Octopus want 80.00 to check 'their' smart meter?

meggsz

I've had a hobby for many year - tropical fish keeping. I've had 10 tanks going, pumps, heat air etc. I know its probably cost me a lot on electricity to run them which I've felt guilty about it and struggled to pay since electric has gone up so much. Due to ill health, I've recently had no choice but to re-home the fish and shut the tanks down as I can't manage the upkeep any longer. Yet - my electric bill according to my smart meter from Octopus has barely showed any change in my consumption at all! 

I contacted them to ask if its possible that my smart meter is faulty and I explained why I feel this could be the case and they replied:
 
"Regarding your smart meter, while we can perform an accuracy test, it's worth noting that across the industry, 87% of meters tested are found to be accurate. There is a cost of £80.00 for this test, which will be added to your account if the meter is found to be accurate. An accurate electricity meter operates within a tolerance of +2.5% and -3.5% of actual usage"

£80 to check if their supplied smart meter, that they have control of is faulty? 

Is this right? It's certainly not fair whatever way you look at it imho.

Any advice anyone? Thanks

Kim_13

In my opinion, no - a meter over-reading by any amount is not ok. I knew they charged for the test if no fault was found but the margin of what they deem accurate is shocking. But probably ‘right’, sadly.

Other forumites will likely advise as to tests you can try before agreeing to their terms. If you then ultimately need the meter checking, you’d be more likely not to have to pay for it.

meggsz

I think its disgusting. If you have say Sky tv and they want x amount to send and engineer you can chose not to have Sky tv. They have forced these smart meters on us, they supply them, they control them and we have no choice but to have them, we cant just 'opt out or cancel' our electricity supply. £80? Feels like I'm being mugged to be chanrged to check 'their' meter...lol Shocking! 

Gerry1

It's pretty much industry standard.  You could buy your own meter and get an electrician to wire it in series but it would probably cost about the same although you'd still have the meter acting as a permanent check.

Try doing the Meter Sanity Test, especially if the meter is in an external cupboard or meter room.

DullGreyGuy

meggsz said:

I've had a hobby for many year - tropical fish keeping. I've had 10 tanks going, pumps, heat air etc. I know its probably cost me a lot on electricity to run them which I've felt guilty about it and struggled to pay since electric has gone up so much. Due to ill health, I've recently had no choice but to re-home the fish and shut the tanks down as I can't manage the upkeep any longer. Yet - my electric bill according to my smart meter from Octopus has barely showed any change in my consumption at all! 

I contacted them to ask if its possible that my smart meter is faulty and I explained why I feel this could be the case and they replied:
 
"Regarding your smart meter, while we can perform an accuracy test, it's worth noting that across the industry, 87% of meters tested are found to be accurate. There is a cost of £80.00 for this test, which will be added to your account if the meter is found to be accurate. An accurate electricity meter operates within a tolerance of +2.5% and -3.5% of actual usage"

£80 to check if their supplied smart meter, that they have control of is faulty? 

Is this right? It's certainly not fair whatever way you look at it imho.

Any advice anyone? Thanks

How are you determining your use? By looking at the meter itself/Octopus' website/app or by the in home IHD?

It's not uncommon for there to be a "false call out" fee with energy companies, warranties etc. Whilst the booking guys are always heavy on the fees my experience (not energy companies) is that the guys that come out are much more reasonable and as long as you've done the basic tests they won't charge you for a call out. 

I do have one experience with a call out with a meter that didnt seem to be working correctly. It was a traditional meter and the engineer said he couldn't confirm or deny there was a problem but if he could replace if for a smart meter it'd be ok... given we wanted a smart meter (we didnt have a key for the meter cupboard so was a pain to get reads) so said yes and got a replacement meter and no charge... as expected the change of meter fixed the problem. 

theoretica

What do you calculate that the usage of your tanks ought to have been - from the power of the heaters and percentage of the time they were on?  The heat form the tanks would also have ended up in the room, so depending on your arrangement you may find your normal heating is on a bit more now that they are not around as a heat source.

