Octopus Energy lost our smart meter data for 17 months – now wants to bill on estimates

Cadwallon

Hello,

I’m hoping for some guidance (and possibly visibility) on a long-running issue with Octopus Energy.

We have a solar PV and battery system that operates on Octopus half-hourly smart tariffs. Our system deliberately buys electricity during low-price periods and exports during high-price periods, so accurate half-hourly data is essential.

Octopus lost half-hourly electricity data from our smart meter in July 2024, but did not investigate until December 2025. At that point their contractor confirmed the electricity meter would not communicate via the network, but that the data remained stored inside the meter.

Octopus has refused to:

• attempt specialist extraction of the stored data, or

• use time-stamped data from our authorised solar/battery system.

They are now planning to replace the meter in early January, which they have confirmed will permanently destroy the stored data while a formal complaint is still ongoing.

Their proposed resolution is to bill the missing period using averages based on the Flexible Octopus tariff, which does not reflect how our system actually operates and would clearly disadvantage us.

During the December visit, the engineer was unable to fix the electricity meter and the smart gas meter, which had been working throughout, stopped sending data immediately afterwards.

We are pensioners, one of us is classed as vulnerable, and we have tried very hard to resolve this cooperatively. At this stage it feels as though Octopus is simply running down the clock.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with Octopus and smart meter data loss?
And does anyone know whether suppliers are obliged to make reasonable efforts to use actual stored meter data before defaulting to estimates?

Any advice appreciated.

matt_drummer

When did you first notice that Octopus were not receiving your data?

It must have been apparent from your monthly bills that something was amiss, do you check your bills?

I have a similar complex setup and I check my online account daily to make sure that they have my data in order that i would be able to take action if necessary.

The complexity of the system requires constant monitoring to make sure that it all works as intended, otherwise a costly situation could develop, as you have found out.

There is one big reason that you need to keep on top of your data, Octopus' smart tariff terms and conditions state that they will bill at standard rates should your data not be available. They inform and warn you of this at the outset.

matelodave

Although I've had a smart meter since 2017 I've still saved all the PDF's of my monthly bills. Its saved no end of aggro when energy companies went bust and data became unavailable.

They dont take up much space but can be invaluable when it all goes to pot and I'd suggest that you should be extra extra vigilant when you've got a complex tariff to ensure that data is being collected, recorded and billed correctly.

I'd suggest that you really haven't done any of that if its taken 15 month to discover it. Yes Octopus have had a problem but had you been more vigilant you would have discovered and got it corrected almost as soon as it started going wrong.

QrizB

Cadwallon said:

Octopus lost half-hourly electricity data from our smart meter in July 2024, 

Have you been receiving estimated bills since July or August 2024? Did you raise your concerns with Octopus then?

Cadwallon said:

Their proposed resolution is to bill the missing period using averages based on the Flexible Octopus tariff

This is in accordance with their T&C.

It's unfortunate that you've had almost eighteen months of lost data; you could have switched tariff and/or changed your use pattern much sooner and have minimised the effects on your bills.

Scot_39

Cadwallon said:

Hello,

I’m hoping for some guidance (and possibly visibility) on a long-running issue with Octopus Energy.

We have a solar PV and battery system that operates on Octopus half-hourly smart tariffs. Our system deliberately buys electricity during low-price periods and exports during high-price periods, so accurate half-hourly data is essential.

Octopus lost half-hourly electricity data from our smart meter in July 2024, but did not investigate until December 2025. At that point their contractor confirmed the electricity meter would not communicate via the network, but that the data remained stored inside the meter.

Octopus has refused to:

• attempt specialist extraction of the stored data, or

• use time-stamped data from our authorised solar/battery system.  - (see end of clause 1.5)

They are now planning to replace the meter in early January, which they have confirmed will permanently destroy the stored data while a formal complaint is still ongoing.

Their proposed resolution is to bill the missing period using averages based on the Flexible Octopus - (see middle of clause 1.5)

tariff, which does not reflect how our system actually operates and would clearly disadvantage us.

During the December visit, the engineer was unable to fix the electricity meter and the smart gas meter, which had been working throughout, stopped sending data immediately afterwards.

