Octopus Energy dragging feet over getting meter checked.

Chrysalis

So had a very large meter reading, did a creep test which was ok.

I then got a watt meter, measured usage at socket, and found a big difference between socket and the meter.

So I have requested a meter check, the one other occasion I had a meter checked, was my gas meter several years ago which was actually found to be faulty, so dispite the claims of this been some super rare occurrence, I want it checked before I accept a 4 figure bill.

I first gave the go ahead a month ago, agreed to pay the £80 if no fault found, and since then it feels like they are baiting me.

In an email exchange where they taking several days to respond, they just keep saying I am going to pass on to our billing team, I think I have been passed on 5 times now.

A phone call 2 weeks ago, I was told the meter check was going to be booked, then today I am told its not happened, and the guy refused saying the company doesnt like checking meters.  I pushed, and was told I now need to send photographic evidence of my socket meter, however this was far from convincing and I feel he just wanted to give the impression it was in my hands.  Octopus really really really do not want to check my meter.

I have a smart meter booked for 23 March, the obvious implication is that will remove the meter in question and at that point lose the ability to test it.

I will do another socket test and send photos later today.

What advice does anyone have? Do octopus have a legal right to expect the bill to be honoured whilst also refusing a meter check?

[Deleted User]

email greg@octopus.energy  and your problem will be passed higher up the Octopus management structure for resolution.

Personally, I would pay the bill to avoid potential credit issues. Secondly, if you are 100% certain that the present meter is faulty then I would not agree to a smart meter replacement. Your existing meter will be recycled never again to see the light of day.

MWT

Chrysalis said:

I have a smart meter booked for 23 March, the obvious implication is that will remove the meter in question and at that point lose the ability to test it.

I will do another socket test and send photos later today.

What advice does anyone have? Do octopus have a legal right to expect the bill to be honoured whilst also refusing a meter check?

You need to choose one or the other, there is no way they will book in a meter check with a smart meter replacement a week away...

If you want the meter check then cancel the smart replacement.

If the smart meter is fitted then there is no chance of ever proving the old one was faulty...

Chrysalis

[Deleted User] said:

email greg@octopus.energy  and your problem will be passed higher up the Octopus management structure for resolution.

Personally, I would pay the bill to avoid potential credit issues. Secondly, if you are 100% certain that the present meter is faulty then I would not agree to a smart meter replacement. Your existing meter will be recycled never again to see the light of day.

I am not 100%, but want it checked so I am then certain it is ok.  I will offer to settle in the mean time as goodwill for the reasons you said.  Thanks

[Deleted User]

Chrysalis said:

[Deleted User] said:

email greg@octopus.energy  and your problem will be passed higher up the Octopus management structure for resolution.

Personally, I would pay the bill to avoid potential credit issues. Secondly, if you are 100% certain that the present meter is faulty then I would not agree to a smart meter replacement. Your existing meter will be recycled never again to see the light of day.

I am not 100%, but want it checked so I am then certain it is ok.  I will offer to settle in the mean time as goodwill for the reasons you said.  Thanks

Are you sure that you are not confusing instant power with usage? If I want to know how much instant power a device is using I can check it as you have done.  Your Grid meter isn't recording instant power, it is recording usage. For example, if I turn on my 3kW kettle for 5 minutes, I would expect a socket meter to show me 3kW. If it took the kettle 10 minutes to boil, then I would expect my meter index to increase  by 0.5kWh. Similarly, if I left a 100W lamp on for an hour, then I would expect to the index increase by 0.1kWh. There are a number of reasons why your latest bill may be high which have nothing to do with your meter: for example, it is a 'catch up' bill as earlier bills were based on estimates.

MWT

It would be well worth doing a simple test like that to verify if there is really any reason to even get the meter checked...

Chrysalis

Dolor said:

Chrysalis said:

Dolor said:

email greg@octopus.energy  and your problem will be passed higher up the Octopus management structure for resolution.

Personally, I would pay the bill to avoid potential credit issues. Secondly, if you are 100% certain that the present meter is faulty then I would not agree to a smart meter replacement. Your existing meter will be recycled never again to see the light of day.

