Octopus smart meter installation

[darkNstormy]

Very disappointed this morning. Due to get smart meter installed, but whoever installed the gubbins for the charger put a big RCD box in the way of a sliding door to the PME (part of the DNO earth equipment). Said if it was installed 5mm to the right he'd have been able to open it. Fortunately, the original charger installers are going to send someone to make amends. Means bills will be a bit more expensive for the foreseeable. So, anyone who hasn't had charging equipment installed yet and don't yet have a smart meter, make sure DNO equipment isn't blocked off!

 

[Gaz_]

Have a look at this. You should find that it helps with understanding your costs on agile vs go:

Octopus Comparison

View attachment 571911

This is great, it shows that I'm saving money. On days that I need to charge the car during the day I'm Agile is half the price of Go for me and on days that I just charge at night I have it set to under 6p only charging on the ev.energy app and I'm still 20-30p a day cheaper on go than Agile.

It's great to see something that proves I made a good choice.

 

[Smog]

So I had the smart meter installed today, and I was wondering what happens next.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t in, and my partner didn’t quite understand what he meant by “would you like me to contact octopus or not?” She said “he’ll sort it when he’s back from work”

so do I need to contact them to move to go? Or will it just pick up automatically on my account. As far as I know the installer contacted no one.

 

[dakaix]

It'll take approximately 5 days for your meters to get set up correctly between the DCC and Octopus, at which point you should start seeing meter readings in your Octopus account.

If you asked Octopus to move you over to Go or Agile, which was what triggered your meter install, then they'll automatically email you once the meters are set up asking you to confirm you're happy to be switched over to that tariff. If you didn't then you can just email Octopus and ask them to switch you over to Go/Agile.

 

[Jonnnoy]

Finally (!) got my appointment booked having joined Octopus in January.

I’ve been chasing octopus for months since two previous appointments got cancelled (one due to illness of the installer, the second being at the start of lockdown).

Stupidly enough they’ve been insisting for weeks there are no appointments in my area and they would tell me as soon as they were. After much more waiting the thought occurred to use my original link to book from March... and I’m booked for next Friday.

Thought I’d share the tip in case anybody else was in the same boat. Seemingly octopus’s top customer service hasn’t found me yet!

 

[MrBadger]

Very disappointed this morning. Due to get smart meter installed, but whoever installed the gubbins for the charger put a big RCD box in the way of a sliding door to the PME (part of the DNO earth equipment). Said if it was installed 5mm to the right he'd have been able to open it.

Be aware that suppliers can be a bit fussy about putting consumer equipment in "their" meter box. They will allow an isolator switch, or switch fuse, but may well throw a wobbly if you stick another enclosure in there.

The reason for this is because there's only just enough room in a standard meter box for the largest supplier-side equipment (used to be a white meter and teleswitch combination, but now a smart meter plus additional comms box is almost as large).

 

[exlatccatsa]

Finally (!) got my appointment booked having joined Octopus in January.

I’ve been chasing octopus for months since two previous appointments got cancelled (one due to illness of the installer, the second being at the start of lockdown).

Stupidly enough they’ve been insisting for weeks there are no appointments in my area and they would tell me as soon as they were. After much more waiting the thought occurred to use my original link to book from March... and I’m booked for next Friday.

Thought I’d share the tip in case anybody else was in the same boat. Seemingly octopus’s top customer service hasn’t found me yet!

I've been waiting since January. Keeping j. Touch every month or so.. Finally laid off today when the email reply contained a link to book installation.. Next Wednesday...result

 

[Martinb999]

Had my new SMETS2 meter installed by Octopus contractors last Monday (10th Aug). Ordered it on 14th July. I live in the sticks of SE Kent and the mobile signal is rubbish so he had a few issues trying to commission the unit. Next day had a phone call from him telling me that it was all up and running now and that I would see the change on my Octopus front page from midnight. True enough, it was there after midnight showing the half hourly readings so far.......... can't fault it really. Very efficient service, polite and very clean install.
The remote meter is not working as it hasn't been set up but that's not a bother for me. I can see what I'm using on the web and on my phone.

 

[hingus2000]

Does anyone know any energy supplier installing smart meters in London? Currently with Igloo whose rollout hasn't got to London yet, but neither had any of my previous suppliers. Is there anyway of getting a smart meter quickly (even if it means paying an uncompetitive rate with someone for a bit)?

 

[c7carl]

Octopus engineer has just left and I now have my smart meters - just have to wait for the details to go through and decide if I switch to Go or Agile.

 

[Smog]

Anyone idea what to look out for to ensure it sends data through smoothly?

my gas smart meter seems to have been showing in my account for 5 days (3 days after install) but electricity still not showing. I know it can take a few weeks but I find it odd one has showed and the other hasn’t

 

[MrBadger]

They are configured separately so they will not necessarily show at the same time. If not showing after 2 weeks, get in touch with Octopus.

Ours appeared quite some time apart and one needed Octopus to tweak things at their end but they seem reluctant to do anything until the 2 week period.

 

[darkNstormy]

My smart meters were installed a couple of weeks ago but there was a problem with the national network on that day so they couldn't be connected to the data centre. They finally got commissioned a couple of days ago but the gas meter wasn't showing up on my in-home display. If you're with Octopus then just drop them an email at [email protected] with photos of your meters and the bottom of your in-home display (so they can see the serial numbers / MAC address) and they can often fix it remotely. Pretty much instantaneously after they sent me an email to say they should have sorted it I checked and indeed they had sorted it. Also had confirmation that they're receiving my data so fingers crossed may get switched a bit quicker than the two weeks.

Also tempted to change to Go instead of Agile with the prices not being as low as during lockdown. I read you can always switch from one to the other at any time through the online account page. About 75-80% of my usage is charging the car but I do sometimes need to charge out of the 00.30 to 4.30 period hence why I was favouring Agile.

Have bookmarked the Agile / Go comparison sites for future reference.

 

[menzic]

We had our meter installed a couple of days ago. It was the chaps first installation after the shutdown. All very smooth and they managed to do the gas meter as well (the last lot thought it was too much trouble so didn’t do it). I had an email letting me know it could be 14 days for everything to sort itself out and I would then be switched to go.

It has taken a long time, but we are in strange times. In the end I think they did all they could to sort me out and happy to be on the journey to a bit of cheaper power. Although I seem to get by charging for free at the gym these days.. mostly.

 

[bitmanEV]

ours is installed Wednesday 9 Sep all in all in just about 20 min done but still need to be commissioned as the national networks was down