We are pensioners, one of us is classed as vulnerable, and we have tried very hard to resolve this cooperatively. At this stage it feels as though Octopus is simply running down the clock.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with Octopus and smart meter data loss?
And does anyone know whether suppliers are obliged to make reasonable efforts to use actual stored meter data before defaulting to estimates?

Any advice appreciated.

This may seem harsh - but technology goes wrong - and Octopus don't make the meters or comms hubs, write the software they run, run the DCC comms network access they use to recover the data or the cellular / Arqiva LRR carrier networks for the DCC data messages they use. And so like all sensible businesses - suppliers protect themselves against others in their business chain failing.

How exactly did Octopus lose your smart meter data - the engineer said the meter wasn't communicating - that means they didn't get it.

Smart meters lose comms regularly enough for folk reliant on them - particularly 1/2 hour based TOU contracts - to in at least some cases know to check their statements / bills regularly.

The media and govt reports also cover high levels (10%+ iirc) of failures regularly - but sadly not the severity / nature of the 10%.  Some like CA - put the all faults figure nearer 20% - MSE says suspect higher than 10% - but no figure in article below.

Did you notify them in July 2024 ?  If not when ?

Octopus protect themselves and clients - for brief rare intermittent failures (upto 4 per month in early part of clause 1.5) - and themselves for more significant failures as here at middle / end as quoted below.

And by doing so arguably of course make their customers aware of the potential problems - in the contracts they agree to - as sounds like they are exercising their clause in smart T&Cs 1.5 - which you signed up to.

https://octopus.energy/policies/smart-tariffs-terms-and-condition/

1.5   ".... If we are unable to estimate the missing readings, we will instead charge you for your consumption on our Flexible Octopus Variable Rate Tariff, based on typical consumption patterns (referred to by Ofgem as "Profile 1"). We are unable to use data from third party software or apps for billing purposes"

So on the face of it they are doing exactly what you signed up and agreed to.

And is it really their fault - that it has been allowed to run for 15+ months.

You might get a little compensation for any excessive delay in their response - once notified - but unlikely for the full period - unless you are saying you notified them in July 2024 - or they have told you it was an error in house - and not in the meter / meter comms - as reported by the site visit by meter fitter - that stopped them processing the readings.

And again - in general T&Cs - customers are generally informed to report any meter / and with it billing problems - as soon as spotted.  Yes 16.5 of

https://octopus.energy/policies/terms-and-conditions/

Future hope - of sorts - doesnt help OP though ?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/08/fixing-broken-smart-meters/

Arguably they should now finally monitor and report and automatically respond to failures like yours - far quicker.

The above MSE article dated Aug 2025 talks about a new automatic £40 per meter / fuel compensation after 90 days - coming early next year ?.

Which I suspect wouldn't really touch the sides of many's lost savings over 3 months. But whilst its a welcome change of responsibiliy as I understand it - unless that £40 increased significantly - seems weak.

£40 is less than you would pay at some garages for 10-15 min labour - and even less than that for a technical professional in many large UK PLCs

But given the other involved parties - seems likely a compromise amount - and ideally when others in chain - meter manufacturers and network operators are at fault - similar penalties should be available to suppliers to compensate them and so us as consumers for their failings.

doodling

Hi,

Clause 1.5.doesn't apply as Octopus are able to obtain the meter readings (by removal and forensic examination of the meter) they are just choosing not to.  I note that Octopus has not chosen to qualify that cause with the word "reasonably" which I would have done in their shoes.

Clause 16.5 of the general T&C also may not apply as the meter is working, it is just not communicating with Octopus (are non-communicating smart meters defective?- I think the industry would generally claim "no"), although it wouldn't help the OP for them to have failed to report this as soon as they became aware.

MWT

doodling said:

Hi,

Clause 1.5.doesn't apply as Octopus are able to obtain the meter readings (by removal and forensic examination of the meter) they are just choosing not to.  I note that Octopus has not chosen to qualify that cause with the word "reasonably" which I would have done in their shoes.

Clause 16.5 of the general T&C also may not apply as the meter is working, it is just not communicating with Octopus (are non-communicating smart meters defective?- I think the industry would generally claim "no"), although it wouldn't help the OP for them to have failed to report this as soon as they became aware.

