Octopus Energy Economy 7 and Smart meter issue (2)

Tractorbob33

I have been trying to get an issue with my electricity Smart meter sorted since before August last year - not initially with my current supplier, Octopus.  I was switched to Octopus when Avro Energy went into administration.

To summarise, I had Smart meters installed by So Energy, who continued my existing E7 arrangement for electricity supply.  When my tariff was up for renewal, I used the MSE website to select a new supplier - Avro Energy.  Avro Energy billed me on a single rate, even though I had signed up to a dual rate tariff.  I was in the midst of trying to get this sorted when Avro went into administration and I was transferred to Octopus Energy in September 2021.

Octopus, too, began to charge me on a single-rate basis, which I challenged.  Long story short, it seems So Energy correctly registered the meter as a dual rate unit, but Avro changed the registration to a single rate unit on 16 August 2021, for reasons best known to itself.  Octopus asked me to jump through all the usual hoops, like taking photos of the meter (several times) but it became clear that Octopus's CSAs were reading only the first few lines on my emails and were not making any attempt to understand the problem, until recently.  I think, now, there is an attempt to change my meter registration back to its original 2-rate setting - but I have been warned this could take weeks.

My question/problem is ... if I've done everything possible to get the position regularised, but no-one has tried to capture the amount of energy used during the off-peak period, would it be in order to ask for a reduction in the bill for the un-registered consumption, or is there a statutory arrangement for compensation in such circumstances?  I feel I've done everything possible to get this sorted, but the care taken by Octopus to get to grips with the situation is less than satisfactory.  I am 75 years old and receiving palliative care for oesophageal cancer (Octopus is aware), and am finding this very stressful.

QrizB

Sorry to hear about your medical problems.

Tractorbob33 said:

I think, now, there is an attempt to change my meter registration back to its original 2-rate setting - but I have been warned this could take weeks.

Octopus are definitely able to change your smart meter from single-rate to dual-rate remotely; they've recently done the same for @[Deleted User] and me (although for different reasons to you). So they should be able to move you to dual-rate billing for future consumption.

Tractorbob33 said:

My question/problem is ... if I've done everything possible to get the position regularised, but no-one has tried to capture the amount of energy used during the off-peak period, would it be in order to ask for a reduction in the bill for the un-registered consumption, or is there a statutory arrangement for compensation in such circumstances?

You can certaily ask but I don't think there's any obligation on Octopus to do this and I'm not aware of any statutory arrangement. You moved to Octopus with a single-rate meter and they've been billing you on that basis.

[Deleted User]

Smart meters are not dual rate in the way that analogue meters were. They can, in fact, have up to 4 registers in use.

I am sure that Octopus will have no difficulty moving you to a 2 register tariff such as E7. However, your suggestion that they should in some way compensate you for the mistakes made by a failed supplier will be difficult. There are many dual-metered homes that are billed using a single rate tariff ( eg; original storage heaters removed etc).

Given your circumstances, I suggest that you or a relative contact the Citizens Advice Energy Advice team. They have direct access to senior management. Alternatively, you could email:

greg.jackson@octopus.energy

Explain your situation as simply and clearly as you can. I am sure that the CEO will look into your problem.

Tractorbob33

To be fair, I appreciate the original problem was cause by a now-failed supplier, however, the many email exchanges with Octopus over several months suggest they have been less than diligent in providing a solution.  Some emails clearly indicate the CSA read no further than the first line of the message from me.

QrizB

Do keep us informed with your case. It will be good to know in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation.

Tractorbob33

Will do 

victor2

I had the opposite problem with an ex-Avro account that got moved to Octopus. It has an E7 smart meter (installed by Eon many years ago), but was on a single rate tariff with Avro. Octopus detected it was an E7 meter and put the account onto an E7 tariff, which we didn't want. It took a considerable number of emails to and from Octopus to sort it out. OP, if you have been submitting and keeping records of both your day and night readings, Octopus should sort it out - eventually.

Just email them at hello@octopus.energy, and they should reply. It might take up to a week to get the first reply, but further replies to the customer service rep (in my experience) the email came from, get much quicker responses. They initially sorted it out, but when the first statement came it had E7 rates. Further emails again did sort it out and the account is now on a single rate tariff with two readings provided monthly. At the time, Octopus were apparently using customer service staff from their operation in New Zealand to handle the additional load from the Avro customers, so I did get replies during the night here!

It took from October to February to reach a satisfactory conclusion, but they did do it, and adjusted the bills already generated to reflect the single rate pricing.

All I can say, @Tractorbob33, is persevere and be patient with them. They do eventually understand what your problem is.

Good luck!

Tractorbob33

I shall certainly continue to persevere - I just feel that, having notified Octopus of the situation in September last year (in detail), it has had ample time to sort this out.  Avro Energy  changed the registration of the meter from dual rate to single rate in no time flat, whereas Octopus still has not achieved a reversal after nine months.  In the meantime, I don't know how much debt has been racked up on Rate 02.

victor2

Tractorbob33 said:

I shall certainly continue to persevere - I just feel that, having notified Octopus of the situation in September last year (in detail), it has had ample time to sort this out.  Avro Energy  changed the registration of the meter from dual rate to single rate in no time flat, whereas Octopus still has not achieved a reversal after nine months.  In the meantime, I don't know how much debt has been racked up on Rate 02.

Avro didn't have any E7 tariffs, but accepted readings from E7 meters on their single rate tariffs. Presumably you gave Avro both Rate 1 and Rate 2 readings every month. Are you now saying you've only been giving Octopus the Rate 1 readings, but the readings for both rates have been recorded by the meter? They must have had the final readings from Avro for both rates to open the account.

What do you benefit with on an E7 tariff, that made you go to Avro in the first place, who only offered single rate tariffs?

Octopus should sort it out fairly promptly, especially as it appears from what you say that they are not billing you for all the electricity you use. Try telling them that.

QrizB

victor2 said:

Avro didn't have any E7 tariffs

This seems quite an important point  that the OP has overlooked.

Tractorbob33 said:

In the meantime, I don't know how much debt has been racked up on Rate 02.

Depending on how Octopus are billing you, there might not be any debt on Rate 02.

What were your meter readings when you joined Octopus, and what are they today?

Tractorbob33

I gave Octopus some readings, but it was clear they were ignoring them, so I stopped, partly also because the process of actually getting the readings to display is so complicated - push this, hold that, wait for this etc.  Why a so-called smart meter cannot have a single-push process for getting the readings displayed amazes me.

I inherited the dual-rate meter when I moved here and have got into the habit of setting timers for dishwashing, clothes washing, heating and hot water to take place as far as possible on the cheaper tariff.  The MSE site did not for one moment suggest Avro offered only single rate tariffs.  I just did the usual search and Avro came out as cheapest, so I signed up for it.  I saw that the day and night rates were the same, but there was no suggestion this was a single-rate tariff deal.  My focus was on the overall cost.

"Octopus should sort it out fairly promptly, especially as it appears from what you say that they are not billing you for all the electricity you use. Try telling them that." - if you read my earlier posts, you'll see that I've been telling Octopus that for the past 9 months.  I'm not sure what you consider to be 'fairly promptly' ...