octopus energy 'representatives' houding me to get a smart meter

fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE

Hello, can anyone advise on the following

I am a customer of octopus energy (moved over when my supplier ‘bulb’ went bust)

They have been contacting me to get a electric smart meter fitted as my current rts meter wont work properly after the rts signal is switched off.

I didn’t believe my meter was of the rts type and thus sent octopus energy a photo of my meter, at there request, they sent this to there metering department and after carry there ‘investigations’ confirmed my meter was NOT of the rts type and thus wouldnt be effected by the rts signal switch off.

Thus I told octopus energy that I don’t want a smart meter and to no longer contact me by email, text, phone or letter or any other means and they have agreed to this, they have also updated there records to show I don’t have a rts meter

However, I am still receiving phone calls from ‘representatives’ of octopus energy to request I book an appointment for a smart meter install on the basis I have a rts meter, I have told them I don’t have a rts meter and octopus energy are aware of this and have updated there records to reflect this, I have also told them I don’t want a smart meter, yet they still repeatedly contact me to book an appointment saying I have a rts meter installed, even though octopus energy KNOW I don’t have a rts meter

I haven’t given octopus energy my consent to pass on my details to any third party company and have considered contacting the information commisioners office (ico) to report octopus for passing on my details without my consent but it appears from the ico website there is only a option regarding nuisance calls for ‘sales’, non for smart meter fitting harassment so not sure if ico will be able to do anything

Is there anyone who can advise on how I can stop these nuisance calls.

Incidently the octopus energy electricians would find it hard to install a smart meter as they would need to remove the 80amp fuse to isolate the supply and this fuse has been ‘boxed in’ inside a firewall and ONLY the council electricians are allowed to open it.

Doesn’t seem like award winning customer service to me!!!!!

QrizB

fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE said:

I didn’t believe my meter was of the rts type and thus sent octopus energy a photo of my meter, at there request, they sent this to there metering department and after carry there ‘investigations’ confirmed my meter was NOT of the rts type and thus wouldnt be effected by the rts signal switch off.

How old is your meter and when does its certification expire?

fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE said:

Incidently the octopus energy electricians would find it hard to install a smart meter as they would need to remove the 80amp fuse to isolate the supply and this fuse has been ‘boxed in’ inside a firewall and ONLY the council electricians are allowed to open it.

I'm not sure that's legal.

MattMattMattUK

fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE said:

Hello, can anyone advise on the following

I am a customer of octopus energy (moved over when my supplier ‘bulb’ went bust)

They have been contacting me to get a electric smart meter fitted as my current rts meter wont work properly after the rts signal is switched off.

I didn’t believe my meter was of the rts type and thus sent octopus energy a photo of my meter, at there request, they sent this to there metering department and after carry there ‘investigations’ confirmed my meter was NOT of the rts type and thus wouldnt be effected by the rts signal switch off.

Thus I told octopus energy that I don’t want a smart meter and to no longer contact me by email, text, phone or letter or any other means and they have agreed to this, they have also updated there records to show I don’t have a rts meter

However, I am still receiving phone calls from ‘representatives’ of octopus energy to request I book an appointment for a smart meter install on the basis I have a rts meter, I have told them I don’t have a rts meter and octopus energy are aware of this and have updated there records to reflect this, I have also told them I don’t want a smart meter, yet they still repeatedly contact me to book an appointment saying I have a rts meter installed, even though octopus energy KNOW I don’t have a rts meter

I haven’t given octopus energy my consent to pass on my details to any third party company and have considered contacting the information commisioners office (ico) to report octopus for passing on my details without my consent but it appears from the ico website there is only a option regarding nuisance calls for ‘sales’, non for smart meter fitting harassment so not sure if ico will be able to do anything

Is there anyone who can advise on how I can stop these nuisance calls.

They are not nuisance calls, the best way to stop them would be to have a smart meter installed.

fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE said:
Incidently the octopus energy electricians would find it hard to install a smart meter as they would need to remove the 80amp fuse to isolate the supply and this fuse has been ‘boxed in’ inside a firewall and ONLY the council electricians are allowed to open it.

Then that is an incredibly bad design and should be rectified by the council. I an fairly sure that is not compliant with electrical installation regulations and never has been. 

fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE said:
Doesn’t seem like award winning customer service to me!!!!!

Not liking something does not mean it is bad customer service.

