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

debitcardmayhem

What a mess

This latest find caused for further investigation. In June 2025 Octopus took 3 readings in 3 consecutive days - that in itself is questionable -  as follows;
01June 100093
02June 98799
03 June 98854
Our meter reading was 01417.  
Their response to this was again the clocking over and adding a '10' function on their systems, told it does not effect my billing at all and this is why readings do not show the same on my meter. 

How did they explain their readings going backwards?

CAF80ST

debitcardmayhem said:

What a mess

This latest find caused for further investigation. In June 2025 Octopus took 3 readings in 3 consecutive days - that in itself is questionable -  as follows;
01June 100093
02June 98799
03 June 98854
Our meter reading was 01417.  
Their response to this was again the clocking over and adding a '10' function on their systems, told it does not effect my billing at all and this is why readings do not show the same on my meter. 

How did they explain their readings going backwards?

No acknowledgement whatsoever, same drivel response as before 'not clocking over to 0 so adding the 10, it wont effect my billing and is why readings do not show the same on my meter'. This isn't even applicable in this instance. The email clearly hasn't been read properly. I have emailed again pointing out the smart meter reading was higher on the 01 June, lower on the 02 June, then higher on the 03 June, but not as high as the 01 June. Feels like I am explaining to child...

squirrelpie

CAF80ST said:

Feels like I am explaining to child...

Is your email signed by Jade by any chance? I've been having problems getting the answers to simple questions from Octopus recently, and I've been assuming that Jade is their 'AI' assistant.

Spoonie_Turtle

squirrelpie said:

CAF80ST said:

Feels like I am explaining to child...

Is your email signed by Jade by any chance? I've been having problems getting the answers to simple questions from Octopus recently, and I've been assuming that Jade is their 'AI' assistant.

Every AI answer I've had from them has had a different name.

If it feels like it's not a response from a human who's actually read the e-mail, then persist - if it is AI, that'll escalate it to a human.  If it's a human having a brain blip or just being bad at the job, then you still need to pursue an actual answer.  So whether it's AI or it's a human not answering the question, the required course of action is still the same.

leonj

You really need to keep a record of the meter readings from the actual meter, both rates and the total every day

JohnSwift10

And post a picture of your actual meter

debitcardmayhem

JohnSwift10 said:

And post a picture of your actual meter

Page four OP confirms as EM425-UK from @QrizB piccy

squirrelpie

Spoonie_Turtle said:

squirrelpie said:

CAF80ST said:

Feels like I am explaining to child...

Is your email signed by Jade by any chance? I've been having problems getting the answers to simple questions from Octopus recently, and I've been assuming that Jade is their 'AI' assistant.

Every AI answer I've had from them has had a different name.

If it feels like it's not a response from a human who's actually read the e-mail, then persist - if it is AI, that'll escalate it to a human.  If it's a human having a brain blip or just being bad at the job, then you still need to pursue an actual answer.  So whether it's AI or it's a human not answering the question, the required course of action is still the same.

That's not been my experience. Whatever I say - even asking explicitly to escalate my query to somebody else - I just get emails back from 'Jade'. And Jade says things like "How to read your meter, I can provide clear guidance." instead of actually giving me a straight answer.

CAF80ST

Thanks everyone. Thankfully it is not 'Jade' (I think that would push me over the edge!) I'm fairly certain its a person. I have a dedicated customer specialist, apparently, and on some occasions an escalations team manager, not that either are getting me anywhere when they cant provide answers, and most importantly the MAT appointment so urgently needed.  I have and continue to submit all correspondence to the ombudsman complaint. 
I have many photos of readings spanning our time with them since switching and continue to take photos of readings. 

Does anyone have an experience or knowledge regarding SMETS1 facing issues with supplier switching? I have read meters could go 'dumb'. Apparently we were upgraded by the DCC, confirmed by Octopus, date unknown. That said I have read the 1st gen meters could still face internal communication problems. 

matelodave

Have you tried using the Bright app  - I can review half hourly energy consumption going right back to November 2020. That might give you some idea whether your consumption is relatively even or if there are major anomalies at specific times or on certain days. You need to establish that its your meter using the sanity check and ensure that when you shut down the main switch that nothing gets recorded.You can also try checking each circuit by pulling the fuse for for several hours to se if there's one thats dar

As everyone say, that's an insane amount of energy usage - we are all electric with a heatpump and and only get through 7200-7500kwh a year.