Octopus Smart Meter Experiences

[Richjill]

My recent experience of Octopus Go has been dreadful I’m sorry to say. Our smart meter and IHD was fitted by an outfit called Providor in April and was pretty good until August when it totally failed to record any electricity readings either on the IHD or on the Octopus online dashboard which makes it impossible to monitor charging consumption. After many emails and calls to Octopus they finally got Providor to call us in early October to arrange their first available engineer booking for late November! On the due day nobody turned up so we rang Providor who confirmed we had booked but they had not allocated an engineer as there wasn’t one in the area. It got worse when we asked for a quick next appointment and we’re told they were not currently taking any bookings! Since then a furious call to Octopus has resulted in a promise to get Providor to ring us with a booking but to date we again have heard nothing.
We will be giving Octopus a hard time when we call them tomorrow.
When it works it is pretty good

 

[ACarneiro]

I think maybe escalating to the ombudsman might help...

 

[kuruma]

I'm having my charger installed today and have just been informed by Octopus that I can't have a smart meter because there's no WAN signal where I live. I get a perfectly good mobile signal but I guess they must use a different network, which doesn't sound very "smart" to me. Has anyone had success with the signal booster approach with Octopus?

That may be the same bad news we had, particularly if you're in the north. WAN is completely different from mobile signals. It's a dedicated network for smart meters. Some postcodes can't have one installed because the tech interferes with RAF signals. We're 26 miles from the nearest RAF base but we still can't have one in our postcode until July 2021 at the earliest. Here's what SMS (our DNO) said in response to my query as to why we couldn't have a meter installed:

Octopus are correct about you being unable to have smart meters at this time, the smart meters in the north of England and Scotland require a signal which unfortunately interferes with the radio signals required for RAF bases. For this reason we are not authorised to install our smart meters in areas within most of the TS postcode area.

Smart meter manufacturers are developing new communications to overcome this issue however we do not have a confirmed date for when this will be available, as soon as they are Octopus Energy will contact you to book in a smart meter appointment.

When I subsequently registered my interest for Tesla Energy Plan, I got this response within hours from Octopus:

Every smart meter communicates with its energy supplier using a WAN (Wide Area Network). This is actually split into several constituent networks - the UK’s northern region uses a different protocol than that used in the ‘central’ and southern regions. Within this network, there are then various Communication Service Providers (CSP) that are used to transfer the information. The type of CSP depends on what's available in your region. WAN is not yet available in every postcode, and without it, we cannot connect to the meter. The DCC, a government-appointed company responsible for the networks which connect meters to suppliers, are working through all postcode areas and regularly updating them.

At the moment, you are in an area with no WAN coverage, which means that if we did install a smart meter, we wouldn’t be able to connect to it. This means we are unable to get you onto the Tesla tariff. The DCC have an anticipated coverage date for your property of 30/06/2021 so we can always review the situation at that time and see if we can bring you onto the Tesla Energy plan then.

Despite me complaining vociferously on several occasions, Octopus are still spreading misinformation in their FAQs and telling people that anyone can have a smart meter. This is a lie, but they won't update their FAQs which still say "Can I have one? Yes."

 

[StuC]

We'll I've been told today that they will install a smart meter next month and that it uses the O2 mobile network so they can try using a booster aerial if the signal is weak. So maybe it's a different type of box of there's still some misunderstanding about how these meters really connect.

 

[ACarneiro]

Well, I’m a week into my smart meter installation and still zilch. No information on the Octopus account, nothing showing on the IHD.... I just know there is asshattery afoot.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

We'll I've been told today that they will install a smart meter next month and that it uses the O2 mobile network so they can try using a booster aerial if the signal is weak. So maybe it's a different type of box of there's still some misunderstanding about how these meters really connect.

You're presumably in the southern network.. It's telefonica who own O2, so it's likely using the same towers, but it's not sending meter data over the public mobile network, it's separate secure network. OTOH there's really no harm in saying O2 when predicting signal strength.

The areas marked in red are on the northern network, and others the southern network.

 

[StuC]

You're presumably in the southern network.. It's telefonica who own O2, so it's likely using the same towers, but it's not sending meter data over the public mobile network, it's separate secure network. OTOH there's really no harm in saying O2 when predicting signal strength.

The areas marked in red are on the northern network, and others the southern network.

I'm actually in Cheshire near the bottom tip of area 10 by the look of it. So it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[DaveW]

Smart meter was due to be fixed / replaced today, just had an email to say he's gone off sick and to call and book a new appointment.

Can't be helped of course, but what a PITA!

 

[shuhockey]

Email from octopus yesterday, saying they are putting my direct debit up £26 a month. So I've complained again, saying a proportion of this week will be because I'm still on the tracker tariff, as you haven't sorted out my meter, so I can't charge cheaply at night! I reduced the increase to £13. And asked them for a list of steps they are going to take to get it sorted!

