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Incorrect Octopus Energy smart meter readings
Comments
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The problem was fixed. Who believes that gas meters are designed to run backwards if the pressure in the mains fluctuates ?
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"The meter should be removed and sent to SGS for a laboratory test, per this post from 2023. If they try to test it in-situ, they're doing the wrong test and you should complain vigorously."
Removing a meter to test it is generally nonsense. The meter may start working correctly as soon as it is touched with a spanner.
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CEO of Octopus is Greg Jackson. He has a reputation of replying to ( or getting his executive team to reply to)
and solving customer's problems / complaints and queries. I would contact him if the usual routes fail to bring results.
greg@octopus.energy
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Allowing that the relevant tests can't as I understand it be done in-situ, how would you propose someone who believes their meter is faulty should proceed in that case?
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her0 -
Carry out the various tests as suggested by people on this forum. If it is more complicated than that you may need to get someone who understands such things to perform experiments with the readings.
The one thing that is normally a bad idea is to remove the meter before it has been demonstrated that the readings are are incorrect.
Read the text about laboratory tests carefully and you will see that the statistics therein demonstrate that removing the meter for a test is a very bad idea.
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If the gas meter is removed it must be replaced with a new meter. It seems highly unlikely that a new meter would have the same fault as the old one. So even if the old meter seems to behave when tested externally, the readings from the new meter should be much less than the false readings from the old one. If that is what is found then surely it is a reasonable inference that the old meter was faulty when in-situ, even if the act of removing it and testing it elsewhere somehow cures the fault?
Reed4 -
Fair enough. The problem is to persuade the supplier that that is a reasonable argument.
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>The problem is to persuade the electricity supplier that that is a reasonable argument.
How will that help when the problem is with the gas meter??
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The tests suggested on the forum are the precursors to a formal test, not an "instead of" option - it is close to unheard of for a supplier to agree that a meter is faulty without formal testing.
The reason for saying that those tests suggested here should be done first is that the relevant results on those confirm that a formal test should also show an issue.
It is incredibly unlikely that anyone suffering an over-reading meter is going to get a result from the supplier without the meter being removed and sent away - they should first carry out and document th tests we suggest here, then arrange for the test, being sure to take a clear note and photographs showing the final readings on the removed meter, AND I would suggest attaching a label to it saying "TO BE SENT FOR FORMAL FAULT TESTING". Photograph the meter once removed with that label clearly visible, also.
Telling people that having a meter sent away once those steps have been completed is a bad thing is poor advice and shouldn't be perpetuated on here, or elsewhere.
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her3 -
Here is the official Government guidance on what should happen in the event of gas meter that's suspected of giving faulty readings:
You'll see that removing the meter for testing in accredited lab is an essential step.
N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec / Fuse gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Kirk Hill Co-op member.Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Ecoflow Stream, Best kettle :-)
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 37 MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.2
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