Submit a meter reading today

[Raywood]

I stockpiled electricity by charging my EV today and then submitting a reading once it was full.

We have a regular meter but having a smart one fitted in a few days time. Sadly a lot of the EV tariffs have gone and most advice is to stick where you are rather than switch, but I would still really like to get a dual-rate tariff so we can move as much energy usage to the low tariff as possible.

I think switching to an EV tariff if you can find one might depend on what you are on now. If you are not on a fixed rate then it should be worthwhile but if you are on a fixed rate deal you would end up at the new higher rate on your domestic power and that might would wipe out the EV saving.
We are on a fixed rate deal until September next year which I went for despite contrary advice from experts and it worked for us as we are well below the current rate and the new one coming in looks to be about a third higher again.

 

[Hutch]

If I recall correctly the early Smart Meters - SMETS-1 - worked over the mobile phone network on 3G. This is going to cause a problem in the future as the 3G network slowly gets turned off.

The newer meters - SMETS-2 - work on a supposedly secure government controlled dedicated network.

Ours is the SMETS-2 I didn't change to the smart meter until they could read the E7 tariff.

 

[Hutch]

It must transmit on its own frequency, and also to the remote reader, which I have nicknamed ,"The Paranoid meter" , gas I think updates every 15 minutes electricity is real time with consumption immediate?

The Paranoid meter.

 

[Robert_374373903]

I have the smart meter in the kitchen ,so this morning about 0815 happened to take a look and was quite surprised at the reading. Have got it to come on at 0700 and off 0900. The reading was £1.89 with just the boiler and fridge freezer on. As I do not look constantly I was surprised.

 

[otherclive]

I have the smart meter in the kitchen ,so this morning about 0815 happened to take a look and was quite surprised at the reading. Have got it to come on at 0700 and off 0900. The reading was £1.89 with just the boiler and fridge freezer on. As I do not look constantly I was surprised.

Was that for heat and hot water?

 

[Hutch]

My reading was for 1frezzer, 1 fridge freezer, 1fridge, breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs, and immersion heater on for 1/2 hour on E7. Gas was for hot water 1 hour. And the TV on for watching the marathon. Son completed it in 4 hrs 18 mins

 

[Buckman]

BGAS only issue a bill once every 3 or 6 months so unless you have a photo of the reading on the 1st you may have difficulty telling them the reading for the 1st Oct even if you have a Smart meter.
I cannot fathom out why they still do estimated reads at tariff changes as per my last bill in Aug 2022? Main reason why I took a photo of my reading as not going to get caught again!

 

[otherclive]

BGAS only issue a bill once every 3 or 6 months so unless you have a photo of the reading on the 1st you may have difficulty telling them the reading for the 1st Oct even if you have a Smart meter.
I cannot fathom out why they still do estimated reads at tariff changes as per my last bill in Aug 2022? Main reason why I took a photo of my reading as not going to get caught again!

BG only review our usage every six months and send a detailed bill by mail ( quaint)which is a nonsense. But after my repeated complaints that their website advice is to regularly keep check of your usage I now receive a paper bill every month. I have said an electronic version will suffice but for some reason that cannot be done.

 

[Buckman]

BG only review our usage every six months and send a detailed bill by mail ( quaint)which is a nonsense. But after my repeated complaints that their website advice is to regularly keep check of your usage I now receive a paper bill every month. I have said an electronic version will suffice but for some reason that cannot be done.

Strangely when we were first taken across to BGAS I requested a monthly bill, but was told they cannot issue monthly only 6 monthly. After a bit of discussion which was like pulling hen's teeth, they agreed to a quarterly bill.

 

[otherclive]

Strangely when we were first taken across to BGAS I requested a monthly bill, but was told they cannot issue monthly only 6 monthly. After a bit of discussion which was like pulling hen's teeth, they agreed to a quarterly bill.

I gave up discussing when it became possible to complain on line😂

But will probably opt for a smart meter in the new year in preparation of my fixed contract ending at the end of April.

 

[Buckman]

I gave up discussing when it became possible to complain on line😂

But will probably opt for a smart meter in the new year in preparation of my fixed contract ending at the end of April.

Smart meters are useful, but you will still get estimated readings on your bill. Our May bill had three sets of estimated readings so it is not a one off thing.

 

[Raywood]

Smart meters are useful, but you will still get estimated readings on your bill. Our May bill had three sets of estimated readings so it is not a one off thing.

Is this one of the older ones which may not work if you have changed supplier?

 

[Buckman]

Is this one of the older ones which may not work if you have changed supplier?

It works fine as they can do readings which is why I am wondering why they still do estimates when changing tariffs?

 

[Hutch]

My smart meter bill are E mailed from Bulb on the 2nd of the month. Always accurate

 

[Jcloughie]

All this talk about poor billing. I wonder what Octopus are getting right. we have been with them for years and it is so easy and straight forward in every way. Their web site is dead easy to use. Just put a reading in once a month, or whenever you want, (they send a reminder), and three days later an electronic bill appears. I can change my monthly payments easily or make a one off payment. Also I can view my complete history.

