Sourcing IHD for Smart Meters

chib

We recently moved into a new build property which has smart meters for both gas and electricity. We recently switched to Bulb from British Gas and I can see my electricity usage online but not the gas - I'll need to ask them why.
We were not provided an IHD with the house, is it possible for me to buy one myself and pair it with the smart meters? They are both Landis & Gyr E470 and G470 models.
Getting information online is a little confusing!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

the IHDs should've been left in house when meters fitted and set up with tariff and dsc prices at the relevant rate at the time, but as you've moved to Bulb be wrong now anyway.

When you switched to Bulb did you agree to them fitting smart meters, though could take some time in present circumstances?

The IHD has to be programmed by your supplier, with data, so not a diy job.

Best to take regular monthly readings and provide these to your supplier also set up a wee spreadsheet to keep your eye on usage and DD payments.

Gerry1

If you're the first occupier, chase the builder about the missing IHD.

[Deleted User]

SMETS2 meters use GCHQ level layered security so it is not possible for any homeowner to connect devices to the comms hub. Third-party IHD/CADs are available from companies such as Hildebrand. As a registered DCC User, Hildebrand is able to connect the devices that they supply to your meter comms hub. I believe that the SMETS2 comms hub can have up to 7 IHD/CADs connected to them.

You can also monitor your daily gas and electricity usage (in near real time) by using the Bright App (also produced by Hildebrand) or by signing up for an account with N3rgy.com. If the latter isn’t seeing your gas data, then there is an issue either with the pairing of the gas meter to the hub, or you could have a partially failed G470 meter. I have just had my G470 meter replaced with a GWi G4 SMETS2 meter because the meter stopped recording usage.

MikeE67

[Deleted User] said:

You can also monitor your daily gas and electricity usage (in near real time) by using the Bright App (also produced by Hildebrand)
If the latter isn’t seeing your gas data, then there is an issue either with the pairing of the gas meter to the hub

I wonder what happened in my case as gas usage does register on my Chameleon IHD but the daily standing charge doesn't update on the IHD. It just shows as zero pence whether I use gas or not (on the IHD)
Also when I switched to Octopus around 3 weeks ago, the electricity tariffs updated but not the gas and so my old suppliers gas tariffs are still on there.

When I use the Bright app, the gas cost just says 'Tariff not found' although the energy usage updates with kWh used.
Do you know if I bought a Hildebrand CAD, would it sort out this problem ?

matelodave

MikeE67 said:

Dolor said:

You can also monitor your daily gas and electricity usage (in near real time) by using the Bright App (also produced by Hildebrand)
If the latter isn’t seeing your gas data, then there is an issue either with the pairing of the gas meter to the hub

I wonder what happened in my case as gas usage does register on my Chameleon IHD but the daily standing charge doesn't update on the IHD. It just shows as zero pence whether I use gas or not (on the IHD)
Also when I switched to Octopus around 3 weeks ago, the electricity tariffs updated but not the gas and so my old suppliers gas tariffs are still on there.

When I use the Bright app, the gas cost just says 'Tariff not found' although the energy usage updates with kWh used.
Do you know if I bought a Hildebrand CAD, would it sort out this problem ?

you might find this interesting - https://guylipman.medium.com/a-website-for-viewing-your-smart-meter-data-4d4c84b2bc33

MikeE67

@matelodave
Thanks for the link.
I have been on that website before and only electricity was listed now I have gas as well.

wild666

I wouldn't put it past the builder taking the IHD's and selling them on somewhere like ebay. 

[Deleted User]

wild666 said:

I wouldn't put it past the builder taking the IHD's and selling them on somewhere like ebay. 

Builders/Developers do not install meters. In my recent new build, the electricity was installed by SPEN (Scottish Power Energy Networks) and the gas meter by Fulcrum Pipelines. The meters were installed in March and the build not completed until three months later. I didn’t get an IHD but I couldn’t be bothered to chase anybody to get one. Only a fool would buy an IHD off EBay (unless the seller is an approved DCC User) as it will not work.

Chino

Dolor said:

SMETS2 meters use GCHQ level layered security

What is this "GCHQ level layered security" that you speak of?  What does this phrase mean?

Most agencies of this ilk are more interested in weakening the security of communications schemes to accommodate the introduction of back doors than of increasing security and privacy.

[Deleted User]

Chino said:

Dolor said:

SMETS2 meters use GCHQ level layered security

What is this "GCHQ level layered security" that you speak of?  What does this phrase mean?

Most agencies of this ilk are more interested in weakening the security of communications schemes to accommodate the introduction of back doors than of increasing security and privacy.

There is a full explanation here:

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/the-smart-security-behind-the-gb-smart-metering-system

GCHQ had to step in when it was realised that the security proposed was not as strong as it needed to be.

From evidence given to Parliament:

Mass disconnection

6)The smart metering security architecture has been designed to ensure that any unintended impact on energy supply would require the compromise of multiple layers of security by multiple parties. The layers of security controls that have been designed into the end to end smart metering system ensure that messages sent to the meter that could affect supply must be digitally signed by the sender and checked for any unintended consequences. The message must then be digitally countersigned by the Data and Communications Company (DCC) and subjected to a further check to detect any potential for anomalous consequences.

7)Each message received by a meter is authenticated via a secure cryptographic algorithm, where the authentication code is unique to each message and each meter. The meter will not respond to any message that does not have the correct cryptographic signatures of both the sender (the ‘owner’ of the meter who has the private key that will be recognised by the meter) and the additional message authentication code appended by the DCC.

8)It is clear therefore that that any message that has the potential to affect supply is very tightly controlled and is protected by multiple layers of security controls in different organisations and different locations that would all need to be compromised to achieve an unintended disconnection.