New Octopus Go tariff and off peak options?

[AndyWrightUK]

Does anyone know how long octopus take to get a smart meter insalled?

Also what does the referal code get?

lastly i'm with octopus EV for my m3 lease, does anyone know if i hve my own ref code?

i have e-mailed them to find out but waiting for them to respond.

Thanks

If my experience with Octopus is anything to go by then the answer is "a long time". I moved to Octopus in August and it took until November 22nd to get it installed (they failed to turn up for a previous appointment).

Half-hourly readings failed to appear so a month after installation I emailed to ask how long it should be taking and they've said I need another engineer visit to "provision the meter". I'm sceptical as the IHD became aware of the tariff and daily standing charge a few days after the install, implying the meter was talking to Octopus. Now booked in for another visit on Jan 16th.

Would be interested if my poor experience is a one-off or if this is typical. Octopus do seem to be overwhelmed and it can take days to get replies from them.

 

[Cwmwd]

Also what does the referal code get?

lastly i'm with octopus EV for my m3 lease, does anyone know if i hve my own ref code?

A referral gets you both £50 credit on your respective accounts once the refer-ee has signed up, see Octopus Referrals: Your Questions Answered

Your referral code will be at the very bottom of your dashboard/account page once you've signed in.

 

[rotor2k]

If my experience with Octopus is anything to go by then the answer is "a long time". I moved to Octopus in August and it took until November 22nd to get it installed (they failed to turn up for a previous appointment).

Half-hourly readings failed to appear so a month after installation I emailed to ask how long it should be taking and they've said I need another engineer visit to "provision the meter". I'm sceptical as the IHD became aware of the tariff and daily standing charge a few days after the install, implying the meter was talking to Octopus. Now booked in for another visit on Jan 16th.

Would be interested if my poor experience is a one-off or if this is typical. Octopus do seem to be overwhelmed and it can take days to get replies from them.

My understanding is that all meter work is done by completely separate regional companies that Octopus have no control over -- kind of like an OpenReach situation, but far far worse.

 

[AndyWrightUK]

My understanding is that all meter work is done by completely separate regional companies that Octopus have no control over -- kind of like an OpenReach situation, but far far worse.

Correct - it was a 3rd-party company that did the install. The engineer that did the work was excellent and did confirm WAN connectivity when he configured the meter (we're on the Arquiva network up here in the North). I'd hesitate to say *anyone* is worse than OpenReach!!

 

[Jason71]

My understanding is that all meter work is done by completely separate regional companies that Octopus have no control over -- kind of like an OpenReach situation, but far far worse.

don't think its quite like that Octopus and my previous supplier both had 3rd party companies doing installs but it was not the same company. So there can't just be one installer per region. In my region Octopus are using "Provider" and my previous supplier was using "Magnum Utilities"

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Some of the bigger companies have their own meter monkeys, but even some of those use contracted service. Pretty much all the smaller companies, like Octopus, Bulb etc, use contracted meter monkey services. Often these can be stretched a bit thin, which is why it's usually better to be signed up with one of the "big 6" when asking for a meter change, as nine times out of ten they will use in-house people to do this, and will probably be pretty quick. SSE changed our meter within ten days of asking, and once changed we then switched to Bulb. At the time this was done on the advice of Bulb, who said that it might take several months for them to get our meter changed, and we'd be better off asking SSE to do it before we switched to them...

 

[JCremonini]

I had originally booked for a SMETS2 install with Octopus in December. No one turned up so I chased them and it turned out Octopus hadn’t passed the appointment on to the install company. So I rearranged the install for today. I then received an email from Octopus telling me they were busy and had me in for a late January install but I just ignored it as I was sure the comms between them and the install company were just out of sync.

Sure enough, the install guy showed up an hour or so ago and fitted the meters. I’m just waiting to get switched to Go now - the guy suggested I call them in the morning as they will have received the readings enough by then to switch me over.

 

[Christiez]

I switched to Octopus on 17th November and am scheduled to have a smart meter fitted on January 8th..

I'm not convinced it'll happen though as I've had no 'official' confirmation just an email from a member of the Octopus team saying;

I have just checked this for you and the booking has been sent by what is called a Flow system, this means that it will not automatically trigger a confirmation email - however it is showing in the system and so is all booked in for you!

Will wait and see.

