Fuse Energy & OFTM Reviews please ⚡️

brewerdave

Fuse have connected successfully to both my smart meters.
 However I've had a final Electric bill from EDF with a lower meter reading than Fuse opening read but no gas bill yet.
 Furthermore ,I can't check what's going on now as I can't log in to Fuse app !!

grimsalve

brewerdave said:

Fuse have connected successfully to both my smart meters.
 However I've had a final Electric bill from EDF with a lower meter reading than Fuse opening read but no gas bill yet.
 Furthermore ,I can't check what's going on now as I can't log in to Fuse app !!

I noticed a similar discrepancy between the first readings quoted by Fuse and the final readings quoted by my previous supplier (Octopus). When I contacted Octopus last week they said "we need to await a confirmed change of supply reading from your new supplier first. This process can take a little time, but rest assured, once we have that information, we can provide you with your final readings and final bill." - so possibly what I think is a final bill isn't! I'm guessing the problem will resolve itself in a few weeks.

Both my gas and electric smart meters are talking to Fuse now so I'm glad that little problem is sorted. I was having a look at the Fuse app just now and I noticed that for my first manual reading the Fuse CS rep had made a screen capture of my online chat with him (I told him it was awkward to take a photo of the meter so he just asked me to tell him what the meter said) - something to be aware of if you don't have a smart meter or they can't access it for whatever reason, you're supposed to send them photos.

Xbigman

I had a £1.50 final electric bill for about a day's electric from Octopus after I moved to Fuse. It does seem the exact point of the changeover needs to be agreed before everything is settled. 



Darren

tlcgrantham

brewerdave said:

Fuse have connected successfully to both my smart meters.
 However I've had a final Electric bill from EDF with a lower meter reading than Fuse opening read but no gas bill yet.
 Furthermore ,I can't check what's going on now as I can't log in to Fuse app !!

It will be interesting to see what reading is used on your first bill with Fuse. I noticed my opening on the app didn’t start till 1:00 am on the 22nd so the Fuse app is showing slightly less use and cost than Bright app. 

       I assume you know you need your phone number to access the Fuse app. If you’re still having problems try and use their Chat feature.

QrizB

tlcgrantham said:

It will be interesting to see what reading is used on your first bill with Fuse. I noticed my opening on the app didn’t start till 1:00 am on the 22nd so the Fuse app is showing slightly less use and cost than Bright app. 

That sounds like the GMT/BST timing difference.

tlcgrantham

QrizB said:

tlcgrantham said:

It will be interesting to see what reading is used on your first bill with Fuse. I noticed my opening on the app didn’t start till 1:00 am on the 22nd so the Fuse app is showing slightly less use and cost than Bright app. 

That sounds like the GMT/BST timing difference.

Thanks I wondered about that. The Fuse app is very good, showing 30 min readings virtually in real time, and you can check daily readings register as well.           

            It’s got various helpful forecasts and history of costs and usage as well as being able to compare easily your tariff with any other tariff they offer.

           Overall I’m very satisfied so far. I hope their billing and ability to connect my previously dumb Gas meter is as good.

brewerdave

grimsalve said:

brewerdave said:

Fuse have connected successfully to both my smart meters.
 However I've had a final Electric bill from EDF with a lower meter reading than Fuse opening read but no gas bill yet.
 Furthermore ,I can't check what's going on now as I can't log in to Fuse app !!

Both my gas and electric smart meters are talking to Fuse now so I'm glad that little problem is sorted. I was having a look at the Fuse app just now and I noticed that for my first manual reading the Fuse CS rep had made a screen capture of my online chat with him (I told him it was awkward to take a photo of the meter so he just asked me to tell him what the meter said) - something to be aware of if you don't have a smart meter or they can't access it for whatever reason, you're supposed to send them photos.

Had the same problem when the app asked for my initial gas meter reading. Couldn't get an in focus photo of the reading because the meter is low down and the readout vanishes so fast !
Tried to give the reading via chat but I was waiting for over an hour ,and by the time an agent became available, the app told me that the gas meter had now connected! Interestingly the reading in the app is actually slightly lower than my actual.

steven_cardwell

Moved to fuse from octopus where I had a mini so could see live electric usage , the gas was updated on the app every 30 minutes , so I had no issues with any of this showing on the app from both meters .

Moved to fuse on the 21st of this month and apart from the gas taken a bit longer on the day to show as online and not connecting , everything on the day seemed fine with the switch .

What I have found though is the electric every 30 minute meter readings go missing sometimes for hours on end then all of sudden just turn up all in one go, thru Sunday early morning there's no readings showing since 1am , the daily reading isn't there either and there's something about meter being disconnected or they can't connect , this stayed like this to nearly 12 noon on the Sunday where all of a sudden the 30 minute info all appears in one go and now up to 11am , the daily midnight meter reading is now showing as well .

