Octopus Energy Smart Meter broken for >6 months (do i need to pay?)

jwebster1974

CONTEXT: My smart meter has been broken since September 2023. I discovered this in December when noticing my bills drop strangely. At the same time, Shell (my provider) was bought by Octopus. Octopus help failed miserably to respond to my emails/calls informing them of this issue until I chased their customer service on Twitter (amazing how brands seem to respond when you chase them on social media rather than emails/calls). I am now >5 weeks into their "3-6 weeks" promised turn-around time re getting a confirmed date to replace/fix meter, but in the meantime I continue to get automated emails telling me they'll reduce my DD to £0 (since I don't use any Gas, based on smart meter readings, or lack of them). I have asked them NOT to reduce the DD as I know at some point, once they replace the meter, they will come knocking asking for a payment for the 6-9 months worth of un-metered gas usage. 

QUESTION: What are my rights here re igorning their 'guestimated' usage when it happens? I am not looking to get away with £0 charge, but I don't want a massive BILL SHOCK from some anonymous guy in their support centre 'making up usage numbers' at some point .. THEY haven't given me a proper service since Sept '23, so THEY should be penalised by not charging me some estimated amount right? What are my options here?

Browntoa

Broken as in "not working at all" or " not sending readings" 

BarelySentientAI

What do you mean "broken"?

If it just isn't sending readings, then they might still be stored in the meter and you will get billed for what you used when they can read it.

If the readings are lost, they can charge you an appropriate estimate.  If you think it's too high, then you track your usage when the new/repaired meter is in and use that to complain.

No, they shouldn't be "penalised" for that, any more than a customer should be "penalised" for not sending in monthly readings from a manual-read meter.

You have used gas, so to answer the question in the title, yes you have to pay for it.

jwebster1974

broken = totally broken = not incrementing the numeric value as usage occurs (i.e. stuck) and not sending those numbers

BarelySentientAI

jwebster1974 said:

broken = totally broken = not incrementing the numeric value as usage occurs (i.e. stuck) and not sending those numbers

So, clearly a fault meter then.  You being able to see the numeric value is an important point.

In that situation they're allowed to estimate what you have probably used (based on historic data, weather, the orbit of venus....) and initially charge you for that.

What happens afterwards varies massively between suppliers and individual cases.  It can be that you accept that number as ok, and pay it, then they start the count again from 0 on a new meter.  If you think they're estimating too high, you can take several months of readings from the new meter to show it, then they rework the old estimates.  In the most extreme cases, particularly if the fault has lasted more than a year, they have occasionally written off the energy use and just charged the standing charge for the period.

As your meter was displaying readings, you might (if you kick up enough of a fuss) be eligible for that last category because that would effectively be billing you against actual readings (even though it was clear to you that the readings were false).  Whether your morals stretch that way or not is a question only you can answer.

wrf12345

s/c for a broken meter, surely not...

BarelySentientAI

wrf12345 said:

s/c for a broken meter, surely not...

The OP still had a supply, so of course.

Spoonie_Turtle

If Octopus do reduce your DD you can put it back up again yourself on the website.  Or make one-off payments (great if you have a card that gives cashback). 

But they can get a bit antsy if you have what appears to be a relatively huge amount of credit, so another option is to make sure it's in an easy-access account earning interest, ready to pay for when they do bill you.