I think their charges are as good as anywhere. I would not want to move to get the agro others seem to have. I rarely need to phone them, but they are quick and responcive.

John

 

[otherclive]

All this talk about poor billing. I wonder what Octopus are getting right. we have been with them for years and it is so easy and straight forward in every way. Their web site is dead easy to use. Just put a reading in once a month, or whenever you want, (they send a reminder), and three days later an electronic bill appears. I can change my monthly payments easily or make a one off payment. Also I can view my complete history.

I think their charges are as good as anywhere. I would not want to move to get the agro others seem to have. I rarely need to phone them, but they are quick and responcive.

John

They are one that I will be looking at next spring, along with Scottish Power who my daughter has been with for years, and she rates as very good to deal with.

 

[Jcloughie]

They are one that I will be looking at next spring, along with Scottish Power who my daughter has been with for years, and she rates as very good to deal with.

Daft I know, but I had a bad experience with Scottish power 20-plus years ago. They were using high pressure sales and missold me. To be fair they gave me compensation. But it has made me stay clear ever since.

John

 

[otherclive]

Daft I know, but I had a bad experience with Scottish power 20-plus years ago. They were using high pressure sales and missold me. To be fair they gave me compensation. But it has made me stay clear ever since.

John

Crikey some life sentences are less than that; you really must have felt it. But I think I will go by my daughter’s more recent experience over the several years which has been good. Perhaps they introduced ISO 9000, or IIP, or even both after your complaint. 😂

 

[Jcloughie]

Crikey some life sentences are less than that; you really must have felt it. But I think I will go by my daughter’s more recent experience over the several years which has been good. Perhaps they introduced ISO 9000, or IIP, or even both after your complaint. 😂

That’s why I said it was daft on my part. In the past, we have avoided pubs for years because we had one poor meal.

John

 

[Ern]

We had a smart electric meter installed about 9 years ago because I requested it. The smart gas meter came a couple of years later. We have since had an upgrade gas meter installed. All fairly simple stuff if the fitter has decent access. There is no electricity in the gas meter cupboard. The monitor is upstairs in an office, communicating via wifi. You can still read the meter the old way if you are suspicious of the monitor, but I don't bother. The meter displays what you chose but can be variable with discounted rates for electric and gas, IF YOU HAVE A SMART METER. We haven't seen any discount yet, but recent pricing cap, includes the discounted price for electric. I guess gas discount rate will come in time.
Some who declared they would never have a smart meter a year or two ago are now trying to get one "yesterday".

 

[Sam Vimes]

Time to put a smile on your faces.

I approached the Obudsman service about the poor performance of Scottish Power in providing a smart meter and being able to contact them. Obviously the Obudsmand took on the case because I got a call from the Escalation dept at SP. Frankly the conversation was laughable and it was all I could do to stop falling off my chair.

Apparently SP contacted an organisation called Providor, who are the Association of Meter Operators. They informed SP that the only way we could get a meter was if a team of engineers was parachuted in from a helicopter. I am not making this up. I had to get them to repeat this several times, each time stating how ridiculous that was and that although we're a little remote we're connected to the mainland by a bridge.

Regardless they agreed to put my request formally to Providor - although I would have thought they don't actually do the work. Will they pass on my request - well apparently it will get rejected but at least I should get a paper trail.

I was then told that I couldn't have one fitted anyway because I couldn't be connected to the network. I had to point out that my neighbours had one fitted without any sign of parachutists.

I also got some mis-information about the network as they thought it was because I have a poor 3g signal and I had to point out that the latest smart meters didn't use 3g anymore.

Basically they have no idea what they are doing.

 

[Beachball]

They are one that I will be looking at next spring, along with Scottish Power who my daughter has been with for years, and she rates as very good to deal with.

Hi Clive my brother sent a email to Octopus Energy because i rated them but after checking Scottish Power he also got a better deal offered and so far very happy .

 

[Sam Vimes]

FYI.....

I've had what I said previously confirmed in writing today. Copy sent to the Ombudsman Service.

 

[Sam Vimes]

The true measure of any company or organisation is not just in their products but also in their customer services.

I've been with most of the Energy Companies over the years as I'm a serial switcher. The volts have always come out of the sockets and the bills are always ok. I've probably only had to speak to a company a handful of times over the years but I suspect the move to where everything is supposed to be done via the internet has been making future contacts even harder.

So in this instance its Scottish Power who are getting the thumbs down from me in terms of customer support - or lack of. But as I said the internet has changed things as has the continuous chase for for profit resulting in less customer support staff so I wouldn't be at all suprised if other companies are equally hiding behind their web sites.

Don't get me started on 'Bots' ...oops too late. B.O.T - Bin or Trash Support

 

[Jcloughie]

Odd thread in that Scottish Power are being both praised and criticised. I wonder if its a localised thing.

John