Smart Meter Not Sending Data to DCC (2+ weeks now)

MeteredOut

My smart meter stopped sending both gas and electricity readings to the DCC early on 30/12/24. It had been working seamlessly for the whole year till that point.

I'm with Octopus (Elec) and EDF (Gas).

The HAN/WAN lights on smart meter are still flashing every 5-6 seconds. The smart meter is still recording usage, and my IHD is getting usage details, but nothing is reaching n3rgy.com, Loop, Bright, Hugo, Octopus or EDF. 

The Octopus app is showing Live and Day readings, but that's via the Octopus Mini. No Week or Month usage showing since 30/12.

EDF are refusing to do anything as my electricity is not with them "due to data protection". I challenge that and they backtracked a bit and said its because they don't have access to the comms hub, which I suspect might be the case.

Octopus via Twitter have accepted the issue but have not been able to resolve anything in the 9 days since I first raised it via that route (I'd earlier raised it to them via email but received not-very-helpful responses).

I tried Loop, Bright and Hugo support too - all 3 tried to help but said it needed the supplier to fix.

I'm concerned that all our EV charging and overnight tumble/dishwasher is ultimately going to be charged at SVT rather than the 7p IOG rate I'm on. 

Other than keep on badgering Octopus, any other ideas on how to get them to resolve it. 

Chrysalis

Keep badgering them, and make an official complaint as well which opens up the option of the ombudsman down the road.

MeteredOut

Chrysalis said:

Keep badgering them, and make an official complaint as well which opens up the option of the ombudsman down the road.

Thanks, will keep doing that, but hoped someone had some other route that had worked for them in the past.

This is another (anecdotal) example of Octopus service not being anything like it was previously.

Gerry1

The email was probably answered by AI which won't be much good for anything that's not an FAQ.  Try phoning them and start by asking to be transferred to a specialist in their smart metering team.

greyteam1959

Phoning them or contacting them on social media seems to be the way to go. 
They usually answer the phone fairly quickly. 
Emails seem to be responded to by the jolly old bots.

MeteredOut

greyteam1959 said:

Phoning them or contacting them on social media seems to be the way to go. 
They usually answer the phone fairly quickly. 
Emails seem to be responded to by the jolly old bots.

Social media (twitter) has been as bad as email - response every few days but absolutely no progress.

Phoning tomorrow.

QrizB

MeteredOut said:

Chrysalis said:

Keep badgering them, and make an official complaint as well which opens up the option of the ombudsman down the road.

Thanks, will keep doing that, but hoped someone had some other route that had worked for them in the past.

There's a fair chance that it's going to need an engineer to come out and power cycle the comms hub. So it won't necessarily be quick and will need you to be present (assuming your electricity meter is indoors not in an external box).

Qyburn

MeteredOut said:

Octopus via Twitter have accepted the issue but have not been able to resolve anything in the 9 days since I first raised it via that route (I'd earlier raised it to them via email but received not-very-helpful responses).

I've been waiting nearly three months for Octopus to get someone on site to fix our meter. What I've learned from the process is ..

(i) They only book appointments five weeks in advance, so if they're fully booked for those five weeks they just say they have nothing available and won't comment on how long it might be.
(ii) They don't operate any sort of waiting list. When appointments become available they don't offer to people who've been waiting, the offer them to whoever asks at that time.

The effect of (ii) is that if you sit back and wait then it will never happen. You need to keep chasing and hope you strike lucky.  That's what happened for our original install, after waiting nearly nine months and being assured we'd be informed, I by chance click on the link and found it could be done the following week. Unfortunately that link doesn't work to request an appointment for repair.

MeteredOut

Thanks @QrizB and @Qyburn.

I now have my complaint number, backdated to the date I first raised the issue, so the 8 weeks count has started. I'm assured its with the metering team but, of course, I can't speak to them and don't know when they'll get to it.

The suggestion it might need an engineer visit is unfortunately where I felt this was heading, but will keep pestering them in the meantime.

I wish there was a way to power cycle the comms hub myself.

Reed_Richards

This happened to me last March with Eon Next.  There was no data received by Eon or Loop or Bright or N3rgy for 10 days.  The meter light flashes indicated communication as normal.

After a few days I reported the issue to Eon and communication returned to normal about a week later.  I don't know if they actually did anything, I certainly didn't get a visit.

I negotiated payment based on my day/night usage for the previous few weeks.

debitcardmayhem

I wonder if there is a pull/push command that can force the hub to reset, it would be logical bearing in mind that they can send rates to the meter that way? Just speculating though ….