Octopus Smart Meter problem

[Deleted User]

We had smart meters fitted two months ago and I received an email from Octopus last week informing me that our gas meter was not connecting

The readings on the display appear to be true and tally with "BRIGHT" - so what is the likely problem ?

[Deleted User]

You will have to ask Octopus. You can contact them at smart@octopus.energy

JJC1956

After 2 months everything should be working, so they should send their engineer around to check what the problem is, if they installed the meters then it is their problem to sort out, I received my bill last week without a gas reading on it, i emailed them and they sorted within 24 hours. Obviously there are hiccups with having smart meters installed, my Mother’s flat is also with Octopus, I just send them monthly meter readings, less stressful.

[Deleted User]

JJC1956 said:

After 2 months everything should be working, so they should send their engineer around to check what the problem is, if they installed the meters then it is their problem to sort out, I received my bill last week without a gas reading on it, i emailed them and they sorted within 24 hours. Obviously there are hiccups with having smart meters installed, my Mother’s flat is also with Octopus, I just send them monthly meter readings, less stressful.

If Bright App is receiving data then there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the meter. It may be a security certificate issue that Octopus can address remotely. You are right Octopus, like all suppliers, is struggling to make smart metering work. For over 6 months now, they have had an issue with one particular model of electricity meter that is not sending out 30 minute usage data which is used for t-o-u tariff billing. Fixing the problem rests with the meter manufacturer. 

[Deleted User]

According to Octopus "it appears that we have not yet connected to your gas meter so I have raised a smart meter health check and asked our metering team to look into this further for you"
This is not the case - I have told them that "Bright" works as does the display unit 

MWT

Deleted_User said:

This is not the case - I have told them that "Bright" works as does the display unit 

If you are using the Bright app along with the Hildebrand IHD then Bright are getting your data direct from the HAN in real-time so that isn't really a useful test.

A better check would be to see if the data is available on N3rgy for example as they would have to pull it from the meter via the DCC...

Even then it just confirms that the DCC/meter link is working, but Octopus may still not have downloaded their security certificate to the meter...

[Deleted User]

I asked this and was told "the Bright App does not belong to us, we unfortunately are not yet connected to your meter however we are looking into this for you"

Although as far as i am aware the display unit readings are correct and tally with bright 

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User said:

I asked this and was told "the Bright App does not belong to us, we unfortunately are not yet connected to your meter however we are looking into this for you"

Although as far as i am aware the display unit readings are correct and tally with bright 

As indicated above, Bright App gathers its data separately from the way Octopus does. To pull your data from the meter, Octopus has to send out a security certificate to your meter, and it has to be authorised by the DCC network to do this. The principle being - one supplier/one meter. The function of the security certificate is to ensure that messages received by the meter from the supplier are indeed valid requests. For example, if I hacked your meter and sent out code to disconnect your meter from the Grid, then my request should be ignored as it will be a request that doesn't carry the appropriate amount of layered security.

If data can be seen on the N3rgy website, then you do not have an issue with the DCC connection to your meter. 

[Deleted User]

Dolor said:

Deleted_User said:

I asked this and was told "the Bright App does not belong to us, we unfortunately are not yet connected to your meter however we are looking into this for you"

Although as far as i am aware the display unit readings are correct and tally with bright 

As indicated above, Bright App gathers its data separately from the way Octopus does. To pull your data from the meter, Octopus has to send out a security certificate to your meter, and it has to be authorised by the DCC network to do this. The principle being - one supplier/one meter. The function of the security certificate is to ensure that messages received by the meter from the supplier are indeed valid requests. For example, if I hacked your meter and sent out code to disconnect your meter from the Grid, then my request should be ignored as it will be a request that doesn't carry the appropriate amount of layered security.

If data can be seen on the N3rgy website, then you do not have an issue with the DCC connection to your meter. 

So are you saying that my last two months readings are invalid and my useage may be incorrect ?

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User said:

Dolor said:

Deleted_User said:

I asked this and was told "the Bright App does not belong to us, we unfortunately are not yet connected to your meter however we are looking into this for you"

Although as far as i am aware the display unit readings are correct and tally with bright 

As indicated above, Bright App gathers its data separately from the way Octopus does. To pull your data from the meter, Octopus has to send out a security certificate to your meter, and it has to be authorised by the DCC network to do this. The principle being - one supplier/one meter. The function of the security certificate is to ensure that messages received by the meter from the supplier are indeed valid requests. For example, if I hacked your meter and sent out code to disconnect your meter from the Grid, then my request should be ignored as it will be a request that doesn't carry the appropriate amount of layered security.

If data can be seen on the N3rgy website, then you do not have an issue with the DCC connection to your meter. 

So are you saying that my last two months readings are invalid and my useage may be incorrect ?

Not at all. Your electricity meter is a meter and it is programmed to hold 4 registers worth of daily 30 minute data for 13 months. Likewise, the gas meter will also hold 13 months of data. For gas, if you provide a manual index reading you will be billed on that reading.

Octopus uses a single register for billing purposes. Once Octopus has established a sound connection to your meter, they can initiate a manual recovery of any data that they are missing. 

This is happening at the moment for some of us with a Kaifa MA120 meter. When data is requested once per day, the meter is sending out the correct meter reading but the XML file that accompanies it is empty. Octopus can recover the missing data in 30 day blocks by initiating a manual recovery process. After 7 months, Kaifa has identified what the problem is and if DCC testing is successful, the fix will be deployed next month. Even Octopus has admitted that resolution of the problem has taken far too long.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

Deleted_User said:

[Deleted User] said:

Deleted_User said:

I asked this and was told "the Bright App does not belong to us, we unfortunately are not yet connected to your meter however we are looking into this for you"

Although as far as i am aware the display unit readings are correct and tally with bright 

As indicated above, Bright App gathers its data separately from the way Octopus does. To pull your data from the meter, Octopus has to send out a security certificate to your meter, and it has to be authorised by the DCC network to do this. The principle being - one supplier/one meter. The function of the security certificate is to ensure that messages received by the meter from the supplier are indeed valid requests. For example, if I hacked your meter and sent out code to disconnect your meter from the Grid, then my request should be ignored as it will be a request that doesn't carry the appropriate amount of layered security.

If data can be seen on the N3rgy website, then you do not have an issue with the DCC connection to your meter. 

So are you saying that my last two months readings are invalid and my useage may be incorrect ?

Not at all. Your meter is a meter and it is programmed to hold 4 registers worth of daily 30 minute data for 13 months. Octopus uses a single register for billing purposes. Once Octopus has established a sound connection to your meter, they can initiate a manual recovery of any data that they are missing. This is happening at the moment for some of us with a Kaifa MA120 meter. When data is requested once per day, the meter is sending out the correct meter reading but the XML file that accompanies it is empty. Octopus can recover the missing data in 30 day blocks by initiating a manual recovery process. After 7 months, Kaifa has identified what the problem is and if DCC testing is successful, the fix will be deployed next month. Even Octopus has admitted that resolution of the problem has taken far too long.

Right - so its not something simple liike a poor radio signal - I understand that SMETS 2 uses the power line for transmission ?