I am not 100%, but want it checked so I am then certain it is ok.  I will offer to settle in the mean time as goodwill for the reasons you said.  Thanks

Are you sure that you are not confusing instant power with usage? If I want to know how much instant power a device is using I can check it as you have done.  Your Grid meter isn't recording instant power, it is recording usage. For example, if I turn on my 3kW kettle for 5 minutes, I would expect a socket meter to show me 3kW. If it took the kettle 10 minutes to boil, then I would expect my meter index to increase  by 0.5kWh. Similarly, if I left a 100W lamp on for an hour, then I would expect to the index increase by 0.1kWh. There are a number of reasons why your latest bill may be high which have nothing to do with your meter: for example, it is a 'catch up' bill as earlier bills were based on estimates.

I am sure, I am not confusing watts with KwH.  The device actually measures both, can flip between the screens.

Even without the watt meter it made no sense, how can a 110w rated fridge consume 8KwH per day?, only possible if the fridge was faulty.  The watt meter was to confirm it.

Also your example of confusing current KW vs KWH is the other way round which watt meter would show a higher number.

Chrysalis

MWT said:

It would be well worth doing a simple test like that to verify if there is really any reason to even get the meter checked...

I agree, which is why I have already done it.

[Deleted User]

Chrysalis said:

MWT said:

It would be well worth doing a simple test like that to verify if there is really any reason to even get the meter checked...

I agree, which is why I have already done it.

Help us out here. What have you actually tested; how have you tested it, and for how long? I have my import recorded by a SMETS2 meter; a Tesla App and a MyEnergi App and they all come up with slightly different import results.

Chrysalis

The easiest thing for me to test was my fridge, as testing something else alone means turning the Fridge off and spoiling food.

I simply cut off all power in my property to every device except my fridge, dip switches to shower, oven, lights etc. only dip switch for sockets was turned on.  I then went to every socket and turned them off except the fridge.

The socket the fridge uses has no other devices connected, no extension cable.  I for 4 hours (the time needed to register two units on meter.  Left it like that.  That alone was enough to determine something is wrong, as modern consumer fridges simply dont use this amount of electric, even if you left the doors open.

However at this point I was aware the fridge could be faulty, its not something unheard off.  So to confirm whther the fridge or something external to the fridge was the issue I brought a watt meter, I already had a watt meter, but I brought a second one so I could test with two watt meters, just in case the watt meter might be faulty.

The fridge is rated for max 115w.  But it actually only uses 75w when cooling,and about an extra 10w for the light if door open.

So 85w door open + cooling.  
10w door open, no cooling.  
75w cooling, door closed.  
No cooling and door closed is practically 0w.  

Most of the time it is "not" cooling, I checked on it  many times.

The watt meter can also measure KwH, not just current power usage.

The watt maters show the fridge is not even using 1 KwH per day.  This means there is a problem either with the meter or my wiring or something causing extra usage to be measured.

The reality is if I am willing to pay for the check, that alone should justify it. But I have gone further then that and actually done both creep tests and power usage tests.

I have also measured every socket in my home, and been checking the meter daily, the units measured daily only make sense if I have such inefficient power consumption that I must be consuming 2.5 units for every unit I use.

So yes it has been scientific testing.

I am actually surprised meters dont get checked routinely, it does make me wonder how many out there might be faulty.  As I said it is supposedly very rare, yet the only time I have ever had a meter tested (my gas one at this property) it was faulty.  They didnt confirm it, but after the gas meter was tested, they voluntarily swapped it at no charge to me, and written off a large bill, then readings after the swap were a fraction of the previous readings.  Make of that what you will.

Hope thats enough for you.

MWT

Chrysalis said:

The easiest thing for me to test was my fridge, as testing something else alone means turning the Fridge off and spoiling food.

Should have used a large resistive load like a kettle or a heater not a small inductive load like a fridge, and you can safely turn off the fridge for several hours without risk to the contents as long as you leave the door closed...