Fuse Energy & OFTM Reviews please ⚡️

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 !

barker77

A shame that fuse have a very shady page on their fuel mix https://www.fuseenergy.com/fuel-mix

feels super misleading to have to click the show regulated view to see that they seemingly have no interest in reducing emissions - hence them being cheaper than those who are investing in renewables. 

 Current stats:

14.7% Coal, 67.9% Natural gas,10.6% Nuclear, 0.2% Renewables, and 6.6% Other

debitcardmayhem

barker77 said:

A shame that fuse have a very shady page on their fuel mix https://www.fuseenergy.com/fuel-mix

feels super misleading to have to click the show regulated view to see that they seemingly have no interest in reducing emissions - hence them being cheaper than those who are investing in renewables. 

 Current stats:

14.7% Coal, 67.9% Natural gas,10.6% Nuclear, 0.2% Renewables, and 6.6% Other

Really ? coal where do they get that from

barker77

Think they are previous year to date 

sheffieldeagle

Hi 

Can anyone with dumb meters (Smet1) give their experience with Fuse. My parents are with EDF at the moment and have to give manual reads.

Cheers

tlcgrantham

sheffieldeagle said:

Hi 

Can anyone with dumb meters (Smet1) give their experience with Fuse. My parents are with EDF at the moment and have to give manual reads.

Cheers

     I have a dumb Gas meter, though it’s not Smet1, and Fuse have accepted my manual read, with a photo,for this. I’m on their 13month fix with an SC 14.36p daily and unit price of 5.3pkwh. The Electricity is SC 40.03p daily and unit price of 21.18pkwh. 

sheffieldeagle

tlcgrantham said:

sheffieldeagle said:

Hi 

Can anyone with dumb meters (Smet1) give their experience with Fuse. My parents are with EDF at the moment and have to give manual reads.

Cheers

     I have a dumb Gas meter, though it’s not Smet1, and Fuse have accepted my manual read, with a photo,for this. I’m on their 13month fix with an SC 14.36p daily and unit price of 5.3pkwh. The Electricity is SC 40.03p daily and unit price of 21.18pkwh. 

Cheers for that much appreciated!

grimsalve

sheffieldeagle said:

Hi 

Can anyone with dumb meters (Smet1) give their experience with Fuse. My parents are with EDF at the moment and have to give manual reads.

Cheers

My gas and electricity meters are SMETS1 (installed by First Utility back in 2018). Fuse are able to read them.

steven_cardwell

I have asked fuse for a move back to my old supplier under the 14 day cooling off period the live chat thinks this is erroneous transfer where I've said are you sure , he says that he's sent this to octopus , so I've sent them an email stating what this one has said and supposedly done.

I sent an email saying I've seen no confirmation that I've asked to leave and the option of returned to my previous supplier , where I get a reply back saying I've moved and I have to do the switch or words to that effect , now I think Im doing the right thing where I've replied stating again under the 14 day cooling off period I can request the move back to my previous supplier and its them that should be doing it ,where if I do ask for the transfer from octopus that within the 14 day cooling off period there is no exit fees involved .

Havent been impressed with the app and the constant missing energy data that eventually turns up , think I've been too used to having an octopus mini , with pretty well up to date usage , but this chat on the fuse app to the reply on the email, I don't think they have a clue let alone supposed to be 24/7 support in London .

If I don't get a reply from octopus in the morning I'm definitely phoning them and seeing if they can sort it out and get me back asap where this chat and email has definitely got me at 100% where before I did wonder if I'm being just picky about the app being pretty bare bones and the lack of much up to date usage data where it just disappears for hours on end before suddenly turning up in one go .

I know many in this thread have been impressed but I can't say that I am in that list now , hopefully it's back to octopus as soon as I can !