 

[MrBadger]

I have been with Octopus for quite a few years now, so not a new customer. Over that time, they sent me several emails offering me a smart meter. I dithered over their last offers made end Oct but eventually bit. The offer was a link to a company called AES which had a booking schedule - it was fully booked to end of year so didn't pursue. I did however return in curiosity a week or so later and found options - so got myself booked in. So probably 3 weeks. However, day of install, I got a call from installer saying that he didn't have the isolation switch (which is what I was really after) and offered to fit without or reschedule. I rescheduled a week later.

So if you get an email with a link to AES booking system, check it regularly as appointments do appear, often very short notice (few days) ones.

Took a couple of weeks for electricity to go smart even though gas was within the hour. Unfortunately, some at Octopus hide behind the 'it can take 2 weeks' excuse, which is no help if there is a genuine issue (as with mine) that eventually took a couple of minutes to fix. I guess its a common call centre attitude, where anything not straight forward will reduce their call count so they just pass on trying to be helpful even at simplest level.

 

[Jason71]

I switched to Octopus on 17th November and am scheduled to have a smart meter fitted on January 8th..

I'm not convinced it'll happen though as I've had no 'official' confirmation just an email from a member of the Octopus team saying;

I have just checked this for you and the booking has been sent by what is called a Flow system, this means that it will not automatically trigger a confirmation email - however it is showing in the system and so is all booked in for you!

Will wait and see.

My meter was installed today.
I had a phone call last week asking me to confirm and an email asking the same thing. This may be specific to the installer in my region since both were from installer not Octopus directly but I would be a bit concerned if you have heard nothing. Maybe you should bother Octopus. Better to be safe than sorry.

"Provider" tried quite hard to miss my appointment today. They missed their 4 hour slot completely ( and did not inform me). I called them and got confirmation that they were definitely still coming at some point today and would definitely call before arriving as per their emails. This was necessary since the plan was to have a nearby relative come to house sit the installation, but of course the guy turned up without notice and rung the doorbell to an empty house. Fortunately I was saved by my video doorbell which rang my phone and I was able to speak to him and ask him to wait while I called said relative and asked them to shoot over ASAP. Not a great experience so far but at least it's done!

 

[rotor2k]

My meter was installed today.
I had a phone call last week asking me to confirm and an email asking the same thing. This may be specific to the installer in my region since both were from installer not Octopus directly but I would be a bit concerned if you have heard nothing. Maybe you should bother Octopus. Better to be safe than sorry.

"Provider" tried quite hard to miss my appointment today. They missed their 4 hour slot completely ( and did not inform me). I called them and got confirmation that they were definitely still coming at some point today and would definitely call before arriving as per their emails. This was necessary since the plan was to have a nearby relative come to house sit the installation, but of course the guy turned up without notice and rung the doorbell to an empty house. Fortunately I was saved by my video doorbell which rang my phone and I was able to speak to him and ask him to wait while I called said relative and asked them to shoot over ASAP. Not a great experience so far but at least it's done!

It's a never-ending source of amazement for me that these companies are so terrible at the basic stuff that they deal with on a daily basis (not occasionally -- every single day). How can an engineer missing an appointment because they didn't contact the customer be preferable to having a basic system where it's almost impossible not to be in communication?

And the name "Provider" -- that seems like a bad joke.

 

[rotor2k]

I have been with Octopus for quite a few years now, so not a new customer. Over that time, they sent me several emails offering me a smart meter. I dithered over their last offers made end Oct but eventually bit. The offer was a link to a company called AES which had a booking schedule - it was fully booked to end of year so didn't pursue. I did however return in curiosity a week or so later and found options - so got myself booked in. So probably 3 weeks. However, day of install, I got a call from installer saying that he didn't have the isolation switch (which is what I was really after) and offered to fit without or reschedule. I rescheduled a week later.

So if you get an email with a link to AES booking system, check it regularly as appointments do appear, often very short notice (few days) ones.

Took a couple of weeks for electricity to go smart even though gas was within the hour. Unfortunately, some at Octopus hide behind the 'it can take 2 weeks' excuse, which is no help if there is a genuine issue (as with mine) that eventually took a couple of minutes to fix. I guess its a common call centre attitude, where anything not straight forward will reduce their call count so they just pass on trying to be helpful even at simplest level.

What is this isolation switch? Between the main fuse and the meter? Between the meter and the consumer unit? I didn't get one when my SMETS 1 meter was installed 4 or 5 years ago, and I didn't get one when UK Power Networks upgraded my main fuse to 100A a few months ago.

