Getting my smart meter fixed - Octopus

FlorayG

My smart meter hasn't worked since I moved in here in August 2022 - so two years. To begin with I wasn't bothered but then wanted to change to a variable tariff ( I'm with Octopus) so in 2023 asked for them to fix my meter. They tried remotely and couldn't, then sent out an engineer in November 2023 who said it was unfixable and I need a new one, but the specific one I need was at that time out of stock.
I've been hassling them ever since and they keep saying first it was still OOS and now they have a huge backlog of engineer appointments. They won't even give me an estimated date. I'm worried that it won't be done before the price cap increase in October and I can't fix on their best tariff without a working meter.
Any suggestions to get a flame lit under them and an engineer out to do the job soon? I don't really want to change supplier as apart from this they are really good. Or can I require them to give me the fix they offer now once the job is done, even if the price cap has by then increased?

gazzabiscuit

Can only suggest logging an official complaint about it then taking to Ombudsman after deadlock/Supplier time running out to resolve. 

BarelySentientAI

FlorayG said:

Any suggestions to get a flame lit under them and an engineer out to do the job soon?

Not really, you're in the queue with everyone else.  There's nothing you've told us that should make them give you priority.

Make a complaint if you like, but I don't think the Ombudsman is likely to make them deal with you before anyone else also waiting.  Of course, I could be wrong.

FlorayG said:

Or can I require them to give me the fix they offer now once the job is done, even if the price cap has by then increased?

No.  Once a tariff is withdrawn, you can't require them to do anything.  You can ask, and they'll probably say no, then you can complain, and they'll probably still say no, and then you could go to the Ombudsman, who would probably agree with the supplier.

FlorayG

I find it hard to believe the queue is 6 or more months long

BarelySentientAI

Your ability to believe is of limited relevance.

There is a massive backlog of smart meter installations due at least in part to disruptions in the supply chain.  Suppliers are being directed by the government and OFGEM to target new installations (i.e. replacing old meters with smart meters) rather than fix smart meters that don't work properly.

FlorayG

BarelySentientAI said:

Your ability to believe is of limited relevance.

There is a massive backlog of smart meter installations due at least in part to disruptions in the supply chain.  Suppliers are being directed by the government and OFGEM to target new installations (i.e. replacing old meters with smart meters) rather than fix smart meters that don't work properly.

OK that sort of explains it - although it's senseless, because a smart meter that doesn't work isn't a smart meter, surely? 

BarelySentientAI

FlorayG said:

BarelySentientAI said:

Your ability to believe is of limited relevance.

There is a massive backlog of smart meter installations due at least in part to disruptions in the supply chain.  Suppliers are being directed by the government and OFGEM to target new installations (i.e. replacing old meters with smart meters) rather than fix smart meters that don't work properly.

OK that sort of explains it - although it's senseless, because a smart meter that doesn't work isn't a smart meter, surely? 

Very much so.  It's been raised here several times.

Somewhere around 3.5 to 4 million smart meters at the last count were operating in "traditional mode" - which means to most people that they were not working properly, but isn't considered a defect in the statistics or targets (yet).

I'm assuming here based on the context of your original post that your "not working" means not communicating with the supplier, rather than not recording usage at all, which puts you in the "traditional mode" camp.

If your "not working" actually means something more serious, sufficient to be accepted as a defect, then a complaint could get you shifted up the list.

FlorayG

Yes it's just not connecting to their system so I have to read it every month - which I don't mind doing, but to get a good price fix I need it to work properly!

BarelySentientAI

I'm not with Octopus, so I don't know their T&Cs, but I am a little surprised that they won't put you on a 'normal' fixed tariff just because the smart meter can't communicate.

I could see that it needs to for the clever tariffs like Agile and Tracker, but not for just a conventional fixed rate - manual readings have been used for years on tariffs like that.

If you do decide to complain, that's where I would focus the effort - get onto the fix you want even without a new meter.

Any Octopus customers around who can comment on their experience?

FlorayG

I have solar panels and export to the grid, so I need to be on one of the 'intelligent' tariffs - and looking at the Octopus website, that's the only kind they have now

FlorayG

I emailed them yet again and have had an encouraging reply;
"Hi FlorayG,

We can't adjust the tariffs, that's all way above my pay grade so to speak. (they're built internally into the system there's no way to manually edit them from my end).

However, I'm currently hyper-focused on getting the meter communicating again, once this is done, however long it takes, we can discuss compensation at that point. However, we'd likely need at least 3-4 months of data once the meter is connected to be able to calculate the difference using time spent on the desired agile tariff.

I've sent a fresh booking to the engineering team now, and would like to also raise this issue as a complaint for you, this way I can escalate the booking to complaint status and after 4 weeks I can escalate further again."