Keep_pedalling

meggsz said:

I think it’s disgusting. If you have say Sky tv and they want x amount to send and engineer you can chose not to have Sky tv. They have forced these smart meters on us, they supply them, they control them and we have no choice but to have them, we cant just 'opt out or cancel' our electricity supply. £80? Feels like I'm being mugged to be chanrged to check 'their' meter...lol Shocking! 

Nothing to do with smart meters, the tolerances are the same for older meters. They all require an engineer visit and as you will see from the link the vast majority of this tests result in no change required in the meter. 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a803d4940f0b6230269257a/Electricity_Determination_Report_2003-2014.pdf

It would help us if you could provide some actual usage figures before and after you shut your tanks down, and to know what else you are using electricity for.

Scot_39

Do you heat with electric heating or gas.

How do the rooms with the tanks feel temperature wise now compared to then.

If tropical - a quick google suggests tanks likely to be warmer than most rooms @ 24-27C.

If you heat with electric - in winter - you have effectively now potentially just replaced the energy supplied to tanks but then lost as heat from tanks to the room - with heat now being needed to be supplied by your room heating - if rooms kept at same levels.

(Assuming the tropical tanks were set higher than room temps - seems likely if the google numbers match.)

However in a summer month - with no room heating - you might well expect to see a difference. But then the losses to the room would be smaller - and so I guess energy use by "tanks" - on the warmest days in parts of UK - the room could be hotter than the tanks.

As to the 87% vs 13% of meters that failed  

- it might be interesting to see a breakdown of the age of the meters within the 13% that fail

- the magnitude of the error

- if analogue (think spining disc) or digital or smart digital

and also for that matter 

- whether they fail high (read over actual use) or fail low (read under actual use ).

And note the range is in our favour - 2.5% vs -3.5% on the errors.

The charge might seem a little unfair - but if you take a car to the garage thinking something is wrong - and they spend time investigating - they do charge if nothing is found and even if - unless a warranty repair in the end picks up the tab.

As to "smart" - not sure how much difference that would make - say to the techniques / circuity and sensors - used in an equivalent digital model.

meggsz

I have gas central heating on a strict timer to come on 1 hr in morning and 1 hr in the evening. My gas consumption is low and hasnt changed. Yes, they were tropical tanks and the room they were in was toasty - obvs. now as cold as the rest of the house. I was also running a dehumidifyer 24/7 which now I have no need too. I'm checking my smart meter and the octopus readings online daily. Since shutting the tanks down - my usage doesn't seem to have gone down any according to Octopus readings. Saying if you take a car to a garage to ask them to look for a fault that you would be charged is hardly the same. I can chose to own a car, I would have chosen what car I had and it would be my car that I would own for my benefit. Their meters are their property, supplied by them, I did not have a choice on make or brand supplied, I have no choice but to have a meter and if it's faulty it is Octopus that are benefiting not myself. I can't fathom in any way why having a meter checked for accuracy should cost me a fee of 80.00 tbh. They charge us enough as it is with daily standing chanrges to us before we even start to use anything. Surely having a meter checked should be part of their business expenses and should not be passed on to a customer. I will look at doing the checks that I can myself. But with 10 less tank heater, 20 less filters, 10 less air supplies and a dehumidifyer all taken off line - its just common sense to me that my usage should have gone down and if it hasnt - there is clearly a problem? Checking online what average consumption of a house is, mine appears to be nearly double that. I've also done a lot like switching to a laptop instead of a desktop, bought ecofriendly fridge when mine failed etc. just like I assume everyone else has when costs went up. I though my higher bills were down to me having the fish tanks but now they are gone and nothing has changed - seems not. 

GingerTim

But if you are correct that your meter is faulty you won't be charged £80.

Swipe

Surely if the meter is faulty, it would have also been over reading when you had the fish tanks?