 

[MrBadger]

It isolates the house from the meter. In my case, it isolates the Henley block, which will allow for a new consumer unit to be added, which was my reason for requesting one. Its not a necessity, hence reason why they are not fitted as standard (free on request during meter change), but I had an EV charge point fitting refused a few years back until I had got an isolation switch added. I never went ahead then with either, but this time, I requested as its one less thing for some sparkies to comment on and go tutting about. Most of them just pull the main fuse and be done with it, but others seem to like any reason to make the job sound more complex than it need be.

It did make a recent electrical job I had done safer though (hoovering out the consumer unit of all the insulation beads that had fallen through from the cavity), and my friendly sparky did comment on how nice it was to have one fitted. Just a shame he is no longer a NIEIC approved contractor otherwise he would have done my charge point.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

What is this isolation switch? Between the main fuse and the meter? Between the meter and the consumer unit? I didn't get one when my SMETS 1 meter was installed 4 or 5 years ago, and I didn't get one when UK Power Networks upgraded my main fuse to 100A a few months ago.

It's a double pole switch fitted in the tails from the meter to the consumer unit. They are very useful things to have fitted, as they allow the installation to be isolated without having to call out the supplier or DNO in order for them to pull the fuse. Legally, electricians are not allowed to pull the company fuse to isolate the supply, except in an emergency, and only then when they've had specific authorisation from the DNO to do so. In practice this law is pretty much ignored, and seals are cut and fuses removed to allow safe working, even though they shouldn't be.

If an isolation switch is fitted it makes life a lot easier, and avoids all the fuse pulling shenanigans.

 

[rotor2k]

Thanks, both. I'm surprised this switch isn't installed by default. I will definitely keep it in mind if I ever get upgraded to SMETS 2.

 

[Jason71]

It's a never-ending source of amazement for me that these companies are so terrible at the basic stuff that they deal with on a daily basis (not occasionally -- every single day). How can an engineer missing an appointment because they didn't contact the customer be preferable to having a basic system where it's almost impossible not to be in communication?

And the name "Provider" -- that seems like a bad joke.

It may not be preferable for the company but for the engineer......... The cynic in me says that because he was running late he was hoping I was not in, that way he is back on schedule for the day. If I am in then he is late for ALL of the remaining appointments of the day so has to deal with a bunch of annoyed people and gets a late finish to boot. Or maybe I am reading too much into it but I assume someone capable of fitting a smart meter is capable of using a mobile telephone so I am not sure what else to think?

 

[rotor2k]

It may not be preferable for the company but for the engineer......... The cynic in me says that because he was running late he was hoping I was not in, that way he is back on schedule for the day. If I am in then he is late for ALL of the remaining appointments of the day so has to deal with a bunch of annoyed people and gets a late finish to boot. Or maybe I am reading too much into it but I assume someone capable of fitting a smart meter is capable of using a mobile telephone so I am not sure what else to think?

I agree with your theory, but there's an easy solution: a well-run company puts systems in place, and fires the engineers that don't do what they're told. The customer is the *only* reason the company exists and the *only* reason it is employing those engineers, so dear engineer, have some common sense and put the customer in first place. Employees that treat the customer as an annoyance are just harming their employer and ultimately themselves.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Thanks, both. I'm surprised this switch isn't installed by default. I will definitely keep it in mind if I ever get upgraded to SMETS 2.

The really daft thing is that, before they started rolling out smart meters, many newly installed digital meters included an isolator switch within the meter. We had a meter installed in 2013 that had a built-in isolator switch, operated by a screwdriver slot on the front. Because of this I didn't bother to install another isolator switch. When our meter was changed, I found that the new one didn't have an isolator switch, and none of the smart meters have them, either.

In my case it wasn't that difficult, or risky, to move the tails from a Henly to a new isolator switch, doing the thing that should usually be avoided, working live. As it happens, the tails were the right length to allow this, and were already stripped the right amount to fit into the switch, so the risk was low. I still wore thick rubber gauntlets and a face shield, though...

 

[Radders]

Thanks All, looks like ill just make the jump and see what happens, appear can be slow, but seemingly no worse than other small suppliers.

 

[Mr Miserable]

I still wore thick rubber gauntlets and a face shield, though...

So I see..
You can take them off now though.