Octopus forced us to have smart meter fitted and checking 2 years of electric bills

Pearconfer

Beginning of May we were told our electric bills had an error and octopus are going over 2 years of electric bills. We always send monthly readings for both gas and electric and pay by DD monthly. we were in credit before this issue. They then said our meter is at the end of its lifespan so we must get it changed. We were told it would be a smart meter as analogue meters are not being made.

Reluctantly we agreed though not wanting a smart meter as we think the roll out is being rushed before tech is ready to fully cope with them.

The 'smart' meter was put in on the 2nd June, but the engineer said we needed a gas meter (dated 2007) as well. Nothing had been mentioned about the gas meter before the engineer arrived at our door! Concerned that octopus would also look at 2 years of gas readings we agreed to both meters being fitted but feel octopus has basically blackmailed us into having both meters. Also as pensioners we worry that octopus may say we owe them money which is causing us a lot of stress and anxiety.

Once the meters were fitted we got an email that said :-

"Our billing specialists have identified the issue with your current billing problem and we’re just in the process of getting things resolved. The good news is, these kinds of issues should be behind us after this incident as you now have up-to-date smart meters installed."

Not sure about the last part of that statement!

This is very convenient for octopus, but despite asking they haven't told us what the issue was or how much we have to pay.

We feel octopus has treated us very badly just to get a smart meter off their list!! Of course we are now trapped, we can't change while there is a dispute over the bill. In any case the new meters may not be able to switch and reading the new meter will very difficult compared to old one which had lovely clear easy to read numbers.

We just want people to be aware of practise and wonder if there is any advice on our expected 2 year electric bill which is causing us so much angst.

elsien

There is no reason why having a smart meter fitted should mean you now owe money on your gas.

The fitter should have left a label with the final reading on your old meter which can be used in case of any future dispute.

Having to have new meters fitted (which is the norm when the old ones reach end of life) isn’t going to make any difference to any billing issues already identified.

It is difficult to give advice on your current electric bill issues without more information as to how the discrepancies arose.

flaneurs_lobster

Were you not supplied with an 'In House Display' (small box that shows your gas/electric usage and meter readings)? Should mean that there is no need to get the readings directly from the meters.

Of course, the major point of smart meters is that they are supplying your readings automatically to Octopus, often every half hour, so no need for you to provide manually.

Reed_Richards

You don't explain the billing error. Either

1. Octopus did not use the readings you sent them
2. You did not read your meter correctly and the readings you sent were wrong. This could happen if your old meter recorded on more than one register and you only submitted one reading instead of two.
3. Octopus thought your old meter was faulty.

If Octopus really haven't told you what they think the problem was then you need to ask them.

reading the new meter will very difficult compared to old one

On my smart meter I have to press one of the buttons to turn on the back light for a minute or two. That makes it much easier to read. Have you tried that?

QrizB

Welcome to the forum!

Beginning of May we were told our electric bills had an error and octopus are going over 2 years of electric bills.

Did Octopus give any more specific detail of the error?

We always send monthly readings for both gas and electric and pay by DD monthly.

Can you share some of your recent readings with us? It might help us see what might be wrong with them.

Do you have solar panels?

Reluctantly we agreed though not wanting a smart meter as we think the roll out is being rushed before tech is ready to fully cope with them.

It's more than a decade since the first smart meters were installed in the UK. The current standard was introduced 6-7 yeas ago and is mature. Almost 3/4 of all domestic meters in the UK are smart meters.

The 'smart' meter was put in on the 2nd June, but the engineer said we needed a gas meter (dated 2007) as well. Nothing had been mentioned about the gas meter before the engineer arrived at our door!

It's entirely normal to have both meters replaced by smart meters at the same time.

This is very convenient for octopus, but despite asking they haven't told us what the issue was or how much we have to pay.

As above, if you can share some of your recent meter readings (say for the past 12 months) we might be able to spot the problem.

In any case the new meters may not be able to switch

Your new meters won't affect your ability to switch. What makes you think they will?

and reading the new meter will very difficult compared to old one which had lovely clear easy to read numbers.

You shouldn't have to read the new meter (although you might chose to, for your own records); you readings will be sent through automatically.

imtiazahmad

They’ve probably found a billing mistake and are now rechecking your past usage which they are allowed to do. It does not mean you definitely owe a lot of money it could be small or even nothing if you were in credit before. They should clearly show what went wrong and how they worked out any new bill. Do not agree to pay anything until they explain it properly. If they still are not clear you can take it to the Energy Ombudsman.

FreeBear

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82022903#Comment_82022903

To be pedantic, the certification on the meters accuracy will have expired. There is no accredited body that will recertify the meters whilst in a domestic property, and to do it in a laboratory setting would be very expensive. Much cheaper and easier all round to just replace the meters.
With Octopus, and just about all other suppliers, the consumer will have agreed to having smart meters fitted as part of the contract unless it is impractical to install them (either due to location or space constraints).
Smart meter technology is well established and mature - I had a taster of it from Texas Instruments back in the early 1990s when they had a plant in Bedford. That said, roll out in the UK has been a bit of a mess with targets constantly being missed, but that is something for OFGEM and government to get a grip with.

When I switched to Octopus and got on to their Tracker tariff, I was certainly saving money. Not much savings to be had currently with wholesale prices the way they are (bagged a decent fix just before the great orange clown did his bit for global energy prices).

jaybeetoo

For the vast majority, smart meters are great. No more submitting monthly readings, you can monitor how much energy you’re using via the in house display (in £ and kWh) and you have access to better deals that can save you money.

Pearconfer

Octopus never said what the issue was regarding the meter or bill until today. The octopus AI sent an email that seemed to imply our old meter was a smart meter, which it was not! In bold below is copied from that email which does not make any sense.

Essentially, the meter details we held were slightly incorrect, which was causing a hitch in your account being billed and the readings coming through. Now that this is resolved, we just need to get your meter details updated so that this doesn’t happen again. I’ve sent a request for this to be arranged now and will get back to you once it’s resolved. To clarify, the issue isn’t with the smart meter itself, but with the meter details that populated on our system when they were installed.

Octopus have since sent an update saying there were some periods we were not charged for electric. I've gone over the detailed info they sent with dates and how much we should have paid and what they believe the charges should be. The amounts we were billed for each period and what octopus say we should have been billed were exactly the same. In other words words there was no issue.

I'm at a loss to understand this unless this is a new tactic to get octopus smart meter quota fulfilled.

Money wise we are exactly where I would expect us to be with octopus if nothing had happened, all this aggro has not made any difference apart from the stress caused to us.

Thanks to all that have sent ideas to try. I think the next thing to do will be to change suppliers as quickly as possible, providing our new meters are able to switch!

QrizB

Sorry for asking again, but do you have solar panels?

The reason I ask is that some older electricity meters give odd readings if used with solar panels. Panel installers are meant to tell the property owners to ask their suppliers to replace them, but sometimes property owners don't do so.

Reed_Richards

May I suggest that you raise a complaint with Octopus for causing you stress over an issue that seems to have been a figment of their imagination. With a bit of luck they might offer you some compensation, or a "goodwill gesture" as my supplier puts it.