Smart meter functionality

MultiFuelBurner

dunstonh said:

My IHD never worked from the off.  However, I bought a third party model that was much better (than if the EDF supplied one had worked).     It gives me current use, day-to-date, week-to-date, month-, to date and 24 hours, showing red/amber/green bars in 30-minute slices all on the same screen.    It doesn't waste the screen real estate like most of the supplier versions.

We use about 50-60kWh per day. So, having a decent IHD is important.  If we were using 6-8kWh per day, then the value of having an IHD is pretty low.

What is the difference in what an IHD shows you for 6-8kwh a day to 50-60kwh a day are you saying that you stop using things when it reaches a certain limit. The same person using 6-8kwh may think whoah got to 6kwh that's my monetary limit.

Personally I don't think IHD's are less important for what you term low users of electricity (well the normal average user at those figures 6-8kwh) than higher users?

Phones4Chris

Sterlingtimes said:

Scot_39 said:

Does it give half hourly readings via one of the apps ?

It could be a firmware issue with a particular brand of meter - they do happen.

Have you searched by your meter type to see if others having issues ?

Frustrating if went to Octopus for agile or smart EV / solar export rate tariffs though.

Yes, Bright and Octopus Mini collect half-hourly readings correctly. The "DCC thing" fails.

Octopus will only rectify if the system is "well and truly broken", not just a little bit broken.

I decided not to accept their £400 offer.

I wonder whether OFGEM knows how many smart meters in the field are fully broken or partially broken.

@SterlingTimes I suggest that if the Bright App and the Octopus Mini are collecting half-hourly readings then your meter could well be working correctly. There cannot be a "DCC thing fails" because the Bright App collects the data via DCC Other User Service Requests.
Create yourself an n3rgy Consumer account and see if you can pull all the data - that also uses the DCC. If you get all the 1/2hrly data for at least 90 days this also suggests that your meter is functioning ok. (It may take 24hrs or so from setting up the account).
Check in your Octopus account Smart meter preferences that you've given permission for them to recover 1/2hrly meter data. (AFAIK the Octopus mini is not bound by the same settings). 

EssexHebridean

cannugec5 said:

My smart meter never worked since install. As such the installer never gave us an IHD ( but that wasn’t an available option in your poll).

Octopus have invited me to select a date for a new installation as they are unable to communicate with my meter. However when I click the link there are no appointments available in my area…

I’d say that comes under the heading of neither the SM nor the IHD working. 

dunstonh

What is the difference in what an IHD shows you for 6-8kwh a day to 50-60kwh a day are you saying that you stop using things when it reaches a certain limit. The same person using 6-8kwh may think whoah got to 6kwh that's my monetary limit.

It was purely the cost of the third party IHD.   At 6-8kWh a day, you are not using much and is it really worth paying for the IHD.     For those of us that like to log and analyse, the cost is not an issue!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

No DCC coverage so ours doesn't send readings, tried to connect the IHD at the start but it wouldn't connect, presumably due to the lack of network? but the IHD isn't something we need, just a working smart meter to take advantage of the tariffs requiring half hour readings.

I would have thought the sample size on this forum would be too small to form any meaningful data, 28 million odd UK households, even if 2800 vote in the poll that's 0.01%   

QrizB

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I would have thought the sample size on this forum would be too small to form any meaningful data, 28 million odd UK households, even if 2800 vote in the poll that's 0.01%   

The way that statistics work, that's not important.

From https://www.britishpollingcouncil.org/faqs-about-polling/

The likely accuracy of a poll depends on how many were interviewed, not on the proportion of the population sampled. Thus, a poll of 1,000 designed to represent the whole of Great Britain is no worse than a sample of 1,000 designed to represent the population of a single constituency.

MWT

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

No DCC coverage so ours doesn't send readings, tried to connect the IHD at the start but it wouldn't connect, presumably due to the lack of network? but the IHD isn't something we need, just a working smart meter to take advantage of the tariffs requiring half hour readings.

These days the tariffs that require half-hour readings also require that the data is reliably collected, so no DCC coverage means you can't use those tariffs...

Sterlingtimes

Phones4Chris said:

Create yourself an n3rgy Consumer account and see if you can pull all the data - that also uses the DCC. If you get all the 1/2hrly data for at least 90 days this also suggests that your meter is functioning ok. (It may take 24hrs or so from setting up the account).

Thank you, Chris. No Octopus, N3rgy, Loop and Hugo record no electricity data. The Octopus Mini collects local data, but this cannot be used for smart tariffs. Bright collects local data but fails via DCC: Bright deducts export from import, which does not give a meaningful result.

Gas is perfect indicating that it is not a simplistic communications issue. The meter reads granular electricity data. There must be a fault somewhere in the system: meter, DCC or meter/DCC interworking.

Sandbourne

I have been struggling with metering and billing with Octopus since about October. They have told me there is an issue with my particular type of smart meter, and it's a system problem not an energy supplier problem, apparently. I've just been told that British Gas customers are affected, as are customers using other suppliers. The result is that I've been receiving bills for approximately £1200 each month just for electricity. It's clearly incorrect as I live alone in a 2-bedroom house and my previous bills were about £35 a month. 

They are expecting the issue to be resolved "soon" - I was previously told that it would be resolved by 29th February. 

I've been phoning them every month to get it sorted out as each time they want to increase my direct debit, and I know it's not necessary. I tried e-mailing but it took them 11 days to reply. I've just had to endure a whole series of hits of the 70s while I've been on hold. Award-winning customer-service?

I think they'd argue that the smart meter itself works but that the software recording the usage is faulty. Not sure where that leaves me in terms of options in the poll. I would be interested to know how many others are having this kind of problem, though. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

QrizB said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I would have thought the sample size on this forum would be too small to form any meaningful data, 28 million odd UK households, even if 2800 vote in the poll that's 0.01%   

The way that statistics work, that's not important.

From https://www.britishpollingcouncil.org/faqs-about-polling/

The likely accuracy of a poll depends on how many were interviewed, not on the proportion of the population sampled. Thus, a poll of 1,000 designed to represent the whole of Great Britain is no worse than a sample of 1,000 designed to represent the population of a single constituency.

I appreciate that but from the same link 

More important than exactly how respondents are chosen is that they have been chosen at all – rather than having decided for themselves to answer a poll. Any poll in which the survey organisation chooses who is invited to take part is likely to be more reliable than one where anybody can take part  

So either you pick your respondents to ensure equal representation or a large number of people take part to help ensure any bias in the variables is evened out