Faulty electric Smart Meter? or something more at play?....

CAF80ST

Hello, 
This is my first post, I will try and keep it short and to the point! And I hope I'm on the right board...

Switched to Octopus in September 2023. We have a 1st gen electric smart meter, 8+ years old. Annual kWh usage since switching:

25 Sep 2023 - 31 Dec 2023 = 6,633.623kWh
1 Jan 2024 - 31 Dec 2024 = 20,693.869kWh 
1 Jan 2025 - to present date = 13,235.511kWh

When unoccupied (holiday), and all appliances turned off the daily usage is: 21.231kWh - 23.978kWh.

Somethings not right, right? I raised a complaint in May 2024 regarding the high usage and substantial cost. A more affordable tariff was found however the usage never investigated, merely told this was the amount we were using. Admittedly at this time we were complete novices, naïve and with no understanding. 

Fast forward to April 2025, after many months conducting our own investigations, monitoring, creep tests, burns tests, amp clamps, 2 x independent electrician call outs for investigation, expertise and advice, the conclusion is pointing towards the meter running fast and therefore faulty. Reported to Octopus, MAT booked for 23 May 2025. The engineer failed to show for the appointment. No communication at all. Called and emailed Octopus same day. Response 5 days later apologising for the no show with no reason given. A new MET appointment request submitted. 
Had not heard from Octopus regarding the reappointment despite constant chasing. On 11 July 2025 receive email informing the reappointment request had not gone through. 
Demanded complaint be escalated. New MET appointment came through for 13 Aug 2025. Engineer did arrive and carry out the test, approx 1hour. Received email from Octopus stating the engineer did not complete the accuracy test accurately meaning the data is invalid. Another urgent MET appointment request has been submitted, apparently. I still haven't heard from them. 
I have reported to the Energy Ombudsman. 

In addition to this, our address does not appear on the National DB. There are 18 properties situated on my street, only 10 of which are listed. Therefore its the same on UK Power Networks. Our address is not one of them and is not found upon input. However when inputting our MPAN number it links to just our street name. No property number, nothing to identify us or tell us apart. All other addresses are listed as, for example,  '10 Tree Drive', or '5a Tree Drive' - we are merely 'Tree Drive'. Where are the other 8 properties addresses missing from the Database, surely they have electricity provided from somewhere? 
My concern is there could be something greater happening here. I am aware meters can be registered to the wrong address, we're listed as a whole street. Is it not impossible we could be paying for other properties usage? The electricity units used certainly equates to that. 
I have put this to Octopus 11 days ago and have had no response. 
This has now also been included in my report to the Ombudsman. 

I guess I'm just looking for advice, opinions and to know that I'm doing everything I can. It can feel overwhelming and a little out of my depth if I'm honest, perhaps I am clutching at straws. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you. 

MeteredOut

Well, that all sounds a bit messy.

Some basics first:

- Are those readings that you've taken from the meter, or readings from bills? Based on your extensive tests, I presume actual readings from the meter, but wanted to ask anyay.

- Have you spoken to any neighbours to see if they are being billed correctly? I think its unlikely all usage on the street is being recorded by your meter, but there have been occasions where MPAN to property link has been wrong, so does the MPAN on your bill match that on your meter? 

- At what stage is the ombudsman complaint?

- What is the make/model of the meter?

Netexporter

My first thoughts were, that's an awful lot of electricity assuming an "average" sort of house and the 20kWh usage when away suggests that somebody else is connected to your supply.

When you are away do you switch off everything at the consumer unit? Do you have something like a private bio-disk type sewage system that is permanently consuming electricity?

Reed_Richards

You could try visiting this site: https://homebrew.n3rgy.com/
If you put in your MPAN (which should be on your bills) it should tell you the equipment associated with that MPAN and you can check that that equipment is yours.  This might be worth a try, to give yourself some reassurance on that aspect of the issue.

victor2

It does indeed sound like a bit of a mess. Assuming you are all electric, that level of usage does not sound impossible. Has all your correspondence with Octopus been by email? Makes it far easier to keep a record. 
Presumably the tests you have done confirms that it is the meter supplying your premises and it does not record any usage with everything off.
@MeteredOut has considerable experience with metering problems, but it looks like a lot of patience is required. Hence the need to have everything documented.
Octopus are sadly not as responsive to customers as they used to be, but IME they do respond to emails in a matter of days or a week.

brianposter

CAF80ST said:

When unoccupied (holiday), and all appliances turned off the daily usage is: 21.231kWh - 23.978kWh.

Surely this is where you start investigating. Who or what says this was your daily usage ?

molerat

Have you had a clamp on the meter out tail ?  If so what did that show compared to the metered use ?  I still have the old Eon energy monitor given out years ago and it compares pretty accurately with he meter for daily / weekly / 30 day use.

CAF80ST

Thank you for responding MeteredOut. Basics is a good place to start...

The annual kWh usage quoted is taken from the bills. I do have lots of recordings and photos of our actual meter readings. I'm told our meter readings are the same that Octopus have on their systems.
For example our actual meter reading at 11:30am 27Aug was 04190, reading taken just now at 11:30am 29Aug is 04286. Am I correct in saying this is 96kWh used in 48 hours? Our Burns Test used 3kWh in 15 minutes. 

The MPAN number is not physically on the meter itself, it is on our bills and the same MPAN number was on our bills with our previous supplier EDF Energy. Also confirmation from UK Power Networks on MPAN number, both marry up, although the address doesn't.  
Octopus also confirmed the meter serial number they have is the same we have on the actual meter. 
This said I have noticed a slight difference in the S number, is this the supply number of the energy provider? for example EDF Energy S number on old bills is S01 801 003 and Octopus S number on bills is S1 801 1. 

We have spoken to the neighbours that we speak to (if that makes sense), 5 properties, and we use and pay just shy of triple their usage. They are all around about the same bench mark. 

QrizB

Thanks for the info. Can you share the make and model of meter?

Is your house all electric, with electric heating? What type of heating?

Octopus should pay you £40 for the missed appointment. You might want to remind them of this.

CAF80ST

Wow thank you everyone for the responses! I am not too fast at this but will try.

The meter is an Itron Model EK410-UK.
The Ombudsman complaint is in the 'additional checks required' stage. 
90% correspondence with Octopus has been via email (phone calls were chasing ones) .Thankfully everything is documented and submitted to ombudsman. 
When away, all appliances switched off at sockets. We do not have a private biodisk sewer system or anything similar. 
We are not all electric, we have gas too. Thankfully that is no where near the amount of electric usage. 
We took a meter reading before going away and another on returning then compared that to what was recorded on the Octopus 'My Energy used' interface and it matched. 
The clamp was fitted on the meter tail. The electrician confirmed the amount of kw actually used was less then that showing on the meters reading. He left this on for a month so we could record activity and surges.  

CAF80ST

£40 received from Octopus for the missed appointment. 
Heating/hot water is gas, we have underfloor heating downstairs, completely shut down/dormant from Mar to October. Radiators upstairs. Wood burner fireplace that to be honest does the bulk of heating the house without the need for much else.