How do they know what is consuming energy?

Stevepd

Sorry if I’m being thick but bear with me.

Earlier this year I did the energy switch from Avro to E.ON. A smart meter was promised as part of the deal but according to their chat facility it’s now delayed until 2021. I’ve logged onto our account to view our first bill and was able to view a pie chart of our consumption, which showed water = 55%, appliance = 16%, entertainment = 20%, lighting = 4%, cooking = 5%. We are gas and electric with a combi boiler. How does “it” know what consumes what to fall into the above categories?. Ie water; we have a power shower and my wife has a long soak in the bath once a week (she showers 6 days I’ll add!). 

I contacted E.ON via the chat facility and asked the above question but didn’t really get an answer I understood. We had a smart meter fitted some 7 years ago with SSE but then moved to AVRO. The display unit in the kitchen was discarded as it was faulty. Chat chap said that “have checked on account ad you have smart meter from previous supplier which is SMETS1 meter which is no longer working as smart. There will be an on air update by us after which all smart meters which are SMETS1 will start working as smart meter. This will happen till end of 2021“.

Help me understand this if you can please.

Norman_Castle

Are the percentages estimates based on averages?

Robin9

It doesn't  - these will be" typical"

Just a reminder - as your meter is no longer "Smart" you are reading the meter yourself aren't you ? 

Petriix

It's obviously made up. They don't know that you're not mining crypto currency or running a cannabis farm etc. Maybe with a functional smart meter they would be able to infer the type of usage by the timing and duration of the peaks but it would still be a guess.

Gerry1

They probably use Onzo for surveillance about your lifestyle. 

Aren't smart meters wonderful?

MWT

A little tricky to deliver all that theoretical data when the DCC is only retrieving and providing half-hour data at most, but if the theory bothers you I trust you don't own a smart phone, the reality of the sensor data that your apps can mine about where you are, who you are with and what you are doing is really scary...

In this case the OP doesn't even have a meter working in smart mode so it is all just indicative averages...

Stevepd

Robin9 said:

It doesn't  - these will be" typical"

Just a reminder - as your meter is no longer "Smart" you are reading the meter yourself aren't you ? 

Yes, I take the gas & electric every Sunday and input the readings.

Stevepd

MWT said:

In this case the OP doesn't even have a meter working in smart mode so it is all just indicative averages...

This explains why I didn’t get a simple answer to a simple question then.

MWT

Stevepd said:

This explains why I didn’t get a simple answer to a simple question then.

Exactly.

The energy companies don't have that level of detail regardless of the type of meter you have fitted.

Gerry1

MWT said:

The energy companies don't have that level of detail regardless of the type of meter you have fitted.

Onzo seem to disagree with you.  In their video, Onzo admit that they

• build a highly personalised profile for each and every utility customer;
• identify behavioural, attitudinal and lifestyle characteristics;
  
• even tag the devices that they see being used in the home;
• give the utilities a detailed description of each end customer; and
  
• identify the customer's character.

Scary stuff.

MWT

Gerry1 said:

MWT said:

The energy companies don't have that level of detail regardless of the type of meter you have fitted.

Onzo seem to disagree with you.  In their video, Onzo admit that they

• build a highly personalised profile for each and every utility customer;
• identify behavioural, attitudinal and lifestyle characteristics;
  
• even tag the devices that they see being used in the home;
• give the utilities a detailed description of each end customer; and
  
• identify the customer's character.

Scary stuff.

They are a UK company but they are talking about their work with non-UK companies for the most part.

When the only data you have access to is half-hour usage there isn't a whole lot of detail you can get out if it, so really not at all scary if you are in the UK.

Seriously if the theory of this bothers you, using the internet, a smart phone or any of the Echo type devices should worry you a whole lot more.