 

[DaveW]

Turns out AES either don't answer the phones, or when they finally do (after a very long wait time, they basically cut you off).

Brilliant.

 

[ACarneiro]

Day 9 in the Big Meter House. Still no signs of life from the "smart" housemate.
Got an email from Octopus saying it's 10 days for them to receive the meter info and then up to another 2 weeks for them to start receiving metering data. This sounds like complete codswallop and another fob off.
I wonder if Octopus is going to end up being evicted

 

[Tony Hoyle]

Even Bulb, who are terrible at this, know whether a meter install has worked within 2 days.

 

[simonh]

DNO has changed my service head and upgraded the tails from the main fuse to meter... now back to Octopus to get the meter changed!

 

[DaveW]

Gave up trying to get hold of AES via the phone, noticed the original link in the first email they sent me allowed me to pick a new date, next Tuesday it is!

 

[dakaix]

I'm now on my third visit from AES, over the course of the last 5 months (not including the Covid cancellation in April). Thus far I've only had working Electricity readings for about 5 weeks, and Gas for only 3 weeks.

I've had a complaint open with Octopus now for the last 2 months, and like many here have repeatedly asked for an action plan. All of which has largely fallen on deaf ears, with them continuing to provide virtually no proactive communication. When I did finally manage to get ahold of one of their manager's about 3 weeks ago there was a sudden flurry of activity - which promptly ended with AES failing to call me to organise an appointment. Luckily though I did get the Octopus manager to confirm they will accept my EmonPi/EmonCMS data as proof of usage given the comms hub issues and that I won't be paying anymore than I would've done under Agile.

Anyhow, their third visit is now also booked for next week - remains to be seen how successful that visit will be, or what they're going to do for that matter!

 

[Tony Hoyle]

The problem with the contractors is they just turn up, install a new meter and leave. There's no attempt at diagnosis what went wrong, so there's no likelihood that they'll fix it because exactly the same thing will fail again.

 

[Medved_77]

Disappointed to hear of so many poor experiences with Octopus.

I guess it's growing pains for both themselves and their supply chain. Must be frustrating all round.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Disappointed to hear of so many poor experiences with Octopus.

I guess it's growing pains for both themselves and their supply chain. Must be frustrating all round.

My experience with Octopus a couple of years or so ago was so appalling that nothing would ever induce me to use them again. It took months to get the billing sorted out, even after we'd binned them as our supplier for just being totally and completely useless. The icing on the cake was them signing off every communication with "love and peace". Not amusing when you've just been charged three times the proper amount, yet again.

 

[ACarneiro]

I'm now on my third visit from AES, over the course of the last 5 months (not including the Covid cancellation in April). Thus far I've only had working Electricity readings for about 5 weeks, and Gas for only 3 weeks.

I've had a complaint open with Octopus now for the last 2 months, and like many here have repeatedly asked for an action plan. All of which has largely fallen on deaf ears, with them continuing to provide virtually no proactive communication. When I did finally manage to get ahold of one of their manager's about 3 weeks ago there was a sudden flurry of activity - which promptly ended with AES failing to call me to organise an appointment. Luckily though I did get the Octopus manager to confirm they will accept my EmonPi/EmonCMS data as proof of usage given the comms hub issues and that I won't be paying anymore than I would've done under Agile.

Anyhow, their third visit is now also booked for next week - remains to be seen how successful that visit will be, or what they're going to do for that matter!

if this has been going for over 8 weeks you can escalate to the Ombudsman.
In previous dealings with Yorkshire Energy I found it to be a potent motivator.

 

[dakaix]

if this has been going for over 8 weeks you can escalate to the Ombudsman.
In previous dealings with Yorkshire Energy I found it to be a potent motivator.

Thanks, I am keeping that option in my back pocket at the moment. My priority was to get them to confirm they would accept my EmonPi readings for Agile in lieu of those from the smart meter. That rather takes the immediate heat out of dealing with it on my side. However depending on what happens with AES next week I may well revisit that opinion!

My first Comms Hub died about 3 weeks after installation, likely during a firmware upgrade. I found it with no LEDs at all, and a reboot (by AES) didn't achieve anything and they had to swap it out. The second hub has lost it's WAN connection and whilst it was retrying for a few days it eventually gave up and has been offline ever since.

I suspect the underlying issue here will be lack of cellular coverage, my particular estate gets virtually none indoors (1 bar of 2G/3G only, or 2 if you're standing at a window). However the AES engineer swore blind that there was "really good" coverage when he validated the signal strength at initial install. We shall see if they stick to that next week! Given my electricity meter is under my stairs my options for using an antenna or booster will be limited, and plus there's no option to use a comms hub on the external gas meter.