Is it worth me going to the ombudsman about Octopus Energy?

Reed_Richards

I'm not with Octopus.  But the engineer that installed my smart meter moved the CT clamp to the wrong place.

DougMLancs

I would absolutely get the engineer who’s coming next week to check the CT clamp is the right way round as this seems the most likely culprit if your usage is going up during the day when you’re out. 

In terms of tariff, if you’re out during the day it means your ability to load shift usage will be limited so likely the SVR for import and their Outgoing Fixed for Export will be most straightforward. The Octopus Tracker for Gas has historically been a fair bit cheaper than the SVR but wholesale prices could spike so there’s an element of risk there. 

Sailbad

Please correct me if I'm wrong but are bills not produced from meter readings, not any device that uses a CT clamp?

DougMLancs

You are correct but if the CT clamp is incorrectly refitted then solar generation can be mistakenly recorded by the meter as consumption.

Sailbad

But the smart meter which is used for billing does not depend on a CT clamp does it?

wild666

I always tell friends that have estimated bills to send in meter readings then the bill will be corrected. Suppliers normally overestimate readings but their estimates are sometimes wrong in that the user has used a lot less electric and gas than on the estimated bill.
One elderly friend had 3 estimated bills so I told him to read the meters and put them into his online account but he said he had smart meters so there was no way he could put in readings, I told him to email the company with his readings using date and time of the readings and do it every month as his SMETS 1 meters weren't being read by his supplier. It transpired that he had overpaid by £350  over 4 months, they lowered his DD as they had increased it 5 months earlier due to using estimated readings.