Octopus IHD not showing current gas use

injectionday

Hi. We had an Octopus smart meter fitted a couple of weeks ago. The meter data is now showing on the IHD and we can see the cost so far today for both gas and electricity, however the "now" setting for the current cost per hour only shows electricity and won't switch to gas, even when the heating is on so I know we're using gas!  Does anyone else have this issue? Being able to monitor gas use was the main reason we got the smart meter. 

k_man

Gas usage isn't reported in real-time (or near realtime) like electricity. This isn't specific to Octopus.
IIRC this is because the gas meter runs on batteries, so only sends its reading every 30 minutes to save the batteries.
The electric meter is mains powered so can update near realtime.

So the Usage Now will only show the current electricity usage updating every 10s or so.

macman

Mine was installed a couple of months back and I can still get no data at all on the gas side. Numerous resets by Octopus have failed to resolve the issue. The gas meter itself communicates OK with the comms unit and DCC, as my gas readings are being received by Octopus, but the IHD will not receive them for some unknown reason.
I have requested a new IHD, but so far they are refusing to do this.

injectionday

k_man said:

Gas usage isn't reported in real-time (or near realtime) like electricity. This isn't specific to Octopus.
IIRC this is because the gas meter runs on batteries, so only sends its reading every 30 minutes to save the batteries.
The electric meter is mains powered so can update near realtime.

So the Usage Now will only show the current electricity usage updating every 10s or so.

Thanks k_man. Does that mean that the useage now will never show the gas, or that it will but only every 30 mins and not up to date?

k_man

injectionday said:

k_man said:

Gas usage isn't reported in real-time (or near realtime) like electricity. This isn't specific to Octopus.
IIRC this is because the gas meter runs on batteries, so only sends its reading every 30 minutes to save the batteries.
The electric meter is mains powered so can update near realtime.

So the Usage Now will only show the current electricity usage updating every 10s or so.

Thanks k_man. Does that mean that the useage now will never show the gas, or that it will but only every 30 mins and not up to date?

Not with the current implementation of Smart meters no.
The Usage Now is a realtime snapshot of electricity right now.
Gas does not report instantaneous usage, only how much was used during 30 minute periods, so will only update the so far today screen etc.

Ayr_Rage

The gas usage should show on the IHD, it should not be missing.

It is correct that it only updates every 30 minutes but as the data is relayed by the "always on" home area network that sits above the actual electric meter, if the installation has been commissioned correctly then gas usage will show.

Forum member @[Deleted User] is very knowledgeable on these matters and may be able to comment further.

[Deleted User]

injectionday said:

Hi. We had an Octopus smart meter fitted a couple of weeks ago. The meter data is now showing on the IHD and we can see the cost so far today for both gas and electricity, however the "now" setting for the current cost per hour only shows electricity and won't switch to gas, even when the heating is on so I know we're using gas!  Does anyone else have this issue? Being able to monitor gas use was the main reason we got the smart meter. 

The IHD shows kW (power) and kWh (usage) for electricity but only kWh (usage) for gas. The reason for this is simple: the electricity meter is connected to a power supply and it refreshes every 10 seconds. The gas meter is battery powered and it reports back to the gas proxy meter (the mirror) once every 30 minutes to protect battery life. 

EnquiringMind33

[Deleted User] said:

injectionday said:

Hi. We had an Octopus smart meter fitted a couple of weeks ago. The meter data is now showing on the IHD and we can see the cost so far today for both gas and electricity, however the "now" setting for the current cost per hour only shows electricity and won't switch to gas, even when the heating is on so I know we're using gas!  Does anyone else have this issue? Being able to monitor gas use was the main reason we got the smart meter. 

The IHD shows kW (power) and kWh (usage) for electricity but only kWh (usage) for gas. The reason for this is simple: the electricity meter is connected to a power supply and it refreshes every 10 seconds. The gas meter is battery powered and it reports back to the gas proxy meter (the mirror) once every 30 minutes to protect battery life. 

I guess the battery-powered part is true of most brands of gas smart meter? Mine (an L+G G470 371 fitted by British Gas) does the typical delayed readings on my IHD by 30 minutes or so. I wonder how long the batteries typically last? My meters were fitted in summer 2016 and there's never been a battery change on my gas meter, but it still appears to be working, though since 23 January this year I've been having constant issues with the network connection to British Gas (not within the home, that's all fine and as informative and correct-looking as ever, with the IHD updating and behaving totally normally aside from showing the alerts of course) so I'm trying to think of everything that could be a factor. The network connection issue is affecting both gas and electricity - my detailed readings in my account at British Gas only run up to the end of 22 January, then there's nothing, though there are occasional (often delayed) updates to the current meter numerical reading shown on the gas summary page and electricity summary page, so SOME info must be getting through, but presumably not all of it.

I know that my meters (both SMETS1, given their age) have been remote updated to use the DCC network, but I don't know exactly when that was applied. I wonder if that's actually the source of my trouble - either a failed update or bad DCC coverage in my area? I've asked British Gas but they seem in the dark, though they hope to let me know what they find out over the next week or so.

macman

They are supposed to last ten years, but not enough have been in service that long to know how accurate this is.

reddwarf2002

macman said:

Mine was installed a couple of months back and I can still get no data at all on the gas side. Numerous resets by Octopus have failed to resolve the issue. The gas meter itself communicates OK with the comms unit and DCC, as my gas readings are being received by Octopus, but the IHD will not receive them for some unknown reason.
I have requested a new IHD, but so far they are refusing to do this.

Did you ever manage to get this resolved with Octopus? My Gas consumption is also not showing up on the IHD3 since smart meter was installed back in June (electric is fine). I've contacted Octopus a few times but they've not been able to resolve it so far.

reddwarf2002

reddwarf2002 said:

macman said:

Mine was installed a couple of months back and I can still get no data at all on the gas side. Numerous resets by Octopus have failed to resolve the issue. The gas meter itself communicates OK with the comms unit and DCC, as my gas readings are being received by Octopus, but the IHD will not receive them for some unknown reason.
I have requested a new IHD, but so far they are refusing to do this.

Did you ever manage to get this resolved with Octopus? My Gas consumption is also not showing up on the IHD3 since smart meter was installed back in June (electric is fine). I've contacted Octopus a few times but they've not been able to resolve it so far.

UPDATE: after sending off another email to the smart metering team, the gas usage is finally showing on the IHD. Here's their reply for anyone else having this issue....

Hi [name removed],

Thank you for your email, I have sent out another request to join the IHD to the gas meter, specifically I have sent this request via the gas meter so this should hopefully work a bit better this time to get it connected. If by this time tomorrow the IHD is still not showing the gas usage, please send a photo of the IHD screen as a reply to this email so we can investigate further.

Kind regards,

Calvin - Energy Specialist

Octopus Energy