British Gas at it again

[Tay]

Got my bill for march, taking in to account the credit for the dodgy meter I’m 5 quid in the black, I kicked off my switch to octopus which “might” happen tomorrow!!

I’m on a regular tariff I guess until the move is done and dusted. Saw some stuff about smart tariffs so will look at them in due course, I’m curious if they automatically detect the dual rates as I submitted 2 leccy readings.. ? Would that give me a peak and off peak deal automatically?

Any gotchas I need to be aware off with octopus, i dont want to go down a rabbit hole and get stuck with something I don’t want..

At this time I want peak and off peak, export will be down the road, I might want something like agile for the batteries to buy at cheapest rate etc but won’t be exporting any time soon.

Phase 2 will be getting existing pergola up to large panels and continue ground mounts for at least 4 more 500w+ panels.

Panel availability might well be influencing the design

[dan_b]

Did you use a referral code to go to Octopus?!

No real gotchas - they have almost too many different smart tariffs to choose from I guess - but they're pretty good at letting you switch between them.

[Tay]

Did you use a referral code to go to Octopus?!

No real gotchas - they have almost too many different smart tariffs to choose from I guess - but they're pretty good at letting you switch between them.

Yup, my sister is with them..


Cool thanks.

[AGT]

Got my bill for march, taking in to account the credit for the dodgy meter I’m 5 quid in the black, I kicked off my switch to octopus which “might” happen tomorrow!!

I’m on a regular tariff I guess until the move is done and dusted. Saw some stuff about smart tariffs so will look at them in due course, I’m curious if they automatically detect the dual rates as I submitted 2 leccy readings.. ? Would that give me a peak and off peak deal automatically?

Any gotchas I need to be aware off with octopus, i dont want to go down a rabbit hole and get stuck with something I don’t want..

At this time I want peak and off peak, export will be down the road, I might want something like agile for the batteries to buy at cheapest rate etc but won’t be exporting any time soon.

Phase 2 will be getting existing pergola up to large panels and continue ground mounts for at least 4 more 500w+ panels.

Panel availability might well be influencing the design

The smart meter will automatically meter cheap off peak rate without any switching of supplies, so we get 11:30- 5:30 as a 7.5p per unit, outwith those hours it goes to 29 p a u it I think

[AE-NMidlands]

The smart meter will automatically meter cheap off peak rate without any switching of supplies, so we get 11:30- 5:30 as a 7.5p per unit, outwith those hours it goes to 29 p a u it I think

Surely the meter just sends half-hourly readings and you are then dependant on Octopus to a) have you on the right tariff and b) put your readings in the right boxes on their spreadsheet - then c) do all the sums correctly?

Being quite new to this, I have downloaded my import and export figures and done the sums for myself and it seems to be working OK.
A

[Tay]

Thanks for both relies, i guess I’ll find out soon enough, i got an email this morning saying I’m now getting gas from octopus, but ominously nothing re electric…hopefully BG did make the changes to this industry database regarding the meter ^^

Time will tell, but just a relief I’m away, albeit partially, from bg.

[Tay]

Thanks for both relies, i guess I’ll find out soon enough, i got an email this morning saying I’m now getting gas from octopus, but ominously nothing re electric…hopefully BG did make the changes to this industry database regarding the meter ^^

Time will tell, but just a relief I’m away, albeit partially, from bg.

Now on octopus fully

Got a whole day and a half of meter readings, twigged that octopus only had one reading, contacted them on twitter and within the hour i was on flexible octopus, not perfect but now have a 7 hr windows for Battery charging with off peak.

I was told once they can fully read the meters i could look at the smart tariffs….i’m not holding my breath as first email this morning was “we cant read your meters……: - hopefully this gets me off the disaster that was smets1 meters - surely somebody needs to fess up about all the issues and wasting tax payers cash…billions wasted..


Anyway, ill drop them another meter reading and see if i can finally get some smets2 installed as thats going to cause issues if i want to feed back at some point.

So far octopus has exceeded my expectations.

[dan_b]

Octopus can read some SMETS1 meters so long as they have the "Secure" branding/logo on them. Im sure they'll let you know one way or the other.

[Tay]

Mine are older than the secure ones, octopus are struggling to get consistent reads already.

Contacted them already as they asked for another reading, also needed to double check i was on an off peak tariff for the battery charging, so at least that is sorted, not the best tariff but better than peak for the battery use.

[Joeboy]

Waiting on a smart meter to be installed at No'1 son's house. over 100 days wait so far for an appointment. I contacted them again this week.

"That's another two weeks passed and not heard anything on a smart meter fitting date. That's now 103 days of paying two standing charges since we requested a smart meter.
I'd like this reviewed and Martin's account refunded with an agreed figure to date for the lack of progress/3rd party personnel shortages. That would redress the balance somewhat as Martin is essentially being financially punished due to a lack on behalf
of Octopus Energy."

Much to my surprise, this came back, quickly.

[i]"I do apologise for the length of time taken to arrange the metering appointment appointment. We can absolutely cover one of the standing charge for the 103+ days taken to arrange the appointment. Once the appointment has been carried out I shall calculate the cost of the extra standing charge and shall add the cost to Martin's account as account credit.

I am still chasing this on Martin's/your behalf. I shall update you as things develop."[/i]

It is good to see them respond quickly, I have no idea how bad the engineer shortage is but it doesn't look good for a replacement anytime soon.

He is paying 60p per day S/C on each of the two meters. His Bill for May was £59.06, so that's £21.86 in actual power and £29.20 Standing Charges.

Our electric S/C by comparison was £17.42 for the month.

How is that fair? I hope everyone on twin meters and a waiting list for smart meter does as I have.