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

MikeJXE

If you have a smart meter I wouldn't worry about these not so smart kitchen gadgets that don't work half the time. Log into you online account and there you will get lots of detail 

purplefleece

No. There is no detail online. Perhaps others don’t have this problem. But the Octopus fitter of the new smart meters said the new meters couldn’t get a radio signal but that they might find it in the next two weeks. Three weeks on there’s no connection. So octopus online cannot tell me my usage. See first post. And I can’t see it in the house. 

[Deleted User]

purplefleece said:

No. There is no detail online. Perhaps others don’t have this problem. But the Octopus fitter of the new smart meters said the new meters couldn’t get a radio signal but that they might find it in the next two weeks. Three weeks on there’s no connection. So octopus online cannot tell me my usage. See first post. And I can’t see it in the house. 

You must have had the same installer that my daughter had on Monday. Her meters haven’t been commissioned properly. Contact smart@octopus.energy and apprise them of the problem. 

purplefleece

So we still have no working gas meter. It's dead. Never worked since they installed it. 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 turned off all radiators in four rooms, turned down water temp and radiator temp and cut hours of heating and room thermostat temp. We have bought an airfryer and hardly using the gas cooker anymore. Living with fleece hoodies and under blankets when watching tv in evenings. So no way is our usage the same amount as last year. Thoughts people?

macman

Is the meter actually dead, or just not connecting to the comms hub? If the latter, just send them a manual read.
What happens when you press one of the buttons? Even with a dead display, the meter still retains and records data.

purplefleece

Dead as a dodo. It’s never worked. 

gab1234

Hi did this ever get resolved . In the same situation with Ecotricity. The smart meter works for electricity but not gas. The new gas meter outside has said the same number all winter. Told them about this in early December and phoned numerous times but only now getting a proper response. They are sending someone to put us back onto a traditional meter  but I am worried they will bill us on what we used last winter when this winter we have turned down our thermostat to only 15 and have limited our usage.. Did you have to pay based on last years bill?

purplefleece

The gas meter was restarted at 0. It still can’t connect to the supplier. I entered a reading within a week to see cost on the website. I am shocked by how much gas were using with many radiators off and temp at 18. So far I’ve just been charged standing charge I think for the period not being recorded. Am awaiting to see what happens. 

EssexHebridean

purplefleece said:

The gas meter was restarted at 0. It still can’t connect to the supplier. I entered a reading within a week to see cost on the website. I am shocked by how much gas were using with many radiators off and temp at 18. So far I’ve just been charged standing charge I think for the period not being recorded. Am awaiting to see what happens. 

I'm glad to see you did at least finally get the meter going anyway - at least with Octopus you can enter regular readings to keep up to date with what your costs are. 

If you give an idea of what sort of gas use you are seeing people might be able to offer insights into whether there are any tweaks you can make with the heating to make things more efficient? 

Cycling_Phil

My gas smart meter stopped working in the cold snap pre Christmas.  I too have only paid the standing charge for gas since then.  I was with Bulb, taken over by Octopus.   I have the same problem, I can’t see the gas usage when I physically access the meter, they can’t see the gas usage.  Despite the now four month long exchange; I’m told it’ll still be sometime before an engineer can come out.  They ought to compensate me for the stress of it all.