Are all suppliers like this?

[Deleted User]

I have SMETS2 smart meters for electricity and gas which are reporting in to British Gas every 30 minutes

To be accurate, your meters are recording usage every 30 minutes and your supplier is recovering this data along with the midnight index readings once a day via a supplier-initiated data pull. If smart meters were transmitting every 30 minutes the O2 network would come to a complete standstill. Comms hubs are a bit like mobile phones that remain connected to a network waiting for a call.

Gerry1

[Deleted User] said:

I have SMETS2 smart meters for electricity and gas which are reporting in to British Gas every 30 minutes

To be accurate, your meters are recording usage every 30 minutes and your supplier is recovering this data along with the midnight index readings once a day via a supplier-initiated data pull. If smart meters were transmitting every 30 minutes the O2 network would come to a complete standstill. Comms hubs are a bit like mobile phones that remain connected to a network waiting for a call.

So if you've opted for monthly smart meter readings, the granularity remains 30 minutes?

[Deleted User]

Gerry1 said:

[Deleted User] said:

I have SMETS2 smart meters for electricity and gas which are reporting in to British Gas every 30 minutes

To be accurate, your meters are recording usage every 30 minutes and your supplier is recovering this data along with the midnight index readings once a day via a supplier-initiated data pull. If smart meters were transmitting every 30 minutes the O2 network would come to a complete standstill. Comms hubs are a bit like mobile phones that remain connected to a network waiting for a call.

So if you've opted for monthly smart meter readings, the granularity remains 30 minutes?

My understanding is that up until recently consumers had to ‘opt in’ for 30 min usage recording. The default position today is that all new installations have 30 minute usage as the default profile as the sector moves towards 30 minute settlements.

I get to see my 30 minute usage data everyday but a statement is raised only once a month. 

Gerry1

[Deleted User] said:

Gerry1 said:

[Deleted User] said:

I have SMETS2 smart meters for electricity and gas which are reporting in to British Gas every 30 minutes

To be accurate, your meters are recording usage every 30 minutes and your supplier is recovering this data along with the midnight index readings once a day via a supplier-initiated data pull. If smart meters were transmitting every 30 minutes the O2 network would come to a complete standstill. Comms hubs are a bit like mobile phones that remain connected to a network waiting for a call.

So if you've opted for monthly smart meter readings, the granularity remains 30 minutes?

My understanding is that up until recently consumers had to ‘opt in’ for 30 min usage recording. The default position today is that all new installations have 30 minute usage as the default profile as the sector moves towards 30 minute settlements.
I get to see my 30 minute usage data everyday but a statement is raised only once a month. 

So it's another smart meter con trick.  Weasel words to make you think they're taking and sending only one reading per month whereas they're logging your usage every 30 minutes but sending them as a monthly batch rather than in real time.

Fighter1986

So I have the Loop Energy app on my phone which polls the meters every 2-3 hours and receives 30-minute usage stats.

As for the rest, I don't care. FIT payments don't affect me, nor do any of the other technical subtleties.

All I know and care about is we charge our EVs using surplus PV energy during the day, and look forward to British Gas pulling their finger out so we can take advantage of cheap rate leccy overnight. 

matt_drummer

Gerry1 said:

. 

So it's another smart meter con trick.  Weasel words to make you think they're taking and sending only one reading per month whereas they're logging your usage every 30 minutes but sending them as a monthly batch rather than in real time.

What is the con?

They get the information once a day, the day after use.

They do not get live information.

Even if they did, so what?

QrizB

Fighter1986 said:

As for the rest, I don't care. FIT payments don't affect me, nor do any of the other technical subtleties.

Just be aware that, if the meter isn't transmitting your generation readings anywhere, you might get someone coming over every three months to read it.

Gerry1

matt_drummer said:

Gerry1 said:

. 

So it's another smart meter con trick.  Weasel words to make you think they're taking and sending only one reading per month whereas they're logging your usage every 30 minutes but sending them as a monthly batch rather than in real time.

What is the con?

They get the information once a day, the day after use.

They do not get live information.

Even if they did, so what?

If that's how it works then it's deliberately misleading.  By giving an apparent choice they are inviting people to believe that only one reading per month is transmitted so it's just automating what the customer would do.  However, it seems that 1488 readings are being collected.

matt_drummer

Gerry1 said:

If that's how it works then it's deliberately misleading.  By giving an apparent choice they are inviting people to believe that only one reading per month is transmitted so it's just automating what the customer would do.  However, it seems that 1488 readings are being collected.

If they are going to bill on half hourly readings then that is what they need, details of consumption every 30 minutes.

There is a choice, certainly with Octopus, you can choose what period they get readings for.

If you want it to be monthly, then you can just change to that setting.

If a customer wants a tariff that is based on 30 minute readings, then I can't see the problem.

Why does it matter that they know the energy consumption for each 30 minute period?

Nobody is being deceived or mislead, the information is all there if you choose to read it.



I don't understand why you think they would want to deliberately mislead anybody.

What have they got to gain?

To the best of my knowledge, 30 minute readings give customers the best tariffs available.

I certainly benefit from this as my annual electricity bill is negative, over the course of a year they pay me more than I pay them.

So far I have suffered no harm from this arrangement.

Octopus do not know whether i am home or not, they don't know when I am using electricity and how much and they certainly have no idea what I am doing with all the electricity I consume.


Not everything in this world is out to cheat us.

dealyboy

Sorry ... I'm completely confused by this latest round.

I think I'm agreeing but I'm not sure. Suppliers want 30 minute clock granularity readings in order to apply flexible dynamic pricing rates accurately for differing 30 minute intervals. They don't need to pull that data in real time if they are accounting a day or two in arrears, once a day should be sufficient and efficient. The customer needs to opt for 30 minute reads if not set by default.

For the different purpose of monthly billing only one reading a month is required.

In my case, with EDF, both 30 minute (energy hub) and monthly reads (whole of bill monthly) are taken.