Smart Gas Meter & Octopus Energy Woes

RareRabbit

Ok I’m going to read the meter again today, 

In August we had to read the meter and we read 02 and submitted this reading, a meter reading person had read 10 reading and submitted that too. 

Our readings jumped overnight from the 02 reading that matched all previous 02 readings to this higher reading which last week was the same as IHD and 10 reading. 

Both 02 and 10 were the same reading 

im probably just going to pay it and hope it doesn’t happen again 

[Deleted User]

I would ask Octopus to check the smart meter readings for the 13th and 28th November as they seem at odds with the meter readings from the 29th onwards.

Forget 02 and 010s, just make the point that there has been an unusually large jump of c.359 kWh in a single day. Smart meters are just standard meters as far as metering is concerned and, like analogue meters,  they can have issues with the metering system. 

You can ask for an independent meter test by SGS. You will have to pay if the meter is found to be within limits.

PS. Ask Octopus to run a billing sanity check based on 30 minute usage data as opposed to meter readings. The graphs for the 27th and 28th do not show the reported usage.

PPS: There are a number of apps that you can use to check your bill WHICH DON’T USE INDEX READINGS. Try BRIGHT or Octopus Watch.

RareRabbit

Thanks Ive downloaded the Bright App, I’ll look for Octopus Watch 

i shall ask them to look at those readings again, I emailed them today. 

ive got a few more readings available to look at via app. We read the meter for 1st October as the meter wasn’t transmitting between 5 July and 12 November. 

😅😅😅

RareRabbit

[Deleted User] said:

@harrim99

There is no automated feed as such. Once a day, Octopus initiates a meter data pull. The meter responds with index readings and 30 minute usage data in a XML file. To achieve this data pull, all suppliers have to use secure Adapter software. Octopus chooses to outsource this function to a third-party, TMA/CGI. The Adapter is the link between Kraken (Octopus’ billing platform) and your meter.

Meter firmware updates are a manufacturer’s responsibility. In the case of a meter firmware update with some Kaifa meters last year, the issue took 7 months to resolve. Fortunately, each meter holds 13 month’s worth of import data.

From a supplier’s point of view, it has no levers to pull and many of these issues only impact a percentage of the meters installed. I have a GWi4 gas meter and looking at my latest statement, there are no issues. My gas meter is on firmware oC1AFooCo.

For those of us on time-of-use tariffs, data loss is a frequent issue. The loss of just one of the 48 daily data segments will result in an a failure of automatic billing. The supplier can initiate a manual data pull to attempt to recover this data.

How do you know which Firmware your gas meter is on? 

And is this information useful to anomalies with gas readings overnight?

[Deleted User]

How do you know which Firmware your gas meter is on? 

It is available in SETTINGS in the BRIGHT App. There is no published list of meter firmware updates or changes and CS will only tell you (if you are lucky) that firmware updates are rolled out in tranches and they are not informed when this will happen.