MrBadger
Badger out
Yep. It varies. We have had two done, one by SMS and the other by someone driving a very Octopus branded van. I didn't deal hands on with the latter install but we certainly were not dealing with SMS.
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Octopus Smart Meter Experiences
- Thread starter DaveW
- Start date
Yep. It varies. We have had two done, one by SMS and the other by someone driving a very Octopus branded van. I didn't deal hands on with the latter install but we certainly were not dealing with SMS.
LongRanger
Active Member
Anyone with an energy supplier telling them “no smart meter due to WAN or mobile signal” - don’t accept that line. They use e-SIMs which can pick up whatever 4G signal is available at a location - so if you know you have decent 4G, send an email to their CEO and head of customer complaints and don’t let them get away with it.
They use the networks databases and don’t query that data, meaning COMPUTER SAYS NO. I had this with SSE and complained really strongly, basically saying they were failing rural areas for green energy / energy efficiency / CO2 targets, and what are they going to do about it. After a short delay for customer complaints to respond, 3 weeks later and I had a smart meter.
They use the networks databases and don’t query that data, meaning COMPUTER SAYS NO. I had this with SSE and complained really strongly, basically saying they were failing rural areas for green energy / energy efficiency / CO2 targets, and what are they going to do about it. After a short delay for customer complaints to respond, 3 weeks later and I had a smart meter.
Had the same two months ago as well, strangely a power cut here a few weeks ago got it working again. Octopus website wasn't getting any electricity readings on my account and the in home display only showed gas. Then the power cut fixed it.
Octopus customer service didn't respond initially at all, and when they did they didn't even read my message properly. It may be worth seeing if there is some way of resetting the meter yourself, though I wasn't brave enough to research that at the time.
Overall my meters were out of order about 3-4 weeks and my bill has just come through, seemingly accurate for the time 'missed'.
I might even let Octopus have another go at install if it was one of their own people.. wasn't impressed with SMS. I suspect though they only do it within a short distance of their HQ.
In the south of england they use telefonica's network which is using mobile technology but is *not* the same as the standard mobile network (although you can probably predict coverage being similar to O2). In the north they use a totally proprietary network that isn't related to mobile at all.
4G has nothing to do with this.
LongRanger
Active Member
Sure, I get that there are different systems - just pointing out that if customers accept the first response they are given by a supplier, there is a good chance they have missed out.
Don’t rely on a call handler with a rudimentary computer display to judge whether or not you can have SMETS2
. Fight for your right to have modernised electricity metering .....
Don’t rely on a call handler with a rudimentary computer display to judge whether or not you can have SMETS2
. Fight for your right to have modernised electricity metering .....
Rooster6655
Active Member
ACarneiro
Active Member
So one week has gone past and still no joy. Nothing coming up on the IHD and no suggestion on my account that the meter is commissioned.
It can "take up to 10 days", apparently but I can't help feeling like I'm being fobbed off by the customer services person.
It can "take up to 10 days", apparently but I can't help feeling like I'm being fobbed off by the customer services person.
Reading this, the 10 days are to allow for the 34 steps of the Holy Trinity to complete
Solving smart meter issues at Octopus Energy
Only way to reset a smart meter that I know of (I've had to do it when mine crashed) is to pull the main fuse. Or wait for a power cut, as above.
Pulling the fuse is frowned upon (hence the 'security' tags) so this definitely isn't advice to do it
tomorrowman
Member
Hi,
For reference
Got Smart Meter Installed on 13th November, received email about accepting Octopus Go T&C's on 20th and went live early morning 21st of November.
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
Sure, I get that there are different systems - just pointing out that if customers accept the first response they are given by a supplier, there is a good chance they have missed out.
Don’t rely on a call handler with a rudimentary computer display to judge whether or not you can have SMETS2
FWIW, the people that usually know what will or will not work are often the meter fitters. Had an SSE one come out to fit a replacement meter a couple of years ago, and he mentioned in passing that it was just as well we weren't having a smart meter fitted, as he knew one probably wouldn't work here. He had a few choice words to say about his office staff that kept sending him out to fit meters where he knew full well there was little chance of them working. Being a local chap, he was more than familiar with the few local "black hole" villages that don't have mobile coverage.
ACarneiro
Active Member
My online account still says “installation booked” so it seems their back end doesn’t even know the meter has been fitted. Hence my thinking they’ve cocked something up...
ACarneiro
Active Member
The display in the meter itself (after a bit of fiddling with the menus) does say “commissioning successful” so it seems the meter has connected to the WAN properly.
There is that at least
Rooster6655
Active Member
The display in the meter itself (after a bit of fiddling with the menus) does say “commissioning successful” so it seems the meter has connected to the WAN properly.
There is that at least
This happened to me, I waited the 72 hours that I was told about, I then phoned and it was working within 12 hours as it hadn't been setup on their system correctly.
ACarneiro
Active Member
I’ve had both too (AES I think then octopus). The octopus engineer wasn’t very impressed with what their subcontractor had done. Whether that’s a general thing or just an odd one out I don’t know - when the AES person came they were running late (turned up around 12:30 for an 8-12 job), so they may have just been a victim of circumstances.
tomorrowman
Member
Mine said the the same until the accept T&C's email turned up.
ACarneiro
Active Member
AES installed my smart meters for my supplier before I moved to Octopus. AES are awful. It takes ages to get an appointment, they turn up late and don't check their work. The first time they attended they didn't set the gas meter up properly and so I had to wait until they could fit me in again - 2 months later. On this visit a new meter was fitted (the job report report said that the previous meter display was smashed - it wasn't) but the wrong meter number was recorded in the paperwork.
Top tip, take a photo of your old meter just prior to removal showing meter reading and meter serial number and repeat with your new meter. The 'new' meter that ended up being fitted wasn't new, the meter readings showed that, however AES reported the initial meter reading as 0. This took months and lots of letters with picture evidence attached to sort out. Without the photos I would have been saddled with a monster bill even though I think it would have been physically impossible to use so much gas in such a short period.
AES are clowns.
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