Is this normal for fuse , it just seems all a bit bizarre so have I been spoiled by habing an octopus mini and seeing live electric with them before the move away.

The other thing is gas , unless I just can't figure it out , I can't see anything on the app that shows my 30 minute usage that octopus did, I see some basic info of how they turn it into usage but no idea how live that is , otherwise all I can see is the daily meter reading thats supposed to be taken at 12 midnight.

They are cheaper than octopus but the app is pretty bare bones to all these 30 minute missing energy figures for electric that goes AWOL for hours then suddenly just turns up !

I find it all a bit bizarre but the smart meters were only fitted this year so my only other experience is with octopus so no idea whats the norm with these meters reporting home .

I even had the gas on Friday I think it was showing connecting again on the app then about 2 hours later changed back to online .

If I'm honest I am on 2 minds to do the 14 day cooling off and go back to octopus even if they are dearer where my few days with fuse the app doesn't seem able to do all the basics like actually show the 30 minute figures and the daily one without it disappearing and reappearing hours later to no idea if I'm supposed to see any more data for gas than the daily meter reading figure .

Is this happening to anyone else that things like these electric figures for every 30 minutes go randomly missing for hours then suddenly turn up all in one go , like I said I find it all a bit bizarre compared to octopus showing usage etc constantly and nothing going AWOL for 2 or 3 hours or this like today with no electric figures since 2am then it's all turned up at 12 noon , I've no idea how these companies talk to the meters of the communication hub , would octopus have accessed differently to this fuse outfit ?

Ildhund

steven_cardwell said:

... these electric figures for every 30 minutes go randomly missing for hours then suddenly turn up all in one go ,
... like today with no electric figures since 2am then it's all turned up at 12 noon , I've no idea how these companies talk to the meters of the communication hub ...

The smart meter network is a really complex, highly secure arrangement with DCC at its core. Those who have to connect to meters to send instructions (suppliers and distributors) and retrieve data (same again, plus third parties who have the customer's permission, known as Other Users) use an adapter designed to simplify the process for those involved. Big actors - like Octopus, OVO and Glowmarkt) - have built their own, while smaller ones will probably contract out to a service provider (like n3rgy and Procode). You can get an idea of what an adapter does here: Q&A with Cristian Chipaila: DCC - Procode. In that article, you'll see that Procode (who retrieve data for Loop, for example) "provide continuity of service to our customers even when the DCC is unavailable. With meter caching, anyone accessing [Procode's] 'Intelligent Data Adapter' can continue to do what they need to because we cache the relevant data until the DCC becomes available again. At this point, the store and forward mechanism identifies the messages that still need to be sent to the DCC and makes them a priority'. You're probably seeing this sort of effect when your data suddenly turns up.

Some of those retrieving data - suppliers, for example - will send a routine request to a meter via their adapter a couple of times a day; once for half-hourly usage data for the previous day and once for the midnight snapshot of meter readings. I noticed that until a year or two ago, OVO managed to get my data soon after midnight (GMT) each day. Nowadays, with so much more data being pushed around as MHHS is being introduced, it's sometimes up to 24 hours late. At particularly busy times for the network, e.g. at the start of a quarter when new tariffs have to be distributed to millions of meters, the delay can stretch to 48 hours or more. Suppliers can also request real-time meter readings when necessary.

I'm surprised that it works at all, let alone flawlessly for most of the 30-odd million customers most of the time. 

steven_cardwell

Many thanks for your reply , I had a quick search and the main stuff I found was that many only communicate to the hub /meters a couple of times a day to even just the one. , I've only used octopus before with this smart meter so don't have a lot to judge against with not having the smart meters for very long .

Had issues with the first gas smart meter that was fitted at Easter where it wasn't commissioned, where I tried to do it on the phone with octopus, turns out the installer had fitted a meter that was faulty , so had to get another one , so I learnt stuff that you probably wouldn't need to know about and hidden menus on the gas meter too !

Maybe fuse needs to reword bits of their app as the wording when the 30 minute readings isn't there makes it sound like they can't communicate with the meter , add in with octopus and the mini all this info is showing on real time on the app , now I'm maybe a bit more savvy than some but even with all this it does make me start to question moving supplier and is there something wrong , where perhaps fuse needs to indicate that they only check for meter info 3 or 4 times a day where the app will update with all relevant info , it's awkward too when all I've got to go on is what I've seen in the octopus app since the smart meters were fitted at Easter , where I suppose I just expect now something similar from other suppliers , where from wnst I've read and the reply above it isn't usual and some suppliers only communicate to the hub/meter a couple of even once a day .

I did also see a lot of stuff about the DCC where it is very complicated to get your head round it all !