I would say that a correctly working meter is one that allows them to obtain the data via the DCC...

This is also the same reason that they cannot use data obtained via the Octopus Mini for billing purposes...

Has anyone ever heard of a supplier, any supplier, actually retrieving billing data from a meter once it has been removed from the customer property? 

matt_drummer

doodling said:

Hi,

Clause 1.5.doesn't apply as Octopus are able to obtain the meter readings (by removal and forensic examination of the meter) they are just choosing not to.  I note that Octopus has not chosen to qualify that cause with the word "reasonably" which I would have done in their shoes.

Clause 16.5 of the general T&C also may not apply as the meter is working, it is just not communicating with Octopus (are non-communicating smart meters defective?- I think the industry would generally claim "no"), although it wouldn't help the OP for them to have failed to report this as soon as they became aware.

How do you know they didn't report it as soon as they became aware?

I have a feeling that the OP wasn't aware of the issue for some time after it started

matelodave

matt_drummer said:

doodling said:

Hi,

Clause 1.5.doesn't apply as Octopus are able to obtain the meter readings (by removal and forensic examination of the meter) they are just choosing not to.  I note that Octopus has not chosen to qualify that cause with the word "reasonably" which I would have done in their shoes.

Clause 16.5 of the general T&C also may not apply as the meter is working, it is just not communicating with Octopus (are non-communicating smart meters defective?- I think the industry would generally claim "no"), although it wouldn't help the OP for them to have failed to report this as soon as they became aware.

How do you know they didn't report it as soon as they became aware?

I have a feeling that the OP wasn't aware of the issue for some time after it started

Hopefully you become aware quite early if you are reasonably diligent about checking bills and meter readings. Just seeing that a bill is estimated should ring alarm bells and make you investigate rather than hoping that it will sort itself out.

Investigating a month or so of anomalies is far easier than try to pick the bones out of simthing thats been going wrong for 18 months

matt_drummer

matelodave said:

Hopefully you become aware quite early if you are reasonably diligent about checking bills and meter readings. Just seeing that a bill is estimated should ring alarm bells and make you investigate rather than hoping that it will sort itself out.

Investigating a month or so of anomalies is far easier than try to pick the bones out of simthing thats been going wrong for 18 months

You would think so, especially if you have installed solar panels and battery storage with the aim of filling the battery storage during cheap periods, exporting at other times and basing your whole electricity cost on it. It's probably something you would keep a close eye on!.

Hard to believe that it has been going on for seventeen months without resolution!

Scot_39

Lets find out when the problem was first reported to Octopus - then we can decide whether their response - under the rules in the place at the time - were reasonable.

I hate to think how much a forensic deep dive would cost - which wouldn't cover the full period anyway AFAIK the limit is widely reported here as being 13 months - but looking back at the draft specis - that might only be for import (the spec uses consumption) - possibly only 3 months for export (mentions active energy = kWh - and reactive = kVARh) - looking at 5.6.4.28 in this govt draft spec.  

The Op needs both for now 17-18 months - July 24 to Dec 25 - or plus1 month until Jan when faulty meter replaced if doing offline ?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a796c9e40f0b642860d7fa9/smart_meters_equipment_technical_spec_version_2.pdf

Re-reading the MSE article again - as its been nagging since my post above - MSE implies Ofgem used the word "complain" as in dont have to complain to get automatic compensation - now does that mean the customer still has to report fault - or does it mean suppliers must now track themselves and detect - I hope the latter.

I think it should have been detect not so much from day 1 of smart - as with register based tariffs like SR and E7 - the totals are always available - and easily reportable - manually if and when required (now monthly at most suppliers Ive checked recently).

But certainly from day 1 of smart TOU - all 1/2 hourly billed tariffs on systems - import and export - that rely on regular comms - it should have really been the suppliers responsibility to track serious failures.  

Maybe me perception is also wrong - and they are already meant to track and react ?

Even if in the case of tariffs like Snug - that has led to people being taken off the tariff.  Again as the Snug specific T&Cs cover in Octopus's take on plain English as best they can.  At least then the customer knows it's not working - and they are not getting the Snug rates.  And can make alternative arrangements - where can.