New Comms Hub 🐙 - No gas 1/2 hourly readings

SuzeQStan

Octopus told us that we had to have a new comms hub as our area was no longer supporting 3G as of Jan 2026.

🐙 engineer came, replaced comms
hub and afterwards told us there was an issue and our smart gas meter was not sending 1/2 hourly readings. And that this was a ‘common problem’ following these comms hub replacements.

since then been getting the usual fob offs from 🐙. 

We can obv provide meter readings etc. but what I want to know is if anyone else on here has had the same issue arise following comms hub replacement? And what the resolution involved please?

QrizB

It's going to need Octopus to fix it.

I don't have a better suggestion than to raise a complaint. That should see the problem eventually be routed through to the smart meter team.

Ildhund

SuzeQStan said:

Octopus told us that we had to have a new comms hub as our area was no longer supporting 3G as of Jan 2026.

This sounds a bit garbled. If 3G stops working, the comms hub can quite happily continue on 2G, which has many years of support left. 

The only compulsory, time-sensitive TCSO [nice bit of jargon - Trust Center Swap-Out, meaning exchanging the communications hub] scheme as far as I'm aware is the one in the Northern CSP region where 'cellular' CHs were installed in poor LRR areas. This was a stopgap to get as many RTS refugees in the north connected as possible, but DCC have now dictated that from January 2026 these CHs have to be replaced with 4G hubs.

Lancashire is on the border of the Northern and Central CSP regions, so it's likely that some customers there who would otherwise have been fitted with LRR hubs were instead given cellular ones after DCC had given the green light earlier this year. 

The major TCSO push has yet to start, I think, but when it does, DCC and suppliers will have seven years to get it finished. It's a quick in-and-out procedure which doesn't even involve interrupting the power supply.  
  

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[Apologies - despite a fairly intensive search, I can't find the reference that lays out this compulsory TCSO for some cellular CHs before January. Perhaps they've all been done now <tongue-in-cheek-emoji>]

SuzeQStan

That’s what happened - and 1/2 hourly gas readings stopped ever since. Octopus engineer said it was a common problem that has been happening. 

when octopus replaced our new smart meters when we joined up with them in 2023 (they had only been installed via Shell for about a year), they couldn’t get reading from us and installed a aerial for it despite saying we weren’t to have that as we were northern. 

Issue turned out to be human error as they had recorded incorrect mpan likely at time of changeover. 🙄

anyway here we are now and interestingly the 🐙 engineer appears to have removed that aerial. 

 apologies if I garbled anything - my understanding is clearly less than yours. Pasting the email from 🐙 about the required work below:

Your communications hub (also known as a “comms hub”), which was installed as part of your second-generation SMETS2 smart meter system, relies on the 2G/3G smart network.

We’ve been informed by the network owners that the 2G/3G smart network in your area, which is used by your comms hub, is scheduled to close by 31 December 2025, affecting your current smart meter’s connectivity. Your meter will continue to operate after the network stops working, but it will lose its smart functionality. This means that we won’t receive automatic reads from your meter, and you will need to submit manual meter reads.

We’ll upgrade your comms hub with a new, future-proofed 4G-compatible hub. The upgrade is quick and easy with no additional cost — it'll take about 30 minutes, and your power won’t be interrupted in most cases. Someone from our team will be in touch with you shortly to get you booked for a date that suits you.

❔ Have any questions?
Simply reply to this email or give us a call on 0808 164 1088, and one of our dedicated team members will be happy to help.

Love and power,

The Octopus Energy Team

I absolutely despise that sign off. Their email does say the 3G network is scheduled to close in our area 31/12. So they ‘future proofed’ us into a dumb meter.

Ildhund

SuzeQStan said:
"We’ve been informed by the network owners that the 2G/3G smart network in your area, which is used by your comms hub, is scheduled to close by 31 December 2025,
... Their email does say the 3G network is scheduled to close in our area 31/12. 

OK. Note that one word smart. The smart network owner is DCC, and they're the ones not wanting to pay mobile networks for 2G/3G access for a moment longer than they have to. 

As regards the gas meter's refusal to play, there is a magic command that support staff should be able to send to the (electricity) meter to kick-start the gas meter's HAN connection. You might ask them to send the XJOIN request; it shouldn't do any harm, and it might solve the problem as it often seems to do (although I've not seen it used in precisely your sort of circumstances).

SuzeQStan

Thanks OH ringing them today and will ask him to do just that

millie

I had exactly the same problem. They kept saying it would be sorted their end and no need to send someone out. We are on Octopus Tracker so getting the correct daily readings was important. It took 6 weeks and a lot of phone calls to get them to send anyone out. It took the engineer about 10 minutes. 

SuzeQStan

Update with solution - after repeated phone calls to 🐙 and batted between departments, we were advised as we were on each occasion that our gas meter wasn’t providing 1/2 hourly reading. BUT we pointed out that the app was showing our gas usage on the daily view (but not weekly/monthly) at the exact times we were cooking meals, heating water and running the GCH.

finally spoke to someone with a bit of common sense at 🐙 who advised they believed the old comms hub hasn’t been decommissioned.

low and behold it started working after that convo and now the app is showing our gas usage including the weeks where it wasn’t working. 

I do like octopus but have to say that everything they have ever done at ours has always led to problems - smart meters x 4 replacements, EV charger draining our solar battery, and now the new comms hub not showing gas readings. 

Sorted eventually but with a lot of hassle every time

millie

we had the same problem when Octopus changed ours. It took 6 weeks of phone calls before they finally sent someone out to look at it. I did not ask what the problem was.

matt_drummer

SuzeQStan said:

I do like octopus but have to say that everything they have ever done at ours has always led to problems - smart meters x 4 replacements, EV charger draining our solar battery, and now the new comms hub not showing gas readings. 

Sorted eventually but with a lot of hassle every time

How did you get them to sort this?

They asked me specifically if I wanted to use the battery to charge the car and I said don't be silly, of course I don't.

But it does, so I have to stay up and monitor it if I can be bothered.

It's so annoying as their scheduled charge times keep changing,

SuzeQStan

 @matt_drummer