Switching to Outfox with a SMART meter

lalou27

ON the basis of MSE info, I decided to switch from Octopus to Outfox - in the hope of saving £150 a year. I wasn't able to do readings before the switch date, but they told me I could make them up until tomorrow. I specifically asked if my Smart meter would work with them and was told yes.

But, trying to get them the reading today and the Smart meter is not showing any figures. I know they'll do it as an estimate, - annoying as my Ovtopus bill doesn't appear until 16th.

But I am really disappointed with the level of customer service - their email response to my Smart meter enquiry was vague at best, and I have been waiting since being number 17 in the queue to speak on the phone - about 20 minutes. Octopus was so much quicker.

Am I too late to go back to Octopus, I think I have 14 days to change my mind.

lalou27

Ah OK, subsequently did get through to Outfox and they were very helpful. So it's more a question of gaining confidence in them.

EssexHebridean

 Which fuel is this for and is anything shown on the screen(s)? The electric meter should show readings regardless - or at least some information - but gas meters sometimes have a series of button presses required to "wake them up" to get to the reading - might this be the issue or does the screen remain blank even when you follow any instructions for your specific meter about this?

Gas meters can sometimes experience an issue where the battery fails and means the screen goes blank - if that was the case then the chances are that it would no longer be "talking" to the comms hub on the electric meter, and that would mean that readings wouldn't have been being sent to your previous supplier, either. Check their bills for previously estimated billing if this might be the issue.

As a further note, getting into the habit of manually taking readings from each meter once a month and recording them for your own records is generally good practise- if you do experience a battery failure it may save you from expensive estimated billing! 

Brie

EssexHebridean said:

Gas meters can sometimes experience an issue where the battery fails and means the screen goes blank - if that was the case then the chances are that it would no longer be "talking" to the comms hub on the electric meter, and that would mean that readings wouldn't have been being sent to your previous supplier, either. Check their bills for previously estimated billing if this might be the issue.

As a further note, getting into the habit of manually taking readings from each meter once a month and recording them for your own records is generally good practise- if you do experience a battery failure it may save you from expensive estimated billing! 

When this happened to us (already with Outfox) the gas supply was cut off immediately as otherwise they wouldn't be able to track how much we were using.  I think also it's a safety thing in case there is a leak.  Net result was Outfox had to replace the whole meter.  They had to give us a dumb one as no smart meters were available and we were told they would be back in a couple of months to install the smart meter.  It's now well over a year and we're heard nothing about this.  

EssexHebridean

Interesting Brie - IIRC the meter cutting off in this situation seems to be relatively unusual - we've certainly had a lot of folk who have ended up having to fight estimated readings because the meter has stopped recording, but continued supplying. I wonder whether that is in fact a meter-specific situation, rather than supplier-specific. 

WiserMiser

Not unusual at all, every smart gas meter has a built-in Shut-Off Valve.

EssexHebridean

WiserMiser said:

Not unusual at all, every smart gas meter has a built-in Shut-Off Valve.

And yet we've had people here with smart meters where the battery has failed to a totally blank screen and no readings being sent, and they have still been on supply...