Gas going backwards ?

MikeJXE

I'm moving home soon and over the last couple of months have been checking actual smart meter reading with what OVO say they are.

Having been fairly close but today strangely 

Electric at 7.30 pm was about spot on but 

Gas at 2.30 pm actual was 00581.773 yet looking on OVO website at 7.30 pm it was 00580.955 yet  I have used gas between the times 

So not as accurate as I believed they were 

Any thoughts

Thanks 

diystarter7

Hi
You have misread it?
Thanks

MikeJXE

Lol no I have photos 

glennevis

My smart gas meter probably only uploads the half-hourly readings once or twice a day to save the internal battery.

Using a third party app such as BRIGHT the gas meter readings are usually not visible until after 2am the next day.

EssexHebridean

There is a time-lag isn’t there - while the meter sends half hourly readings I’m guessing it doesn’t send them “every” half hour. So if the data is pulled say every 8 hours (no idea on the actual times likely here, but as an example) then it might have sent at midday, and then again at 8pm - so your actual reading at 2pm wouldn’t show until far later in the day? 

I guess the perceived accuracy would come down to when you have taken the “actual” in comparison to when the data is sent. 

[Deleted User]

EssexHebridean said:

There is a time-lag isn’t there - while the meter sends half hourly readings I’m guessing it doesn’t send them “every” half hour. So if the data is pulled say every 8 hours (no idea on the actual times likely here, but as an example) then it might have sent at midday, and then again at 8pm - so your actual reading at 2pm wouldn’t show until far later in the day? 

I guess the perceived accuracy would come down to when you have taken the “actual” in comparison to when the data is sent. 

Most suppliers ‘pull’ the data from the meter once per day for those on a 30 minute profile. The meter returns up to 4 index readings and an XML file containing the 30 minute usage data.

diystarter7

MikeJXE said:

Lol no I have photos 

Apols, I though I'd ask, lol.

Thanks

MikeJXE

That may well be the case but it does not explain what I can read next day.

A breakdown of every half hour unless what you are saying is the meter sends a load of readings that are stored in the smart meter 

EssexHebridean

I think that’s it - the data stays where it is until it is pulled. In fact, I think it stays there are after that too - and essentially a copy is what is pulled? One of our resident regulars “in the know” will confirm whether my gut feeling in that is correct, I’m sure. 

This explains how sometimes when a screening SM has gone blank, the data can still be retrieved?

Dolor thank you - I knew the theory but not the detail, then!  

MikeJXE

Thank you for the info 

[Deleted User]

EssexHebridean said:

I think that’s it - the data stays where it is until it is pulled. 

Smart meters retain import data for 13 months and export data for 3 months. The ultimate aim is for price comparison websites to use smart tools to ‘pull’ 12 months of import data from the meter which not only shows total usage but when the energy has been used. This will be needed for time-of-use tariff comparisons:

https://smarttariffsmartcomparison.org/home