Meter readings

[antongould]

While on the subject of smart meters, ever since the change of rates came in on October 1 I've noticed considerable inconsistency in readings at the very start of each morning when rising. As my routine is well established and the appliances on overnight are always the same I'd expect the smart meter reading to be pretty well consistent day to day.

Instead, I'm getting some wildly varying readings usually between something like 77p and £1.20. Bearing in mind, as I say, that the appliances kept on overnight are identical each night and I get up at the same time each day, the smart meter should be reading the same barring a very small shift either side as it was doing pre-October 1..

Has anyone else noticed similar or can offer an explanation?

Is this Electricity or Gas or total …. ????

[Petrushka]

Is this Electricity or Gas or total …. ????

Should have said that, sorry. It's both gas and electricity and, like FF, the gas is a very small amount, probably just the daily standing charge as there is certainly none on overnight!

[antongould]

Should have said that, sorry. It's both gas and electricity and, like FF, the gas is a very small amount, probably just the daily standing charge as there is certainly none on overnight!

As I understand it the majority of whatever charge you are seeing should be the sum of the daily standing charges for gas and electricity, loaded very early in the morning … the remainder should be the kWh consumption charges calculated the last time the home display got readings from the electricity and gas meters ….. this tends to be pretty recently for electricity but can be up to about half an hour ago for the gas …….

[french frank]

As I understand it the majority of whatever charge you are seeing should be the sum of the daily standing charges for gas and electricity, loaded very early in the morning

That's interesting. I'd imagined the charges shown on the meter were only for consumption and the standing charges would be extra, but that would explain my readings, anyway.

[Petrushka]

As I understand it the majority of whatever charge you are seeing should be the sum of the daily standing charges for gas and electricity, loaded very early in the morning … the remainder should be the kWh consumption charges calculated the last time the home display got readings from the electricity and gas meters ….. this tends to be pretty recently for electricity but can be up to about half an hour ago for the gas …….

I'm aware of all of that but it doesn't explain why I get such a wild fluctuation in early morning readings given the unvarying usage. The only explanation I can think of lies with the way the daily standing charge is applied to the smart meter. A common sense approach would expect it to be applied on the basis of the total cost divided by 30 or 31. If it is being applied in some other random fashion then this might explain the fluctuations.

[antongould]

I'm aware of all of that but it doesn't explain why I get such a wild fluctuation in early morning readings given the unvarying usage. The only explanation I can think of lies with the way the daily standing charge is applied to the smart meter. A common sense approach would expect it to be applied on the basis of the total cost divided by 30 or 31. If it is being applied in some other random fashion then this might explain the fluctuations.

Anything is possible in the crazy world of energy supply but I feel the methodology at least is consistent, when mine was working and I arose before any gas had been used the gas charge shown was always the same i.e. the daily standing charge …..

[french frank]

Anything is possible in the crazy world of energy supply but I feel the methodology at least is consistent, when mine was working and I arose before any gas had been used the gas charge shown was always the same i.e. the daily standing charge …..

Gosh! That even explains why the reading seemed to get (relatively) lower as the day progressed I think, on reflection, that is the extent of my 'fluctuations': weighted towards the early morning because it includes the daily standing charge Ee, who'd have thought of that? (Ans: antongould)

[teamsaint]

So if wholesale gas prices continue to fall, when can we expect cheaper domestic gas and electricity tariffs to start appearing ?

[gradus]

Bulb has stopped working and we are now in the tentacles of Octopus. I gather Octopus have a reasonably good reputation and wondered if others could confirm or challenge this hearsay.

[oddoneout]

So if wholesale gas prices continue to fall, when can we expect cheaper domestic gas and electricity tariffs to start appearing ?

When hell freezes over?

[antongould]

Bulb has stopped working and we are now in the tentacles of Octopus. I gather Octopus have a reasonably good reputation and wondered if others could confirm or challenge this hearsay.

Of the many I have dealt with I would say above average but average is a very low bar ......

