Octopus woes

bazaarboy

bazaarboy

bazaarboy

Associate
Joined
22 Jun 2009
Posts
822
Location
Norwich
Hello GD, wonder if you can offer any ideas about a billing problem with Octopus.
Generally, they are a good company but they are billing me incorrectly for daytime (expensive) usage, at night time.

So the tariff we're on has a day rate electricity between 4.30 until 00.30am, yes that's 20 hours for every 24.
The night rate which obviously is cheaper, applies for all usage between 00.30am to 04.30am.

We have a battery storage system, so we charge the batteries during the night rate hours, and that way we avoid using the day rate.
Pretty simple and obvious stuff.

Our batteries tend to need only about an hour to fully charge , so from 00.30am to 01.30am the charging is finished.

Our bills for the last 3 months have shown that our usage has been more or less equally split between day rate and night rate.
This is definitely incorrect, we basically don't use any day rate electricity.

I've spoken to the company, sent emails, showed them our usage stats (I used Home Assistant and everything we use is logged).
They've been very unhelpful in trying to resolve this - it boiled down to offering to get our smart meter tested - but the total usage is correct, rather it's the distribution of day/night usage which is the problem.

I finally worked out the problem, the smart meters don't adjust for daylight savings and stay on GMT year-round.
So when we charge our batteries between 00.30am to 01.00am this counts as a day rate usage. It may also count 01.00 to 01.30 I think.

Octopus acknowledge that we only use electricity during off peak hours, but they say that the final bill always uses the smart meter readings as the final say on the matter. I told them it's unfair, and in the last 3 months this has resulted in being overcharged by around £200.

Our obligation is based on the tariff and the specified hours for peak/offpeak usage. How is an inaccurate timestamp from the smart meter my problem?

It's a bit like buying a ticket for the 3pm train, only to be told that this particular train runs on GMT time, and it left an hour ago.
The current time is not open to interpretation LOL.

What do you think I should do?
 
If they don't budge and you've been through their official complaints process then tell them it'll be going to the ombudsman. I'd assume that's going to be pretty clear cut in them being told to fix your billing.

A case with the ombudsman costs them money so you may find just mentioning it will magically resolve the issue.
 
Is this Octopus Go?

I've had this issue with Octopus ever since I moved to a smart meter on an Economy 7. I found it very difficult to get a clear answer for them aound GMT/BST.

Does your meter actually indicate when the tarif is changing? The main benefit with Economy 7 was you can afford the bigger buffer either side - so I set everything to recharge durinng the 5 hours I knew would always be night rate, year round.

Now we're on Intelligent Octopus it's even more worrying, because the smart meter doesn't ever show when the rate is changing. We just have Octopus's word for it. Will have to see once the next bill comes in.

Edit / I should say - I don't think this is a Octopus specific problem. Moreover an underlying issue with UK Power networks / communications. Fingers crossed we can eliminate BST at some point.
 
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Bug One said:
Is this Octopus Go?

I've had this issue with Octopus ever since I moved to a smart meter on an Economy 7. I found it very difficult to get a clear answer for them aound GMT/BST.

Does your meter actually indicate when the tarif is changing? The main benefit with Economy 7 was you can afford the bigger buffer either side - so I set everything to recharge durinng the 5 hours I knew would always be night rate, year round.

Now we're on Intelligent Octopus it's even more worrying, because the smart meter doesn't ever show when the rate is changing. We just have Octopus's word for it. Will have to see once the next bill comes in.

Edit / I should say - I don't think this is a Octopus specific problem. Moreover an underlying issue with UK Power networks / communications. Fingers crossed we can eliminate BST at some point.
Click to expand...
Apparently there's a variety of meters out there but the majority are GMT only.
The annoying thing is they don't make it clear about this "grey hour" and bottom line is that thousands of people are simply being overcharged.
 
Sounds like an issue Martin Lewis would be interested in hearing about.

Our smart meter usage matches with the correct time (30 min readings), when you look at the explore my usage page can you clearly see that the usage is an hour out?
 
