Smart Meter 1st Gen Help - rate 01 and no rate 02

englandsrose

I am on the first gen smart meter.

The Total Act Import shows 012345.00 for instance

When I press A I get

Rate 01 Act ImP 004567.00

And that's it, no rate 2? 

Where is the other 7778?

I've always given the total, but EON keep reading the Rate 2 and billing me for this so I have a huge credit that I don't think is correct! They are useless over the phone and email. I only pay for one rate never have I had day and night rate. 

[Deleted User]

Every smart meter is different but SMETS meters have 4 registers. Have a read through this blog:

https://octopus.energy/blog/how-to-read-your-meter/#nonoctopussmets1

englandsrose

Yeah I did read all that but that is telling me that rate 01 + rate 02 should equal total, I don't have ANY rate 02 reading, just a total and a rate 01?

Mobtr

What make of smart meter do you have? 

englandsrose

Landis + Gyr E470 from 2017

i have an A button however it doesn’t actually say A it’s like a squidgy button. No B button. 

[Deleted User]

englandsrose said:

Landis + Gyr E470 from 2017

i have an A button however it doesn’t actually say A it’s like a squidgy button. No B button. 

L&G has this rather annoying habit of giving different meter models the same E470 designation. 

My understanding is that you need to push and hold the green button to scroll through the menus. What tariff are you on? If it is E7 then both registers should increase. If it is single rate tariff, then only one register will increase, and you should be billed against this single register. If you SWITCH from one single register tariff to another single register tariff (ie; from and to a standard tariff) you give the new supplier just the single register reading (ie; the register that was in use with your previous supplier).

There is no agreed convention for the use of registers by suppliers. For example, I am on a dual rate tariff with two registers in use but my R1 register is off-peak and my R2 register is peak.

The mistake that people make on switches is that they provide the total index reading from the IHD and suddenly find themselves either being billed for the unit difference or in an Agreed Readings Dispute.

Life would have been a lot simpler if we had adopted the French approach of a single meter design.

englandsrose

I’ve finally spoken with someone else at eon and he said that at some point the meter stopped working as it’s a first gen, then when they got it working again the R01 started from Zero and those are the readings they are getting, so my £2k credit has now been removed and a new meter being installed next week. I’ve been trying to get this done for months so hopefully it’ll work and I’ll have a nice new IHD so I can panic each evening. 

[Deleted User]

englandsrose said:

I’ve finally spoken with someone else at eon and he said that at some point the meter stopped working as it’s a first gen, then when they got it working again the R01 started from Zero and those are the readings they are getting, so my £2k credit has now been removed and a new meter being installed next week. I’ve been trying to get this done for months so hopefully it’ll work and I’ll have a nice new IHD so I can panic each evening. 

SMETS1 meters cannot connect to the secure DCC network until a firmware update is rolled out to them. The firmware update is solely for the communications hub not the meters, and is being rolled out by suppliers in tranches. If the process of updating the communications hub firmware was zeroing meters then there would be industry carnage. Millions of SMETS1 meters are now connected to the DCC Network and working without any issues.

The most likely scenario is that an update has been applied to the meter firmware and it is this that has caused the problem. Sadly, meter firmware issues are all too common and this has nothing to do with any supplier.

wild666

englandsrose said:

I am on the first gen smart meter.

The Total Act Import shows 012345.00 for instance

When I press A I get

Rate 01 Act ImP 004567.00

And that's it, no rate 2? 

Where is the other 7778?

I've always given the total, but EON keep reading the Rate 2 and billing me for this so I have a huge credit that I don't think is correct! They are useless over the phone and email. I only pay for one rate never have I had day and night rate. 

If they are reading just 1 of the figures was there a special offer on like free or lower price electric for a period of time and that might be why there are two separate reading totals as well as the combined total? If you or a previous occupier had a special rate for a fixed period then this could be why they are taking the reading of just one of the ACT readings. 

I've also got a SMETS 1 meter installed by BG in 2015 for their free electric and my electric meter has total, ACT 1 and ACT 2. Total is the combined readings of ACT 1 & ACT 2. In my case the ACT 2 reading was for the free electric and stopped readings in September 2019. The supplier, or previous supplier, whichever is the case, might still be adding a reading to both the ACT 1 & ACT 2 in which case the readings of the ACT they use for readings might be lower than your actual usage.
I only found out my meter was giving two readings after I changed supplier in Jan 2018 and it cause a bit of a problem with the new supplier as I gave the opening reading as the total from ACT 1 & 2 and was hit with a £400 bill after one month when the actual usage was just £36 give or take a few pence.

[Deleted User]

wild666 said:

englandsrose said:

I am on the first gen smart meter.

The Total Act Import shows 012345.00 for instance

When I press A I get

Rate 01 Act ImP 004567.00

And that's it, no rate 2? 

Where is the other 7778?

I've always given the total, but EON keep reading the Rate 2 and billing me for this so I have a huge credit that I don't think is correct! They are useless over the phone and email. I only pay for one rate never have I had day and night rate. 

If they are reading just 1 of the figures was there a special offer on like free or lower price electric for a period of time and that might be why there are two separate reading totals as well as the combined total? If you or a previous occupier had a special rate for a fixed period then this could be why they are taking the reading of just one of the ACT readings. 

I've also got a SMETS 1 meter installed by BG in 2015 for their free electric and my electric meter has total, ACT 1 and ACT 2. Total is the combined readings of ACT 1 & ACT 2. In my case the ACT 2 reading was for the free electric and stopped readings in September 2019. The supplier, or previous supplier, whichever is the case, might still be adding a reading to both the ACT 1 & ACT 2 in which case the readings of the ACT they use for readings might be lower than your actual usage.
I only found out my meter was giving two readings after I changed supplier in Jan 2018 and it cause a bit of a problem with the new supplier as I gave the opening reading as the total from ACT 1 & 2 and was hit with a £400 bill after one month when the actual usage was just £36 give or take a few pence.

Yep - as above. If the supply has changed from a 2 register tariff to a single register, it is not unusual for the unused register to disappear. SMETS meters have 4 import registers. Octopus has played register tunes with its Go and Go Faster tariffs over the three years that I have been on a time-of-use tariff. It doesn’t use any register for billing; however, by activating 2 registers it can set up a dual rate tariff on the meter. It follows that the IHD should have the correct cost information. For Agile, Octopus doesn’t bother. It just sets a single register and an average unit price.

The message is clear. When switching suppliers, the readings from all the meter registers need to be provided to avoid the problems that you and others have encountered. This may require access to the tariff/register matrix in the meter sub-menu. Not a great design: the IHD should show readings for all 4 import registers and export to be of any use.