You have two choices, you can willingly let them fit a smart meter at a mutually convenient time, or they will when your existing meter is past certification date (if it is not already) start the process of forcing the install, which will ultimately result in them obtaining a warrant and forcing entry to fit a smart meter. Pick an option, choose wisely. 

mmmmikey

Hi - it's very easy to get them to stop the calls - all you need to do is have a smart meter fitted.

powerful_Rogue

fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE said:

Hello, can anyone advise on the following

I am a customer of octopus energy (moved over when my supplier ‘bulb’ went bust)

They have been contacting me to get a electric smart meter fitted as my current rts meter wont work properly after the rts signal is switched off.

I didn’t believe my meter was of the rts type and thus sent octopus energy a photo of my meter, at there request, they sent this to there metering department and after carry there ‘investigations’ confirmed my meter was NOT of the rts type and thus wouldnt be effected by the rts signal switch off.

Thus I told octopus energy that I don’t want a smart meter and to no longer contact me by email, text, phone or letter or any other means and they have agreed to this, they have also updated there records to show I don’t have a rts meter

However, I am still receiving phone calls from ‘representatives’ of octopus energy to request I book an appointment for a smart meter install on the basis I have a rts meter, I have told them I don’t have a rts meter and octopus energy are aware of this and have updated there records to reflect this, I have also told them I don’t want a smart meter, yet they still repeatedly contact me to book an appointment saying I have a rts meter installed, even though octopus energy KNOW I don’t have a rts meter

I haven’t given octopus energy my consent to pass on my details to any third party company and have considered contacting the information commisioners office (ico) to report octopus for passing on my details without my consent but it appears from the ico website there is only a option regarding nuisance calls for ‘sales’, non for smart meter fitting harassment so not sure if ico will be able to do anything

Is there anyone who can advise on how I can stop these nuisance calls.

Incidently the octopus energy electricians would find it hard to install a smart meter as they would need to remove the 80amp fuse to isolate the supply and this fuse has been ‘boxed in’ inside a firewall and ONLY the council electricians are allowed to open it.

Doesn’t seem like award winning customer service to me!!!!!

Firstly, it's not your meter, it's their meter.

Secondly, everyone that can have a smart meter, will have a smart meter fitted at some point in the future.

Lastly, what is your reason for not wanting Octopus to replace their meter with a smart one?

Peter999_2

I just cannot understand people who won't have a smart meter.    None of the arguments I've read make any real sense.     The smart meters are the same as the meter you've already got but the only additional bit is that it will automatically send meter readings instead of you reading them.

The benefits of the smart meter are so clear.    For example, my fiends who live down the road have Octopus Go.   They have a EV charger that we share and pay 7p per kWh to charge it.     I've been using it since February and have used 804.9 kWh which has cost me £53.53 and I've done over 3200 miles.

If they didn't have a smart meter then it would have cost £209.27 and if it was my old petrol car it would be £608.
I myself have Octopus Agile where you pay a different amount every half hour.    As we speak I am currently paying 0.4p per kWh instead of the standard rate of 26p per kWh -  as you can imagine the washing and dishwashing are being done.    Sometimes they even actually pay me to use the energy when there is a massive surplus in the country.     In the last month I have spent £45.47 and if I was on the standard tariff it would have been £64.15

All of this is because I have a smart meter.      People moan and complain like mad about the cost of living at the moment but so many refuse to have a smart meter.

A lot of my ex-wife's family absolutely will not have them - I finally persuaded my ex-MIL a couple of years ago to get one and have saved her such a lot of money and she is so grateful now.

I am told by people it's because it is so easy for them to cut off remotely (it is really not, the amount of hoops they have to jump through to cut off a meter).   They all forget in the 70s we used to have planned powercuts all the time where half our city would be switched off for a few hours - they never had any trouble doing that and without a smart meter in sight.

masonic

This will be a good sign for some. There were some pretty long wait times for appointments in the past. They've obviously got those down at least in some regions if they are now contacting people who aren't on the waiting list.

thewhistleblowersdog

Hi fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE

If you do not want a smart meter - you do not have to have one. There are enough horror stories out there for you to take your time about deciding to have one installed in your home.

