10 June - My Smart Reader: The end of the road?
In retrospect it may have been a mistake but at the beginning of January I opted to
have a Smart Meter thinking that I may be able to avail myself of cheaper
electric car charging tariffs. The meter was fitted efficiently enough on 24th February but it
was late April before it began to do what it was supposed to do.
It was
briefly mentioned on 31st March with more detail on 8th April when I discovered that
the supposed fix was delivering idiotic numbers.
However I eventually found a couple of helpful people at Octopus Energy.
Gradually things improved and
by 27th April there was only one obvious fault remaining and I judged that overall, the
situation was acceptable.
As a result I learned exactly where the electricity was going and with the solar
panels doing their bit I got my total gas and electricity bill down to under £2
most days; less than half of what it had been.
Unfortunately everything went decidedly pear shaped over last Monday night. I
awoke to find the In Home Display Unit with a blank screen and rebooting every few minutes.
The helpful Octopus lady suggested various test routines that I knew were doomed to
failure but eventually, very apologetically, she came through with the explanation.
An overnight software upgrade had ‘bricked’ the Home Area Network and there was
no way it could be quickly fixed.
I was told not to worry about it because the Smart Meter was still communicating
with their billing system so I would not have to read the meter. I pointed out
that I agreed to allow Octopus access to all my energy consumption data (and
presumably the ability to cut me off when Boris Johnson’s energy policies
succeed in blacking out the country) in return for me having access to the same data.
Octopus Energy has reneged on that implicit agreement and the best they can offer is…
Unfortunately this means your meter will send us readings
but your in home display won’t work until the issue is resolved. It is likely to
be a few months before we have an update due to it needing to be investigated by
the DDC and the manufacturer of the communications hub. I am so sorry that this
has happened but it has been made priority one in getting this fixed.
My suggestion that I am due compensation because I cannot as easily moderate my consumption
or take advantage of the special tariffs has been ignored.
In bloody minded mode I decided that if I could have no data neither should Octopus Energy
and I have built a rather neat Faraday Cage around the electricity meter with
one baking tray fixed to the door and another behind it where it backs on to a
kitchen cupboard. Behind the old biscuit tin is a very heavy gauge steel box
which had been stored in the garage ‘just in case’.
The gas meter which relays its data to the electricity meter probably doesn’t need a cage but
it has some thick steel plate and baking foil around it anyway.
How else is one supposed to put pressure on large companies that fail their customers?
Unfortunately there is now no way that Octopus can update my meter but it might
be interesting to see what they do about it. So far their messages
have been at pains to blame the failed software update on contractors and the
apologies appear to be sincere, but ultimately it is Octopus Energy that has
failed me and 1,499 other customers.
Maybe if you haven’t got a Smart Meter yourself you should hold off until the
energy companies know what they are playing at.