but only T1 and T2 have numbers on them. I don't know if that's relevant? I will have a look at my meter though and do the test like you suggested. If it was the wrong way around, does that mean that an engineer will have to come back? 

amschneider67

QrizB said:

Welcome to the forum.

amschneider67 said:

PS: I forgot to mention that i did double check with Octopus after changing the meter and they said my economy times didn't change at all.

Despite Octopus's statement, I suspect your economy times have indeed changed.

What hours do you think you have cheap-rate energy for? Have you checked those on the meter?

That's what I'm suspecting too, because it's weird how the day-night tarif usage ratio is almost opposite to what it used to be.

i have three times. 4h30-7h30, 13h30-16h30 and 20h30-0h30. How would I check on the meter? Because I had a look earlier on and couldn't find anything, maybe I'm doing something wrong? 

QrizB

amschneider67 said:

QrizB said:

Welcome to the forum.

amschneider67 said:

PS: I forgot to mention that i did double check with Octopus after changing the meter and they said my economy times didn't change at all.

Despite Octopus's statement, I suspect your economy times have indeed changed.

What hours do you think you have cheap-rate energy for? Have you checked those on the meter?

That's what I'm suspecting too, because it's weird how the day-night tarif usage ratio is almost opposite to what it used to be.

i have three times. 4h30-7h30, 13h30-16h30 and 20h30-0h30. How would I check on the meter? Because I had a look earlier on and couldn't find anything, maybe I'm doing something wrong? 

You might need to stay up late and look at the display. There will be an indication of when the E7 is active, or not, but these vary between smart meter designs.

See this post for an example. If your meter is different, tell us the model name (or post a photo) and we can look for instructions.

Gerry1

Two bits of bad news, I'm afraid.

1. If you have a wet electric heating system (electric boiler feeding wet radiators) then absolutely nothing is more expensive.  That's why they're so rare.
2. On your old meter you seem to have been billed at the wrong rates.  You wouldn't clock up 75% usage at night with a wet electric system, only with Night Storage Heaters.  Sadly it seems the good times have ended and reality has kicked in because the smart meter is set correctly.  Confirm this by seeing which register increments during the day and which rate it's now billed at.
   

If the day register is now billed at day rates you need to switch to a single rate tariff, not E10 or E7.  The day rates are higher so the two rate tariff would be more expensive, but check by doing the sums.

It's always worth trying the Meter Sanity Test, especially if it's a flat and the meter is in a shared cupboard or meter room, but TBH that's a bit of a longshot in your case.

Just cross your fingers that they don't spot that the readings were transposed on the old meter and try to back bill you !

MWT

Gerry1 said:

On your old meter you seem to have been billed at the wrong rates.  You wouldn't clock up 75% usage at night with a wet electric system, only with Night Storage Heaters.

It is possible if the heating was set to match the E10 hours, but as far as I know, Octopus do not offer an E10 tariff, only E7 so as soon as the meter was changed all of the day time use would have gone to the day rate which would have the effect you highlighted of making it a very expensive way to heat.

amschneider67 said:

i have three times. 4h30-7h30, 13h30-16h30 and 20h30-0h30.

Once you changed from E10 to E7 on the smart meter only your morning 04:30-07:30 period would have been on the cheaper night rate, the other two periods you had before would have been on the day rate.

How is your heating controlled? does it use a timer to turn on during the previous low rate periods? 

QrizB

MWT said:

Gerry1 said:

On your old meter you seem to have been billed at the wrong rates.  You wouldn't clock up 75% usage at night with a wet electric system, only with Night Storage Heaters.

It is possible if the heating was set to match the E10 hours, but as far as I know, Octopus do not offer an E10 tariff, only E7 so as soon as the meter was changed all of the day time use would have gone to the day rate ...

... and is why I think the OP needs to check his meter times.

MWT

QrizB said:

MWT said:

Gerry1 said:

On your old meter you seem to have been billed at the wrong rates.  You wouldn't clock up 75% usage at night with a wet electric system, only with Night Storage Heaters.

It is possible if the heating was set to match the E10 hours, but as far as I know, Octopus do not offer an E10 tariff, only E7 so as soon as the meter was changed all of the day time use would have gone to the day rate ...

... and is why I think the OP needs to check his meter times.

Agreed, but it also feels like the heating is not being controlled via the ALCS and may have a separate timer, or it would be off during the day rate period...

... or worse perhaps, the ALCS is controlling it and has been set for E10, but the tariff is E7 ...

Robin9

As above do you have a separate timer ?   Its possible that that is switching on your heaters at say 0030 but actually at a day rate - only at 0430 perhaps the meter goes to low rate by which time the heaters are charged,.


Changing meters to get E7 from E10 is not enough -   you need an electrician and perhaps new heaters (but not the magic dust ones)