OCTOPUS - Smart meter billing

brewerdave

Received my first statement today after switching to Octopus; I noticed that they are billing electricity up to the 1st decimal place whereas BG , my previous supplier, billed as pre smart to the whole number. Is this their norm with smart meters ?

la531983

Mine is 1dp on the summary, they do split it to 2dp on the daily page though. On Octopus Tracker. 

Suppose at the end of the day it won't matter too much. 

The_Green_Hornet

brewerdave said:

Received my first statement today after switching to Octopus; I noticed that they are billing electricity up to the 1st decimal place whereas BG , my previous supplier, billed as pre smart to the whole number. Is this their norm with smart meters ?

Yes.      

Spoonie_Turtle

brewerdave said:

Received my first statement today after switching to Octopus; I noticed that they are billing electricity up to the 1st decimal place whereas BG , my previous supplier, billed as pre smart to the whole number. Is this their norm with smart meters ?

Octopus billed to the whole number on our non-smart meter too.

I rather like the accuracy of charging fractions of a unit to when it's actually used.  (Although we haven't actually had this month's bill yet which will be the first with the smart meter, it'll be interesting to see.)

[Deleted User]

la531983 said:

Mine is 1dp on the summary, they do split it to 2dp on the daily page though. On Octopus Tracker. 

Suppose at the end of the day it won't matter too much. 

It doesn’t matter at all provided the supplier uses the same reading at the start of the next billing period as the one used to end the previous billing period.

la531983

[Deleted User] said:

la531983 said:

Mine is 1dp on the summary, they do split it to 2dp on the daily page though. On Octopus Tracker. 

Suppose at the end of the day it won't matter too much. 

It doesn’t matter at all provided the supplier uses the same reading at the start of the next billing period as the one used to end the previous billing period.

And even if they don't, we are talking about being pennies up or down either way, not really anything to be worrying about. 

[Deleted User]

la531983 said:

[Deleted User] said:

la531983 said:

Mine is 1dp on the summary, they do split it to 2dp on the daily page though. On Octopus Tracker. 

Suppose at the end of the day it won't matter too much. 

It doesn’t matter at all provided the supplier uses the same reading at the start of the next billing period as the one used to end the previous billing period.

And even if they don't, we are talking about being pennies up or down either way, not really anything to be worrying about. 

That would be corporate fraud. It might be pennies to a customer but with millions of customers the amount accrued could be considerable. Suppliers are required to use the same readings at the end and start of a billing period. 

la531983

[Deleted User] said:

la531983 said:

[Deleted User] said:

la531983 said:

Mine is 1dp on the summary, they do split it to 2dp on the daily page though. On Octopus Tracker. 

Suppose at the end of the day it won't matter too much. 

It doesn’t matter at all provided the supplier uses the same reading at the start of the next billing period as the one used to end the previous billing period.

And even if they don't, we are talking about being pennies up or down either way, not really anything to be worrying about. 

That would be corporate fraud. It might be pennies to a customer but with millions of customers the amount accrued could be considerable. Suppliers are required to use the same readings at the end and start of a billing period. 

I agree but if someone moved to BG from Octopus now, are BG now in a position to use 1dp readings? 

[Deleted User]

la531983 said:

[Deleted User] said:

la531983 said:

[Deleted User] said:

la531983 said:

Mine is 1dp on the summary, they do split it to 2dp on the daily page though. On Octopus Tracker. 

Suppose at the end of the day it won't matter too much. 

It doesn’t matter at all provided the supplier uses the same reading at the start of the next billing period as the one used to end the previous billing period.

And even if they don't, we are talking about being pennies up or down either way, not really anything to be worrying about. 

That would be corporate fraud. It might be pennies to a customer but with millions of customers the amount accrued could be considerable. Suppliers are required to use the same readings at the end and start of a billing period. 

I agree but if someone moved to BG from Octopus now, are BG now in a position to use 1dp readings? 

Under switching rules, suppliers have to use an industry-agreed switching reading to open and close accounts. If BG uses a start reading of xxxxx.5 and on future bills it uses xxxxxx then again it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the old and new suppliers use the same switch reading. I think you may be looking for a problem that doesn’t exist. 

la531983

I know that. My question was are their systems set up to handle a 1dp switch reading? 

[Deleted User]

la531983 said:

I know that. My question was are their systems set up to handle a 1dp switch reading? 

It doesn’t matter. On a switch, the new supplier’s data collector determines a switch reading not any individual supplier. I suspect that as we still have a mix of analogue and smart meters, the data collector will default to a switch reading which doesn’t have any decimal places.

On a switch of electricity, the reading used to open and close accounts has to be within 250kWh of what is shown on the meter before any dispute can be raised. In the unlikely event that any supplier’s systems couldn’t bill to one decimal place, the two suppliers would just agree a reading. The key point is that they are required to use the same switch reading.

Don’t forget that suppliers have to have systems that can calculate calorific values to one decimal place, and most tariff unit prices run to 3 decimal places.