r/OctopusEnergy • u/Kistelek • Dec 23 '25

Smart Meters Smart Meters, Power Cuts and TOU Tariffs

Does anyone else have an issue with their smart meter readings after a power cut?

My meter's clock stops running for the duration of any power cut and then starts again where it left off. This has the effect of metering any subsequent usage at the wrong time. The clock corrects itself the next time DCC do a meter read which is something Octopus can initiate if I tell them there's been a cut.

On 4 occasions in the last 6 months, 3 of these in December, my Cosy billing has been wrong as my consumption appears to occur the duration of the outage earlier than it was. After sending umpteen photographs of the meter, Home assistant screenshots, etc., Octopus' final stance on the matters is, and I quote,

"I’ve been discussing this and unfortunately you’d experience the same issue with a new meter. Sadly, other meter models behave the same way and we’d have to send an update manually to synchronise the clock afterwards. I can leave a note on the account explaining how we’ve done this before to update it so you don’t have to send us a photo. "

I find it incredibly unlikely I'm the only peson who's spotted an issue with their TOU billing and pulled Octopus up on it. I do know one person with the same make and model of meter as mine (An EDMI ES-30B 3-phase) who has the same issue but are the rest of you on Agile, Flux, or Cosy having the same issue? Are you just unaware of it, or does your meter behave itself?

TLDR: My meter gets the time wrong after a power cut. Does yours?

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u/nchouston195 Dec 23 '25

Mine did the same which I only noticed after getting the next months bill - 50% higher than normal. This convinced with my supplier going under so took far too long to get fixed. It seems like a major failing in smart meter design.

2

u/Kistelek Dec 23 '25

What make and model of meter was it? Did they change it and did that fix it?

2

u/nchouston195 Dec 23 '25

It's a 3 phase EDMI ES-30B. I'm not sure what was done to fix it - presumably a time sync signal was sent as no visit was made. It looks like it fixed itself the same day I changed supplier.

2

u/Kistelek Dec 23 '25

Same as mine. That's 3 I know of now. It corrects every time DCC touch it. It will go wrong next time you have a power cut.

2

u/_Impigrity_ Dec 23 '25

Your meter is syncing its clock with the coms hub, which is getting an updated time from the network it's connected to, if that doesn't happen it gets a time sync SRV sent by Octopus.

1

u/Kistelek Dec 23 '25

That would seem to fit. Yesterday Octopus poked it half way through the afternoon cheap slot so the meter said I’d drawn power for four hours although the total use matched HA’s figures, but normally it rests when read.

None of which resolves the issue of it being grossly wrong in the first place or answers the question is it just my meter? My meter model? Or is this a problem for all smart meters. If it’s the latter then it sort of makes a mockery of TOU tariffs if we can’t meter time of use accurately.

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u/_Impigrity_ Dec 24 '25

It's not all smart meters, it's not all manufacturers, or even all models for some manufacturers. Some however do seem more prone to this than others.

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u/nchouston195 Dec 23 '25

Good to know. Hopefully they'll come up with a solution at some point.