Smartmeter and Octopus Energy (coming from Bulb)

joeypesci

We were with Bulb and during lock down, they popped round and put in a smart meter for free as part of a government scheme to get more people onto them. The main point or selling point was "no one needs to come and read the meter anymore". Fine.

Roll on and the collapse of Bulb means we're now with Octopus Energy. They randomly, with no warning sent a guy round to read the meter. Fine. Roll on several months later they've sent another engineer to read the meter (saw him on camera but wasn't in). Why? The smartmeter is reading and sending readings just fine, so why do they say on their site

"Even if you give regular reads - or have a smart meter - we may still send someone round occasionally to check everything's good."

? But the point of a smartmeter was you didn't have to send anyone!

Will work from home tomorrow and if he turns up again ask why they are sending people when everything is reading just fine. Although doubt he'll know as they appear to outsource that.

TimSynths

You could just ring them up and ask?

Dolor

Suppliers are required to carryout smart meter inspections to check for leaks and tampering. A meter reading will also be taken.

they popped round and put in a smart meter for free

 These meters are anything but free. At 2019 prices, £12.6Bn of smart metering costs is being added to consumer bills.

Alnat1

A meter reader came to our house last month, first meter check since we moved here 4 years ago, sent by Octopus. He asked to see the electric meter only, not gas He didn't press any buttons on the meter so couldn't have taken a reading. He actually commented that he has no clue why Octopus are requesting so many smart meter checks at the moment.

joeypesci

Thanks. He's not actually been since his first failed attempt.

Dolor

Alnat1 said:

A meter reader came to our house last month, first meter check since we moved here 4 years ago, sent by Octopus. He asked to see the electric meter only, not gas He didn't press any buttons on the meter so couldn't have taken a reading. He actually commented that he has no clue why Octopus are requesting so many smart meter checks at the moment.

They are looking for meter tampering is my guess. If people are happy to walk into shops and walk out with goods then electricity theft might also be on their agendas.

Alnat1

Maybe Octopus had noticed that I've only paid them £1 since switching to them in April 2022. Had to pay that to trigger the £50 referral credit. Perhaps my account looked a bit suspect.

With solar export payments, government £400 and Savings Sessions I've got £442 towards this winters bills at the moment. Might just have to pay them something Jan/Feb this time until the sun starts shining on my roof again in March 

mmmmikey

Alnat1 said:

Maybe Octopus had noticed that I've only paid them £1 since switching to them in April 2022. Had to pay that to trigger the £50 referral credit. Perhaps my account looked a bit suspect.

With solar export payments, government £400 and Savings Sessions I've got £442 towards this winters bills at the moment. Might just have to pay them something Jan/Feb this time until the sun starts shining on my roof again in March 

Similar story here, it's sort of undignified isn't it, the idea of actually having to pay them something? Of course, if it wasn't for the evil energy overlords profiteering from unreasonably high standing charges we wouldn't have to pay anything at all.....

Shows just how topsy turvy the world of energy has become where some of us are having record breaking good years thanks to government subsidies whilst others are really struggling. 

Still, not to worry, I suppose. It's future generations that will have to pay for our good fortune. They won't have mortgages because they can't afford to buy houses, so it will be good for them to have other debts to repay instead. A bit of debt is character building.

There must be a better way of doing this! I fully support the idea of supporting those who need it, I just wish that the support was better targeted.