Octopus Gas Smart Meter: Should the supplier investigate missing readings?

Paps77

I have seen a few forum posts about unreliable Octopus Gas smart meters.

We joined Octopus in February 2021; the gas smart meter failed (LCD on meter was blank and didn't light up) and was replaced in December. We paid the estimated usage because there was no reading recovered from the meter. The installing engineer thought that Octopus had had a batch of gas meters with dodgy batteries.
Then a similar pattern happened: the new meter stopped sending meter readings after a month, but fortunately the LCD display still worked so we were able to send an updated reading in March. Now the meter has a blank LCD display, so we have to rely on Octopus estimates again; resulting in a very large bill that I can't verify the accuracy of...
The electricity meter has been 100% reliable by comparison.

What responsibility do the suppliers have to ensure their smart meters are reporting readings?
Why does the onus appear to be on the customer - the supplier must be able to tell when they haven't been receiving readings; if so, why aren't they following up as a matter of course? Do they/should they have a legal obligation to?

Is there a regulator or industry body that this can be escalated to?

Mstty

The best way to read the meter is with eyes and a photo on your phone.

Regardless of smart meter readings we put ours in monthly from the actual mete, take a photo and save to the cloud.

You don't have to rely on estimates you can read your actual meter and send them in.

As for why aren't they following up, probably because they are overrun with taking on the customers from failed energy suppliers and making little to no profit.

I always believe the onus is on the individual to make sure they are only billed for what they use.

[Deleted User]

I would suggest that Octopus’ smart meters are no less reliable than any other supplier’s meters. Meter manufacturers design; build and certify their own meters. Meters are tested and approved for use on the DCC Network. Meter manufacturers are responsible for rolling out firmware updates. The supplier’s only ‘crime’ was choosing to use a particular manufacturer and meter model.

In 3 years, Octopus has replaced my L&G gas meter after a firmware-updated issue, and it has replaced my L&G electricity meter after Octopus detected a reactive load problem with a particular battery system. I now have a Kaifa electricity meter and a GWi gas meter. FWiW, I have always found Octopus’ smart meter team to be well-informed and helpful.

I do though agree that all suppliers should have automated systems in place to notify them when smart meter data cannot be retrieved. This is a particular problem for Octopus’ customers on 30 minute time-of-use tariffs. The loss of one 30 minute usage data block stops automatic billing.

The Regulator for all suppliers and smart metering is Ofgem. There is also a Senior Responsible Officer within BEIS who has overall responsibility for the UK smart metering programme (Daron Walker)

Ectophile

What responsibility do the suppliers have to ensure their smart meters are reporting readings?

Gas Act. Schedule 2, section 3 (3): In the case of any consumer, the public gas transporter or any relevant gas supplier shall at all times, without charge to the consumer, keep any meter which is owned by him and is lent or hired to the consumer in proper order for correctly registering the quantity of gas supplied.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/45/schedule/2

Paps77

Wow - loss of one 30 minute reading can stop automatic billing? That's a remarkably unreliable setup, given they are using mobile network not dedicated lines. You would have thought the messages should contain at least the last N samples to avoid problems caused by dropped connections...

It's not so much that I blame Octopus, more that they have the data to be proactive about it. Surely it reduces their call centre costs/improves their PR if they have fewer customers complaining?

[Deleted User] said:

I do though agree that all suppliers should have automated systems in place to notify them when smart meter data cannot be retrieved. This is a particular problem for Octopus’ customers on 30 minute time-of-use tariffs. The loss of one 30 minute usage data block stops automatic billing.

Paps77

That is a very good find, Ectophile!

Ectophile said:

What responsibility do the suppliers have to ensure their smart meters are reporting readings?

Gas Act. Schedule 2, section 3 (3): In the case of any consumer, the public gas transporter or any relevant gas supplier shall at all times, without charge to the consumer, keep any meter which is owned by him and is lent or hired to the consumer in proper order for correctly registering the quantity of gas supplied.

[Deleted User]

Paps77 said:

Wow - loss of one 30 minute reading can stop automatic billing? That's a remarkably unreliable setup, given they are using mobile network not dedicated lines. You would have thought the messages should contain at least the last N samples to avoid problems caused by dropped connections...

It's not so much that I blame Octopus, more that they have the data to be proactive about it. Surely it reduces their call centre costs/improves their PR if they have fewer customers complaining?

[Deleted User] said:

I do though agree that all suppliers should have automated systems in place to notify them when smart meter data cannot be retrieved. This is a particular problem for Octopus’ customers on 30 minute time-of-use tariffs. The loss of one 30 minute usage data block stops automatic billing.

It is not a 30 minute reading. When data is pulled from a smart meter it comprises a meter reading and an XML file which contains 30 minute usage for those on 30 minute profiling. Octopus pulls my smart meter data once every 24 hours using secure Adapter software provided by a third-party TMA. You can see how things can go wrong. 

For example, for 7 months last year, Kaifa meters were sending back empty XML files for import and export. There was nothing that Octopus could do to rectify this other than wait for the meter manufacturer to deploy a firmware fix. Fortunately, smart meters retain 13 months of import data and 3 months of export data.