Octopus Energy dragging feet over getting meter checked.

moneymoner

Dolor said:

Electricity wires do not leak. If your energy usage is high then it is because something in your home is using power. The IHD will give you an indication of your baseload which can account for a high percentage of your daily usage.

I think you will find that electricity wiring can leak current through insulation resistance breakdown. I doubt that you are aware of wiring insulation tests that check the current leakage through insualtion between electrical conductors.

Your wiring in your home is a source of power usage and can be as high as 5W with poor or faulty wiring. Current leakage in electrical wiring is normal and there are maximum permissable safe values for consumer wiring which is around 5mA or 1W for 240V AC electrical wiring. An RCD will trip if leakage is typically beyond 30mA or 7W in a single cable.

You can check for current leakage in a cable using a clamp meter. Your wiring is the first thing to check when locating abnormal power readings, before any appliance readings are done. Get a professional electrician in to check your wiring and perform a current leak test.

If you don't know these basic procedures then you are wasting your time with consumer watt meters. You are going to need more professional meters to check for a faulty appliance, wiring or a meter.

Mstty

For a four figure bill how long did you not pay your electricity for?

For reference when we got our first smart meter our usage reduced by 20% as well as we were more aware of usage and subconsciously didn't waste as much energy.

However interested to see what happens whith this.

Chrysalis

Mstty said:

For a four figure bill how long did you not pay your electricity for?

For reference when we got our first smart meter our usage reduced by 20% as well as we were more aware of usage and subconsciously didn't waste as much energy.

However interested to see what happens whith this.

My usage hasnt decreased, but the readings have decreased, there is a difference.

Please no more replies in here along the lines of "but you must be using less".  It is a bit insulting when I have clearly explained I am not, and if anything I am using more.  As when I was doing the readings on the old meter I was deliberately reducing usage on those days.

--

In regards to the update I have got used to Octopus saying they will do things on the phone, and then it doesnt happen, as you may guess from these words, no email to confirm activation of IHD and IHD still just a brick, given the live gas usage is still not on my web portal, thats probably still the reason, maybe the guy who told me he would do it just for the electric got overruled by his boss or something.  Interestingly I do see live gas readings and new meter on the bright app.  

I will ring them again on Friday which will be the 9th day since the switch over to see what the excuse is then for the IHD.

k_man

@Chrysalis

Do the current reading from the smart meter look to match your expected usage? 
If so, this suggests a 'possible' 30% over reading on the old meter.

But earlier in the thread you suggested the over read was much higher, so has anything else changed in the meantime.

I must be consuming 2.5 units for every unit I use.

Chrysalis

k_man said:

@Chrysalis

Do the current reading from the smart meter look to match your expected usage? 
If so, this suggests a 'possible' 30% over reading on the old meter.

But earlier in the thread you suggested the over read was much higher, so has anything else changed in the meantime.

I must be consuming 2.5 units for every unit I use.

After analysing I will say its probably about right based on my calculations.  The 30 minute readings helped me on that as well.

I still want to analyse the live usage, but I am happy with what its spitting out.

I am kicking myself though for not holding out on getting the old meter tested, as I now strongly feel it was faulty and of course I can no longer prove it.

I took 14 readings in total (that I have recorded) for roughly 24h periods in February and early March.

The average across all of them was 10.7 units/day (disregarded one crazy high reading).   The 2.5 comment wasnt a calculated amount, was reflecting a few watt readings I took.

k_man

Good to know that at least now figures look right, and should be going forward too.

And has given you another reason (aside from general bill hikes) to focus on your usage.
Remember though, if/when you get your IHD working fully, live usage watching can be addictive!

Chrysalis

Ok spoke to someone who was at least honest with me.

Basically everyone is manning phones and the lady who is due to process my IHD activation is also on phones all day, and I have been told it wont be done today 100%, and to give it at least another week.

A mess of a system, it doesnt really give an auru of advanced technology about it when its taking weeks to activate.  Octopus themselves seem hugely undermanned as well.

Will put it in a draw, and check it again Thursday, so I wont post any update until then, but it will only be to see if I find anything surprising in regards to background usage.

Also I expect I wont hear anything about the bill for a while as well.  But I will keep this thread updated on what happens with that if any news comes in.

elsien

I would imagine it's all hands on deck to cover everyone trying to submit meter readings and answering calls about increases in direct debits. That doesn't mean they are usually undermanned, just that this week are exceptional circumstances. 

Chrysalis

elsien said:

I would imagine it's all hands on deck to cover everyone trying to submit meter readings and answering calls about increases in direct debits. That doesn't mean they are usually undermanned, just that this week are exceptional circumstances. 

Every time I have rang the call queue message is "we are experience high amounts of calls today", and the IHD activation has already been quite the wait.  So yeah probably under manned,  Very surprised to hear they literally just have one data entry person on IHD duty for the entire company.

elsien

I had that message when I called them. They still answered within a couple of minutes, to my surprise.