My advice - 

1. Make an audit of every of every time that the company contacted you - since you notified them that you did not wish to have one installed.
2. Give them 10-days to best acknowledge your audit, attached to the complaint that you feel bullied, hounded, harassed and the victim of poor information governance.
3. If you do not receive an apology from the energy company within 14 days of your complaint letter with audit of evidence attached, send them an invoice for every time that you were bothered by the energy company, including the time that you spent in putting together the invoice that you sent them.
4. Give the company 1-month to apologise and/or pay the invoice.
5. Then send them a reminder that you will add costs to the invoice in respect of the trauma of having to take them to court.
6. If the company's repeated harassment started to cause you harm or mental injuries - add a personal injury claim to the invoice. (Personal Injury claims have to be served within 2 to 3 years with evidence or a witness statement that will verify the trauma you suffered.

I wish that I had taken this advice when it was given to me.
Unfortunately, energy companies only understand the currency of money - not empathy or respect for your rights.

QrizB

... and after all that you'll still end up having a smart meter fitted.

Peter999_2

thewhistleblowersdog said:

Hi fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE

If you do not want a smart meter - you do not have to have one. There are enough horror stories out there for you to take your time about deciding to have one installed in your home.

My advice - 

1. Make an audit of every of every time that the company contacted you - since you notified them that you did not wish to have one installed.
2. Give them 10-days to best acknowledge your audit, attached to the complaint that you feel bullied, hounded, harassed and the victim of poor information governance.
3. If you do not receive an apology from the energy company within 14 days of your complaint letter with audit of evidence attached, send them an invoice for every time that you were bothered by the energy company, including the time that you spent in putting together the invoice that you sent them.
4. Give the company 1-month to apologise and/or pay the invoice.
5. Then send them a reminder that you will add costs to the invoice in respect of the trauma of having to take them to court.
6. If the company's repeated harassment started to cause you harm or mental injuries - add a personal injury claim to the invoice. (Personal Injury claims have to be served within 2 to 3 years with evidence or a witness statement that will verify the trauma you suffered.

I wish that I had taken this advice when it was given to me.
Unfortunately, energy companies only understand the currency of money - not empathy or respect for your rights.

What are the horror stories?  .  I've still yet to find one that actually would hold up to scrutiny and would have been any different than a normal meter.

The meters themselves are the same, just with connectivity.   If the connectivity doesn't work for any reason it just becomes a dumb meter - exactly the same as what you already had and you have to take a reading when requested.

I worked for a bank in around 2010 and we were tasked with installing our own version of smart meters to read what was being used in each branch.     The meters were usually right next to the bank vault and the branch managers would refuse to allow meter reading people into the branch and therefore the meters were sometimes going 5 to 7 years before being read.

The equipment I installed would read the electricity being used and the energy company were happy to accept this and charge the bank.     We soon found out that about 40% of the installed meters were giving out completely wrong readings - sometimes showing usage far more than was being used and then sometimes the other way round.   Speaking to the electric company this was completely normal and the meters were very inaccurate a lot of the time.    The meters were cheaply made and therefore it was vital that they were replaced every 10 years - they would slowly get worse and worse as the years went by.

GingerTim

thewhistleblowersdog said:

Hi fAcefuM7Pra55specrWE

If you do not want a smart meter - you do not have to have one. There are enough horror stories out there for you to take your time about deciding to have one installed in your home.

My advice - 

1. Make an audit of every of every time that the company contacted you - since you notified them that you did not wish to have one installed.
2. Give them 10-days to best acknowledge your audit, attached to the complaint that you feel bullied, hounded, harassed and the victim of poor information governance.
3. If you do not receive an apology from the energy company within 14 days of your complaint letter with audit of evidence attached, send them an invoice for every time that you were bothered by the energy company, including the time that you spent in putting together the invoice that you sent them.
4. Give the company 1-month to apologise and/or pay the invoice.
5. Then send them a reminder that you will add costs to the invoice in respect of the trauma of having to take them to court.
6. If the company's repeated harassment started to cause you harm or mental injuries - add a personal injury claim to the invoice. (Personal Injury claims have to be served within 2 to 3 years with evidence or a witness statement that will verify the trauma you suffered.

I wish that I had taken this advice when it was given to me.
Unfortunately, energy companies only understand the currency of money - not empathy or respect for your rights.

Hilariously stupid 'advice'. Claiming 'trauma' and issuing invoices, and making legal claims that will at least give the energy company a laugh. All very Freeman on the Land.

Good job you didn't take it because all you would have achieved is making a fool of yourself.