Outfox The Market - Huge Smart Meter Bill

p_dennehy

Joined Outfox The Market (OTM) in October 24, having seen their tariff - Fix'd Dual Oct24 v1.0 - recommended on here. Tariff required a smart meter. Despite this, they still asked for monthly manual readings, which I supplied and was supposedly billed accordingly for.

Initial direct debit was £66 which never changed. (I appreciate that seems a very low price for gas and electricity in the winter, but not the point).

A month ago, I contacted them to ask why, if I was on a smart meter tariff, they were still requesting monthly manual readings. They then told me they hadn’t been taking smart readings after all. This is very odd, as it was a condition of the tariff.

A few days later, I received further correspondence from them to inform me they were now taking smart readings. Imagine my surprise, and suspicion then, when this month’s bill arrived. The first bill which had, apparently, been taken using smart meter connectivity. A bill of £377.76; more than four times the price of any of my previous bills.

Outfox have now said “when switching suppliers it can take a while for smart meters to be fully functioning” and that’s why they weren’t taking smart readings. So, to me, that’s their fault for not informing me of this. Also, if it's a known fault, they should make this clear upon signup. They've also said the reading I supplied in January was wrong - despite it being in line with all the previous months which they aren't disputing.

Since I disputed this with them, they’ve manually changed my record, with supposedly updated readings, and have re-billed the account to show four months worth of bills at £100+ (instead of the one bill for £300 for one month) which they initially issued me with. Although the £300 is still showing as debit on the account, obviously. Should they have done this?

In addition to all the above they never supplied me with an in-home smart meter display and when I asked about this they wanted £35 for it so I declined. Had they sent me one, I would have seen that they weren’t taking readings or I would have seen how much I was actually using.

Any thoughts? To be clear, I'm not necessarily disputing the bill(s) themselves, but had they processed the account properly, I would have received accurate and more manageable bills originally, not the huge one I'm now faced with.

RelievedSheff

Did you supply the meter readings when they were requested?

Brie

I'm also with OTM and had a few issues.  To ensure that my billing is correct I do manual readings occasionally - maybe quarterly - knowing that as I'm on a fix the frequency is less of an issue.  I check my readings against whatever they say their smart readings are.  

My issue with them is that sometimes they use estimated readings even though there is a smart meter for my electricity.  There was a gas smart meter but that failed and was replaced with a dumb meter and there's no likelihood of that being changed any time soon.  And the meter failed just after giving them a reading and just when we went on holiday and they wanted to charge us throughout the holiday despite knowing that there had been no gas supply throughout.  You could practically hear them turning the page of the "how to annoy your customer" manual in their replies to my emails.  

tim_p

What were the opening readings for gas and elec and what are they now?

p_dennehy

RelievedSheff said:

Did you supply the meter readings when they were requested?

Yes and they're all pretty similar from month to month. But now, OTM are saying the January one (specifically) was wrong.

EssexHebridean

When was the smart meter installed? Did the engineer who fitted it explain why he wasn't leaving an IHD as well? 

Have you checked that the final reading from your old meter (you do have a note of this don't you, and hopefully a photo too?) was recorded correctly on your first bill after the meter change? What was the opening reading for the new meter - and was that recorded correctly? (Both of those readings should also be on a card or sticker attached to or near the new meter - it's worth checking whether those figures match both your records AND what was recorded as opening readings. 

In terms of the readings you supplied - do you have confirmation emails telling you what you submitted? And did you take a note of what those readings were, plus maybe a photo?

QrizB

p_dennehy said:

RelievedSheff said:

Did you supply the meter readings when they were requested?

Yes and they're all pretty similar from month to month. But now, OTM are saying the January one (specifically) was wrong.

Do you have your old bills and/or a record of the readings you submitted?

What readings have OFTM used for billing, and how do those readins differ from yours?

What does your meter actually read today?

If you scroll through the four registers on your meter, is there consumtion recorded on more than one of them?

p_dennehy said:

In addition to all the above they never supplied me with an in-home smart meter display and when I asked about this they wanted £35 for it so I declined. Had they sent me one, I would have seen that they weren’t taking readings or I would have seen how much I was actually using.

Did OFTM fit your smart meter, or did you already have it before switching?
If you already had it, do you know which supplier fitted it? It might be printed on the meter.

Regardless of who fitted your meter, the IHD would not tell you whether OFTM were taking readings or not. That's not how they work.

p_dennehy

tim_p said:

What were the opening readings for gas and elec and what are they now?

Electricity was 2363 in October and Gas was 1193. According to Outfox, these are now 3200 for electricity and 1193 for gas

RelievedSheff

p_dennehy said:

tim_p said:

What were the opening readings for gas and elec and what are they now?

Electricity was 2363 in October and Gas was 1193. According to Outfox, these are now 3200 for electricity and 1193 for gas

And what do the meters actually read?

QrizB

RelievedSheff said:

p_dennehy said:

tim_p said:

What were the opening readings for gas and elec and what are they now?

Electricity was 2363 in October and Gas was 1193. According to Outfox, these are now 3200 for electricity and 1193 for gas

And what do the meters actually read?

That was going to be my question, too!

The chance of the OP having used zero gas at all since October is quite low. There might be another catch-up bill to come.

Qyburn

Electricity doesn't seem that high for four months over Winter. What was your previous annual consumption (in kWh not £)?