Why are people so disparaging about IHDs?

RG2015

I am relatively new to this board so this topic may have been discussed on many previous occasions. Apologies therefore if is this is going over old ground.

I have had a smart meter and IHD for a few years and the data has always been 100% correct. I therefore find it surprising that so many seasoned forumites here are saying that IHDs are a waste of time.

Would anyone care to enlighten me as to why this may be?

pochase

It depends, are you talking about usage data, which usally is ok, or about cost, which relies on updated unit rates and is often wrong.

RG2015

pochase said:

It depends, are you talking about usage data, which usally is ok, or about cost, which relies on updated unit rates and is often wrong.

Thanks.

I am talking about everything; usage, unit costs, daily, weekly, monthly and annual costs. Having not had any issues with any of these data, I am astonished that you are saying that the unit rates are often wrong.

On another thread today someone said that the IHD was just a toy and should be slung in the back of a drawer. Is this really sound advice on the suggestion that the rates may be wrong?

I am used to the banking boards and most advice there is backed up with some independent evidence.. 

pochase

The reason for the advise to put it into a drawer is that the unit rates are often not updated after a rate change. People are relying on the cost shown withou realising that the basic information (unit rates) might be wrong. It often takes weeks or months before the unit rates are updated.

If you use the IHD just to check your current usage or how many KWh you have used on a day it is a nice little tool, but it is nothing somebody can use reliably to find out his cost.

Another issue we see here often are users who look at the "budget" without realising that this is not for their specific sitaution, but just a generic budget the supplier has programmed.

For somebody who knows what they are doing the IHD is not bad, but those people will prefer one of the apps as te data they will get here is much better.

Sea_Shell

My IHD has always been accurate, to within a few pence.

We come off a fix next week, so will be interesting to see how quickly and accurately it updates.

Eon, btw.   I've probably jinxed it now 😉


Mind you, over the winter I manually upped the "budget" figures as is was otherwise almost permanently in the red.  Which it would be, if based on an annual average.  So I now ignore the "budget" part.

But I can see that that feature could be useful for someone on a tight budget on variable DD ( or pay on receipt of bill)

RG2015

Sea_Shell said:

My IHD has always been accurate, to within a few pence.

We come off a fix next week, so will be interesting to see how quickly and accurately it updates.

Eon, btw.   I've probably jinxed it now 😉


Mind you, over the winter I manually upped the "budget" figures as is was otherwise almost permanently in the red.  Which it would be, if based on an annual average.  So I now ignore the "budget" part.

But I can see that that feature could be useful for someone on a tight budget on variable DD ( or pay on receipt of bill)

I came off a fix with E.ON Next on 31st March and the update was within a day. This was rather welcome as my new EPG rate on 31st March was different to the new EPG rate on 1st April.

I never saw if the IHD showed the 31st March rate for one day.

Brie

I thought the problem was paranoia, of having big brother (or sister) checking when you were cooking your dinner or how often you turned off all the lights.

Chrysalis

To me the value in IHD's is the live usage data, the rest of it can be read from Octopus dashboard and their smart app.

Today I was given a new device from Octopus called the Octopus Mini which acts as a hub, and sends the data to the cloud so can be accessed via the app, the actual live data and 30 min intervals for the "current" day.

I dont think IHD's are a waste of time, but I think they should have gone down the smart app route as the default, as the mini hub is clearly cheaper to produce, can also be paired without a visiting engineer, and accessing via the phone from anywhere is better than having to stand next to a IHD that has to be near the meters.

I removed the Bright app permissions and frozen that app, as it offers nothing over what the Octopus app does, and with live data the Octopus app is actually superior.

RG2015

pochase said:

The reason for the advise to put it into a drawer is that the unit rates are often not updated after a rate change. People are relying on the cost shown withou realising that the basic information (unit rates) might be wrong. It often takes weeks or months before the unit rates are updated.

If you use the IHD just to check your current usage or how many KWh you have used on a day it is a nice little tool, but it is nothing somebody can use reliably to find out his cost.

Another issue we see here often are users who look at the "budget" without realising that this is not for their specific sitaution, but just a generic budget the supplier has programmed.

For somebody who knows what they are doing the IHD is not bad, but those people will prefer one of the apps as te data they will get here is much better.

I asked about these on another thread recently but all I got was Octopus apps. to be fair they said it should work for any supplier but I don't really have a need.

If the E.ON Next app is anything to go by I wouldn't bother. That has my unit rates from 1st April as the pre EPG rate of £0.47 per kWh. (excl VAT).

RG2015

Brie said:

I thought the problem was paranoia, of having big brother (or sister) checking when you were cooking your dinner or how often you turned off all the lights.

Ha!

My OH sees red, literally, every time she has the cooker on.

I did consider turning on the alarm as well, but that would be mean. 

powerful_Rogue

I use a variety of apps to track my usage and cost, the IHD isn't one of them. Octopus summed it up when they said:

The problem with the In Home Display (IHD) is that it's an older piece of equipment that isn't manufactured by us, and hence it's not fully compatible with our smart tariffs where the prices change throughout the day.