@transparent Thank you Transparent, in my own case the site reports Gas Supplier Details not found.. From this I take it that all I and OE need to do has indeed been done and it is down to SGN to carry out any further work to disconnect the feed to my garden at their own discretion. Regards, Toodles.

@squarepeg77 - these procedures are there to protect you, both in financial terms and safety.
In your case, they haven't been followed 100%...
and that may be the case for lots of other sites when heat pumps get installed.

I'm advising that the situation you're currently in is 'unsatisfactory' and needs to be resolved.

Posted by: @squarepeg77

↑

It was a smart meter.

The engineer still needs to take the final reading manually.

Firstly a gas meter is rather like a Koala. 🤔 
It spends most of the time asleep, and only awakens every 1800 seconds to establish a link to the Communications Hub sitting on top of your electricity meter.

Secondly, in most cases an Energy Supplier (Octopus) only retrieves consumption data from your Comms Hub once per day, usually within a couple of hours after midnight.
I have the specifications here, and they don't define what occurs when a Comms Hub no longer exchanges data between itself and a Gas Meter.

There isn't a natural "time out". The Energy Supplier has to send a Service Request (command) to your Comms Hub instructing it to decommission the 'Gas Proxy' and no longer accept firmware upgrades or other commands for a gas meter.

A: When your gas meter (GSME) was removed there would've been a residual reading which had not yet been sent to the Comms Hub.

B: The Comms Hub may still hold data relating to the GSME which needs to be collected by Octopus.

If you haven't specifically received a separate Final Bill for your gas usage, then the account is still live and awaiting the data which arises from the Notification Process between Octopus, Xoserve and DCC.

Finally, it isn't safe to have a live gas pipe entering a garage/house where there is no pressure-reducing regulator connected.
(The regulator is an integral part of a GSME).

House insurers don't usually ask that question... but they should!

Your Gas Transporter isn't aware of the issue because the Xoserve Notifications haven't been carried out.

If I were in your situation I would cover myself by sending an email to Octopus requesting that you receive a copy of the Final Bill for the old gas account.
It may still show £0.00 but creating it will trigger the correct Notification Process behind the scenes.

Don't do that by phone because you need the date/time stamp on the email as evidence that you actually made that request.
If they later try to send you a settlement Bill, then you can use the Complaints Service.

Do keep an eye on Octopus and future bills. Even though AES Smart Metering removed our gas meter on their behalf, Octopus have recently billed me for the gas standing charge all the way back to April, when my meter was removed. They quickly corrected the error and took it back off my bill, but keep an eye out!

I also got very mixed messages about the process to get a gas meter removed, depending on who I spoke to at OE. Eventually my neighbour raised a formal complaint so I piggybacked on top of their extensive efforts and got my meter removed on the same day.

Regards,

Stuart

Samsung 8kW HT ASHP

@squarepeg77 According to the regulations @cswd is correct.
If a gas meter still has an MPRN linked to your property, then it accrues the daily standing charges.

Although we've headed straight into a question which you didn't actually ask
I haven't forgotten that you originally posted this:

Posted by: @squarepeg77

↑

I’m still undecided about battery storage and ROI. I plan to monitor heat pump this winter and do some more maths next year.

Two points:

A: It would be worth your while to read the topic Beginners Journey into DIY home storage - no solar despite you actually already having solar panels!

The discussion benefits from the original author, @korwraith changing his mind several times.
That enables you and others to see the various issues which he weighs up.

B: It will be very difficult to arrive at a decision next spring by calculating ROI.

The tariffs which you are likely to use during the lifetime of your storage batteries do not yet exist.
There are concepts such as Nodal Pricing and Block Tariffs which aren't yet implemented.

We can certainly discuss what those are on the forum, but each reader will make up their own mind based on a number of conflicting issues

• cost per kWh for importing electricity
• how much of that electricity is from renewable generation, and whether you are for or against nuclear
• how resilient you wish to be against power outages
• how attractive you find government subsidies, which require installation by accredited contractors
• what changes you are prepared to make to the way you live

All of these need to be discussed on a separate thread, rather than this "Hello and welcome" topic!

Feel free to start one.

I emailed Ocotpus last night regarding final bill and disconnection notification, as suggested. 

Thanks for the link regarding DIY battery storage. 

@squarepeg77 Since I made my initial post in the above-mentioned thread the price of batteries has decreased somewhat and the options available have altered. If I was buying today I'd buy the "SEPLOS Mason 280 and x16 Grade B Envision 305Ah Battery Bundle" or the "SEPLOS Mason 280L and x16 Grade B Envision 305Ah Battery Bundle" from Fogstar. 

Both are currently priced at £2000 which is £550 less than what I paid for my Seplos box + 16x280Ah cells.

