Scottish Power - New Smart Meters IHD & Comms Hub Problems - Sigh......

staffsuk

Hi all

So I had new smart meters installed on the 6th February. This was in anticipation of a PV install, which has stalled at the time of writing.

First off, the IHD has stopped communicating with the smart meters, after it was working fine for the first few weeks. I have tried all the recommended suggestions I can find: unplug meter from power supply, allow batteries to drain until it powers down, power up again on batteries until it again powers down, then plug in the power supply, power up close to the smart meter, and wait. Nothing. Power down for 30 minutes, power up again. Nothing. Leave powered down for a day, then power up again. Nothing. Leave powered up for a few days close to the meter. Nothing. Any other suggestions on how to get the IHD communicating again?

Second, I was under the impression the smart meters would be sending readings to Scottish Power, which would register on my account. Looking at my account, the last readings were received on 18th February. I contacted Scottish Power, and they said my meters were set up to transmit readings every 30 minutes. So, should the meters be sending readings to Scottish Power account every 30 minutes, or if not, how often should they be sending readings, and when should I expect these to be registered on my account?

Many thanks!

[Deleted User]

Your last point first. Smart meters are not in permanent contact with your supplier. The comms hub works a bit like a mobile phone. It is connected to the DCC network waiting for a call. For a meter on your profile, the supplier initiates a data pull once every 24 hours: each meter returns up to 4 index readings and an XML file containing 30 minute usage data.

Have you checked the LEDs on the comms hub? Are these flashing normally?

If you download the free app BRIGHT, does it populate with data? If BRIGHT is not pulling any data from your meters then the most likely cause of your problem is a ‘broken’ comms hub. Comms hubs are the responsibility of the DCC not individual suppliers. I say ‘broken’ as there are reports of some comms hubs becoming disconnected from both the WAN and the HAN. The IHD and the gas meter use the HAN to connect to the comms hub.

You need to apprise your supplier of the problem and request a DCC-initiated remote comms hub reset. The DCC will instruct the comms hub to disconnect itself from power for 15 minutes. If this doesn’t work, then the supplier will have to send out an engineer to carryout a 15 minute main fuse pull to reset the hub.

staffsuk

@[Deleted User]

Thanks! I've registered with BRIGHT, and I'm now waiting the 24 hours for 'your energy data to be reflected within the application'.

The lights on the comms hub: WAN flashes roughly every second, then after every 7 flashes SW, HAN & GAS flash once, then the cycle repeats. Is this normal?

Thanks again

[Deleted User]

Scroll down this link. It explains what the LED flashing rates mean:

https://www.smartme.co.uk/smets-2.html

staffsuk

@[Deleted User]

Thanks - so I just checked again, and the WAN led is flashing roughly twice a second, so it appears this is a fault? I guess this also explains the readings not being transmitted. So I need to contact the supplier in order to request a hub reset? This thing has been in less than month, not looking good :-/ 

[Deleted User]

staffsuk said:

@[Deleted User]

Thanks - so I just checked again, and the WAN led is flashing roughly twice a second, so it appears this is a fault? I guess this also explains the readings not being transmitted. So I need to contact the supplier in order to request a hub reset? This thing has been in less than month, not looking good :-/ 

Your supplier should be able to carry out a system health check. Octopus checks its smart meters once every 2 weeks. The supplier will ask the DCC to investigate: in my experience, this can take some time. Hopefully, a remote reset will work. 

Sadly, comms hub issues appear to be on the increase. My hub became ‘silent’ a couple of months ago: that is, no HAN or WAN connections. It was fixed with a main fuse 15 minute pull. My supplier offered no explanation although I was told by an industry-insider that the DCC is aware of the problem and it is working on a fix ( and has been for many months).

staffsuk

@[Deleted User]

Their reply:

'I apologize for the inconvenience caused and acknowledge your dissatisfaction.

I would like to inform you that this is a temporary connectivity issue and this happens with all smart meter. Scottish Power is aware that the smart meter is not currently connected to the server and we are awaiting the industry lead updates to allow the communication to be restored.

The issue is already highlighted to the smart team and they are working on it to fix the issue. Please be rest assured that it would get sorted at the earliest and once it gets connected to the server , we will remotely get the smart read in our system again.

Thank you for your kind cooperation and patience.'

I asked if they could request a reset via DCC - they just repeated the above. So it's not going to get sorted anytime soon I imagine. I am wondering now if this will affect my PV installation, especially with regards to exported electricity? This technology just isn't sufficiently  developed or fit for purpose it would appear.

Qyburn

I would expect the export reading to still clock up on the meter, even if it's not "smart" at the moment.

[Deleted User]

staffsuk said:

@[Deleted User]

Their reply:

'I apologize for the inconvenience caused and acknowledge your dissatisfaction.

I would like to inform you that this is a temporary connectivity issue and this happens with all smart meter. Scottish Power is aware that the smart meter is not currently connected to the server and we are awaiting the industry lead updates to allow the communication to be restored.

The issue is already highlighted to the smart team and they are working on it to fix the issue. Please be rest assured that it would get sorted at the earliest and once it gets connected to the server , we will remotely get the smart read in our system again.

Thank you for your kind cooperation and patience.'

I asked if they could request a reset via DCC - they just repeated the above. So it's not going to get sorted anytime soon I imagine. I am wondering now if this will affect my PV installation, especially with regards to exported electricity? This technology just isn't sufficiently  developed or fit for purpose it would appear.

FWiW, and I have no evidence whatsoever to back this up save for the fact that my comms hub went silent in January and I was told that it was NOT firmware update related, I believe that we are beginning to see third-party malicious attacks against our smart meter comms hubs. Normal service was restored by a 15 minute main fuse pull.

staffsuk

I've been on to Scottish Power again today, and they have confirmed the hub is not communicating. They are stating a waiting period of 91 days before they even look at it 
I also sent an email to DCC, They replied, and they are refusing to look into it on my behalf, being I'm a member of the public, and they don't deal with members of the public. They also cited GDPR.
What a joke!

[Deleted User]

staffsuk said:

I've been on to Scottish Power again today, and they have confirmed the hub is not communicating. They are stating a waiting period of 91 days before they even look at it 
I also sent an email to DCC, They replied, and they are refusing to look into it on my behalf, being I'm a member of the public, and they don't deal with members of the public. They also cited GDPR.
What a joke!

SP is waiting for the quarterly hub firmware update which it hopes will fix the problem.