My smart meter is working ok with the time so it seems like an issue specific to your smart meter. I can see all my off peak electricity use is being accounted for at the lower rate. Which smart meter have you got?
 
Strange. I've a setup exactly the same as yours. Charging battery, EV and hot water in the Go window. Been on it for several years and have not had this issue.
 
It boggles the mind how much **** we have to deal with and account for in tech/IT with daylight saving. I'm battling one now actually where the suggested "fix" I've been given by a neighbouring team is to wait for the clocks to change again later in the year.
I mean as a quick win, you could just set your battery to charge from 01:30. But yes you should be compensated for that so as suggested, file a complaint. Nobody over the phone is going to help with that level of stuff. It needs to be escalated to complaints where someone will properly look into it.
How does one check the smart meter is on correct time? Can I physically go up to it and check the time visually?
 
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I'll look at mine when I get home. It must be a specific meter issue. The smart meter network is independant from the suppliers so octopus are just charging basd on the usage data they receive. If you go into your dashboard you should see half hourly usage. I would 100% just move your usage to the middle of your Go window as soon as you realised the issue and keep it there till it's resolved.
 
john_smith said:
I'll look at mine when I get home. It must be a specific meter issue. The smart meter network is independant from the suppliers so octopus are just charging basd on the usage data they receive. If you go into your dashboard you should see half hourly usage. I would 100% just move your usage to the middle of your Go window as soon as you realised the issue and keep it there till it's resolved.
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Yep the realitme usage is accurate, and I thought Octopus would be more accommodating. It's their data that I'm pointing them to after all.
The problem with starting the usage at 1.30am is that I have even less time at the off peak rate. In the colder months we need as much of the cheaper electric.
They should adjust their billing to overcome what is a minor technical issue on their part
 
bazaarboy said:
Yep the realitme usage is accurate, and I thought Octopus would be more accommodating. It's their data that I'm pointing them to after all.
The problem with starting the usage at 1.30am is that I have even less time at the off peak rate. In the colder months we need as much of the cheaper electric.
They should adjust their billing to overcome what is a minor technical issue on their part
Click to expand...

Yeah we are not saying that's a long term fix, just a short term one to stop costing you more money. You say it only needs 1 hour right now anyway to charge.
 
It is susprising that smart meters aren't smarter but I believe it's normal for them to stay on GMT. I'm on E7 and it took me a while to figure out some of the quirks. Even the time it switches over isn't necessarily on the hour or half hour. Energy companies seem to do a poor job explaining this.
 
How would you have less time at off peak rate as if it starts 1hr later it also finishes 1hr later. I'm on Economy 7 and it now starts at 1.30am-8.30am instead of 0.30am-7.30am. It is just as much you fault for not checking your usage.
 
bazaarboy said:
Yep the realitme usage is accurate, and I thought Octopus would be more accommodating. It's their data that I'm pointing them to after all.
The problem with starting the usage at 1.30am is that I have even less time at the off peak rate. In the colder months we need as much of the cheaper electric.
They should adjust their billing to overcome what is a minor technical issue on their part
Click to expand...
You're not getting an hour less off peak. You're just ensuring your majority useage is definately being charged at off peak rate. If your battery charges in an hour or so, it shouldn't make any difference.
 
tonys said:
How would you have less time at off peak rate as if it starts 1hr later it also finishes 1hr later. I'm on Economy 7 and it now starts at 1.30am-8.30am instead of 0.30am-7.30am. It is just as much you fault for not checking your usage.
Click to expand...

Bug One said:
You're not getting an hour less off peak. You're just ensuring your majority useage is definately being charged at off peak rate. If your battery charges in an hour or so, it shouldn't make any difference.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was thinking the same. Everything shifts at both ends of the day remember. It doesn't really matter given it's still when you're asleep? Just set your battery charge time accordingly and move on with life? And obviously get them to reconcile.
 
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If you download the data it should tell you what time is being recorded; my meter does +1 -

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Edit: and also see it clearly in the dashboard.

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I charge my EV 0030-0430 (and give some rounding error so start at 0040 and finish at 0420). The only other spike is the electric oven.
 
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