Gas meter not working - how will I / should I be charged?

purplefleece

I have no working gas meter. It's never worked since they installed it in Nov 2022. It does not come to life when pressing buttons.

Octopus are saying they will charge us for this winter's gas use based on last winter's usage. That is unfair given we have taken extensive measures to reduce gas consumption.

We have turned off radiators in four rooms, turned down water temp and radiator temp, cut hours of heating and room thermostat temp. We have bought an air fryer and hardly using the gas cooker anymore. Living with fleece hoodies and under blankets when watching tv in evenings. So our usage is not the same amount as last year. It will have been much less as we did not take these measures last winter.

I have emailed Octopus several times and rung them. Their website shows no gas readings. They acknowledge the meter is not working. They say they will send out an engineer but that there is a backlog and they can't say when, having initially said it would be a couple of weeks.

I am submitting electricity meter readings every 3-4 weeks.

How do I make a case for the charges to be less than our usage for the equivalent period over last winter? Also, last winter, there were some estimated bills and then catch up payments in response to actual meter readings.

comeandgo

Do the screens not alternate with zero showing for how much it costs but then the actual units used will show?  Our smart meters have never worked and never will so we have to phone in the readings which I get but have to wait for the meter to go through the ritual to get the readings I want.

[Deleted User]

You have tried pressing buttons to see it readings appear?

purplefleece

comeandgo said:

Do the screens not alternate with zero showing for how much it costs but then the actual units used will show?  Our smart meters have never worked and never will so we have to phone in the readings which I get but have to wait for the meter to go through the ritual to get the readings I want.

No ours cannot establish radio signal so not connecting to meters to get readings.  The IRD just on the tutorial. The actual meters show blank screens where you’d expect numbers to be. 

purplefleece

[Deleted User] said:

You have tried pressing buttons to see it readings appear?

Yes. There is no radio signal. Just the tutorial on the IRD. Buttons change display and it looks great but has no real information. 

ebc

Our Octopus meters look blank but there is a button on it that you press to get the display. Find your make/model and do a Google search to see examples of where the buttons are.

[Deleted User]

purplefleece said:

[Deleted User] said:

You have tried pressing buttons to see it readings appear?

Yes. There is no radio signal. Just the tutorial on the IRD. Buttons change display and it looks great but has no real information. 

You're not actually talking about the smart meters are you with this answer?  The ones that are actually fixed to the wires and pipes?

You're talking about the in-home display unit which has nothing to do with billing or readings, it's just a handy gadget when it works.

Go and push some buttons on the actual meters and see if readings appear.

purplefleece

Okay this is where things are at. 

I checked both meters. The gas one is blankety blank. Pushed buttons. Nowt. 

Electric one has a display with correct date and time and then says 
“+A Value 00195 KWh”
”-A Value 00000 KWh”
The IHD is on tutorial with incorrect date and time and the figures don’t change. 

[Deleted User]

purplefleece said:

Okay this is where things are at. 

I checked both meters. The gas one is blankety blank. Pushed buttons. Nowt. 

Electric one has a display with correct date and time and then says 
“+A Value 00195 KWh”
”-A Value 00000 KWh”
The IHD is on tutorial with incorrect date and time and the figures don’t change. 

 +A is your import meter reading

and

-A is your export meter reading.

Move your IHD closer to the meter box. 

purplefleece

What is import reading and export?

The ihd is right by the meter and has been on all day. I don’t think it’s picking up any radio wave signal. 

[Deleted User]

What is import reading and export?

Smart meters can record the amount of energy that you buy from your supplier (import) as well as any energy that you export from a PV solar array to the Grid (export).

The IHD doesn’t connect via radio waves. The communications hub which sits above the electricity establishes a Home Area Network (similar to your home wifi network). Can you see a bar icon on the top LHS of the IHD? 

If you download the App BRIGHT and sign up as requested, you can see whether your supplier is able to ‘pull’ data from your smart meters.