EON Next never fail to amaze me ..... a friend of Lady Gould's whose account I keep an eye on is coming off a very cheap deal in February ..... the dreaded EON Next have sent her an email reminding her of this and saying she will be placed on their Standard tariff. The annual costs for this they quote in the 'mail as £1632.16 Electricity and £3260.97 Gas !!!! This for kwh consumptions of 2220 Electricity and 18631 Gas. As these figures seem scarily high I login to her online account and ask to do a tariff change to Standard tariff and get a quote for the same kWh consumptions of £889.86 Electricity and £2004.25 Gas.
You couldn't make it up unless you are EON Next that is.

[oddoneout]

Of the many I have dealt with I would say above average but average is a very low bar ......

EON Next never fail to amaze me ..... a friend of Lady Gould's whose account I keep an eye on is coming off a very cheap deal in February ..... the dreaded EON Next have sent her an email reminding her of this and saying she will be placed on their Standard tariff. The annual costs for this they quote in the 'mail as £1632.16 Electricity and £3260.97 Gas !!!! This for kwh consumptions of 2220 Electricity and 18631 Gas. As these figures seem scarily high I login to her online account and ask to do a tariff change to Standard tariff and get a quote for the same kWh consumptions of £889.86 Electricity and £2004.25 Gas.
You couldn't make it up unless you are EON Next that is.

The migration of a customer base is never without glitches and that can have a negative effect on previously good/acceptably functional customer service, especially in the current models of not enough staff/outsourcing/ digital defences(non-functional emails, chatbots and such like). The current wave of forced energy company migrations(so to speak) have come with extra glitch factors built in; I fear it could be some time(years?) before the dust settles, and that's without taking into account any (further)political meddling(whether ultimately for the good or not).
My own forced transition from SSE to OVO is now, according to the latest email, complete. Given that it was a planned buyout almost 3 years ago it has been unimpressive and I am not at all happy with the new set-up. However as I can now at least see their version of bills(now I have to work out the date-point at which any meter reading I send will be taken into account - the last one wasn't), and I'm on the standard tariff arrangement, I'm not for now going to venture into battle with their customer service about why I can't have the previous quarterly DD, real-time readings, billing arrangement since it is evidently still something OVO customers have; it may be a legacy arrangement but in that case they'll need to say so. I have a nasty feeling that they will change the monthly DD amount though so that may be a point at which I'll be forced to engage.
However for now I'm so battered by my various encounters with the brave new digital world (including my employer's payroll system which after 9 months still doesn't work for the hundreds of us who are "non-standard" staff) that for now I'm just going to let things trundle on for a while and be thankful that financially I can cope.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Bulb has stopped working and we are now in the tentacles of Octopus. I gather Octopus have a reasonably good reputation and wondered if others could confirm or challenge this hearsay.

Octopus are absolutely superb. The best company I have ever dealt with. If only they could run the railways, the NHS and the Royal Mail.

[antongould]

Today’s nonsense missed a call on my mobile but recognised the number as EDF …. even though they had been told to ring my landline …. I rang back got recorded message saying the call had been about my smart meter and not to worry it wasn’t important …
But they have just rang back and informed me my smart meters weren’t sending readings - you don’t say - and they would like to come and do an inspection ….. I said “ you’ve already done an inspection and had the problem diagnosed … “ There was seemingly no record of this but he would update the database and someone will be in touch …. !!!!!!!

The Tec’ Man Cometh And Goes

The story drags on ….. on 13/12/2023 I got a WhatsApp message saying someone was coming to “look at my meters again” on 04/01/2023. A man arrived and said he was a technician. I said I thought my problems had already been diagnosed and that my electricity meter needed changing. He made a show of checking things and suggested that maybe the communication hub needed changing … He rang his boss who I think agreed with him …. So he left and said someone would “probably” come and do the business …. and if that didn’t work then
“probably” someone would come and change everything - both meters and the hub …..
The will to live left me a while ago …

[oddoneout]

I think the headline says it all.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/jan/04/more-haunting-tales-of-energy-suppliers-to-chill-the-blood

My supplier saga has quietened down for now, but remains unsatisfactory on several counts, but since they don't currently have more of my money than they should it's not as bad as it could be...
However I can't face doing battle at the moment as I have to wrangle with my broadband provider(another take-over/migration saga) reneging on its tariff undertakings, and also battle with my employer's multimillion pound(tax payers money) failure of a new payroll system, to get the holiday pay I am owed.
At least I now have a functioning credit card, so can tick that off the list!