My Seplos battery and Solis inverter have been live for the better part of a year now with zero issues.

@transparent Would you mind if I contacted you directly? I'm seeking a little unrelated guidance.

To send a PM (Private Message) click on my name

... then click the Envelope Icon on the right of my profile page.

But if you've already connected something which you shouldn't have done,
then I only hear confessions on Saturdays 😋 

Without revealing confidential information, let me tell others what sort of private details @ianmk13 and I have been able to discuss.

From what he's told me I've been able to check the network maps and transformer data for the local sub-station which feeds his house.

Although he doesn't live in the SE England region, the characteristics of his substation are very similar to what you'd expect to find in the area where UK Power Networks is the DNO.
The transformer feeds about 250 houses, all on single-phase supplies.
About 10% of the properties have an EV charger and/or a heat-pump...
... and about 14% have solar panels.

Peak demand is at night-time, rather than the early evening.
There's no solar energy being exported when everyone wants to charge their EV on a reduced tariff scheme.
During those hours, the transformer operates a few percent above its maximum rating.

There will be significant losses due to phase-imbalance at the sub-station.
Once more houses install EV chargers, the loading of each phase will start to even out.
But 10% is statistically about as bad as it's likely to get because phases are randomly assigned to houses.

However, the DNO can't consent to many more EV chargers without needing to replace the transformer with another of higher capacity, and then upgrade the 11kV cables which supply it.

The same issue of network infrastructure applies to the high-voltage Transmission Grid (275kV and 400kV).
National Grid Electricity Transmission is therefore planning a massive upgrade to increase capacity by a factor of five!

Most electricity generated from renewable sources is found at the extremities of the national grid, which is the opposite of how it was designed when the country was supplied from a few dozen major power stations in the centre of England.

The question is...
... can the UK actually afford such a massive grid upgrade?

National Grid is funded through customer bills, not government taxation.

So to send enough wind-power to SE England from the North Sea and the far reaches of Wales and the West Country, a great many more of the population in those localities will be plunged into energy-poverty.

This is not merely a technical issue, but an ethical one.

Who is going to be paying for the infrastructure upgrades so that the more affluent residents in the South East can charge their EVs to use the Greater London ULEZ?

Don't discuss this here on the Welcome Topic!
Head over to the discussion about the National Grid Upgrade and let's see what everyone has to say.

Just to fill in a few blanks.....

I was trawling around this forum a few months ago investigating ASHPs with a view to replacing my gas boiler. I commissioned a heat loss report (undertaken remotely) and, based on the detailed knowledge of the construction of my home gleaned over a number of years, repeated the exercise myself.  I also surveyed the existing plumbing to determine if it was adequate (the drops to the ground floor radiators are in 10mm copper).  I concluded that quite a few changes would be required and they would be quite disruptive (particularly as far as my wife is concerned!).  I decided that I should progress my PV project first.

I am presently at the state in my PV project that I know what I would like to buy and have installed. I now have to negotiate the hazards of the DNO, who may wish to restrict my power generation, and prospective suppliers and installers who push-back against the detail of my preferred installation method, variously referencing 'regulations', MCS requirements or 'H&S'. Call me a cynic, but I fear they may simply want a quick and easy installation.  Having seen many of Transparent's comments in the forum I felt that he may be able to provide advice relevant to my individual situation on both aspects so thought it best not to fill the thread with detail of no interest to others.

@ianmk13 I’m afraid that you may not be as cynical as your think! I too, put together my own plan for PV and was aiming for 8-9 kWp plus Enphase IQ7 micoconverters which at that time would have been taken the output from Sunpower panels. I also wanted a Powerwall for storage.The panels being spread over part of the house roof, a flat roof, a workshop roof and ground mounted. I contacted Sunpower for a list of approved installers and also contacted 20 or 21 installers and the gist of their ideas is that they provide a package of their own devising! Many were ‘shortlisted’ out on this basis and I ended up with little choice but stuck to my guns. The installers I chose were granted a G99 application and 8.1 kWp system was finally installed. Even having done my own research, installers don’t seem to like it when the customers asks for a system that they have given considerable thought to. Regards, Toodles. (Dismounts Soapbox)

@toodles Interesting!  I'm wanting IQ7A's with a Givenergy All-In-One and Gateway. I've had a lot of pushback against microinvertors and not been able to identify many experienced Enphase installers at an acceptable price. Now with a shortlist of 2, my preferred installer (based some distance away) doesn't seem keen on installing the Gateway 10m or so away from the meter cupboard and he has now gone silent on me. Installer #2 is closer but is not experienced in Enphase (and I still have to bottom-out the installation details). I'm about to submit my own G99 application. I think you're right that installers don't like it when they have knowledgeable customers.  Is it the same with heat pumps?