Smart Meters and Tariffs

Yeah, I joined octoplus the day it appeared in my account.
The Mini has stopped talking to the meter atm, waiting to see if it reconnects.

Originally Posted by Paul

The Mini has stopped talking to the meter atm, waiting to see if it reconnects.

It reconected while I was out for dinner.
I'd definite suggest this to anyone on Octopus.

Its far better than the IHD, which is now packed away in a draw.
It even displays the readings in your account (on the website) which I wasnt aware would happen.

On a different note: Agile not looking so great tomorrow, 40.7p in the peak period, highest I've seen so far.
Overall the average is about the same as SVT. Still better than tracker which is 23.3p tomorrow, worse than SVT.

Need more wind.

[SnoopZ]

Mines still just below SVT in my area but it is the highest I've ever seen, it's not something I'm concerned about unless it stays above for days or weeks on end, but in the history of Tracker this has never happened before......yet.

I set my monthly billing date to the 2nd of each month, I did this as the Gas data collection is always a day behind Electricity and I should find out my monthly averaged unit rate which is usually around 19ish for Electricity and 4ish for Gas so still a good saving.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

Mines still just below SVT in my area but it is the highest I've ever seen, it's not something I'm concerned about unless it stays above for days or weeks on end, but in the history of Tracker this has never happened before......yet.

I set my monthly billing date to the 2nd of each month, I did this as the Gas data collection is always a day behind Electricity and I should find out my monthly averaged unit rate which is usually around 19ish for Electricity and 4ish for Gas so still a good saving.

Tomorrow April Tracker prices is now just over the SVT in my area. 23.25 and the SVT is 23.08, I'll have to use the compare app this week to see how Agile compares over the next week or so but I don't know how Agile looks in winter on previous years.

---------- Post added at 11:14 ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 ----------

Has MsNtl left the site they're often the first to chip in when prices are low?

[Taf]

More techs were in our street yesterday, trying to get signals in and out of smart meters. They looked very confused and frustrated.

Originally Posted by Taf

More techs were in our street yesterday, trying to get signals in and out of smart meters. They looked very confused and frustrated.

My 2 year old brand new house is on its second ‘smart’ gas meter and is awaiting a third. I’m told it needs a ‘dual band’ meter and these are all in short supply. I was also told, by the second installer who came to visit, that he would lodge a report with the supplier stating that the property requires a dual band meter but that the supplier would take no action unless I followed it up and asked for one directly. I’ve yet to bother.

Electric meter is smart but only works reliably because Octopus supplies an additional widget that connects via wifi. It enhances app performance but also makes smart reporting back to Octopus more resilient. The supplied IHD is useless and spends as much time ‘awaiting information’ as actually telling me anything.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Chris

My 2 year old brand new house is on its second ‘smart’ gas meter and is awaiting a third. I’m told it needs a ‘dual band’ meter and these are all in short supply. I was also told, by the second installer who came to visit, that he would lodge a report with the supplier stating that the property requires a dual band meter but that the supplier would take no action unless I followed it up and asked for one directly. I’ve yet to bother.

Electric meter is smart but only works reliably because Octopus supplies an additional widget that connects via wifi. It enhances app performance but also makes smart reporting back to Octopus more resilient. The supplied IHD is useless and spends as much time ‘awaiting information’ as actually telling me anything.

Get a Home Mini free from Octopus then unplug the IHD.

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

Get a Home Mini free from Octopus then unplug the IHD.

I have the widget, but I leave the IHD on in the corner because when it’s working, it’s quicker than opening the app. Mainly I use it to confirm we’re drawing less power than the solar panels are producing as I try to time the dishwasher/washing machine to run during the day.

Originally Posted by Chris

The supplied IHD is useless and spends as much time ‘awaiting information’ as actually telling me anything.

Yep, as per my previous posts, it spent most of its time rebooting, its in a draw now, inactive.

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

Get a Home Mini free from Octopus then unplug the IHD.

I assume that's what he is referring to by "widget".
It does seem Octopus may use it to fill in the blanks if they dont get them direct from the meter.
I've not had a single missed reading since I enabled the Mini, I have the app running on my tablet, so visible most of the time.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Paul

Yep, as per my previous posts, it spent most of its time rebooting, its in a draw now, inactive.


I assume that's what he is referring to by "widget".
It does seem Octopus may use it to fill in the blanks if they dont get them direct from the meter.
I've not had a single missed reading since I enabled the Mini, I have the app running on my tablet, so visible most of the time.

I'm not sure how to officially check for missed readings, I've been using the octaprice 'data checker' to view 1/2hr readings but even though that said in June and July I missed a total of 3hrs in 2 1.5hr groups it didn't seem to affect my billing as those days seemed to be listed appropriately.

Last month Agile was £1.05 cheaper than my Tracker in my area so no big deal.

Octoprice lists what readings Octopus have, it gets the data direct from them via the API.
The Bright app gets the data from the DCC, so it has readings that Octopus have not yet loaded.
The uswitch app also appears to get the data from the DCC, as its always got my data for the current day.

AFAIK, Octopus can bill you with gaps, they estimate the gaps, and correct it later if/when they get the real values.

I dont know what the limit on that is, probably only small gaps like you seemed to have.

In general, the law gives a supplier 12 months to bill for usage they have previously failed to bill you for, or 5 years in cases of consumer fraud. Whether there are additional limits that apply to correcting small estimates I don’t know.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Paul

Octoprice lists what readings Octopus have, it gets the data direct from them via the API.
The Bright app gets the data from the DCC, so it has readings that Octopus have not yet loaded.
The uswitch app also appears to get the data from the DCC, as its always got my data for the current day.

AFAIK, Octopus can bill you with gaps, they estimate the gaps, and correct it later if/when they get the real values.

I dont know what the limit on that is, probably only small gaps like you seemed to have.

Just in the process of setting up the Bright app, I plugged my IHD back in to get the code, it's the only time it's been useful.

Originally Posted by Chris

In general, the law gives a supplier 12 months to bill for usage they have previously failed to bill you for, or 5 years in cases of consumer fraud. Whether there are additional limits that apply to correcting small estimates I don’t know.

Yeah, I have seen that mentioned in topics before.
Octopus also have a limit on gaps, if there are too many, they wont produce a bill at all.

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

Just in the process of setting up the Bright app, I plugged my IHD back in to get the code, it's the only time it's been useful.

Mine has it printed on a sticker, on the bottom.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Paul

Yeah, I have seen that mentioned in topics before.
Octopus also have a limit on gaps, if there are too many, they wont produce a bill at all.

Mine has it printed on a sticker, on the bottom.

I have just setup the bright app as well, now the wait for it to update .