IHD electricity usage 1/1000th of what is should be

tnjgb

My IHD from British Gas is showing my daily electricity usage as 1/1000th of what is actually is as in it says I used typically 0.015kWh of electricity per day when it should be 15kWh. Unfortunately I am billed for the 15kWh. I have tried another IHD from Glowmarkt and it has the same issue and on discussing the issue with them it appears that my Landys & Gear electricity meter has outdated firmware (Firmware 38040106 SMETS V4.2) that requires updating. British Gas stated "Firmware version 38040202 is required to allow the PPMID to display accurate data".

I raised this with the Ombudsman and they initially told British Gas to update the meter firmware but British Gas appealed as they claimed it was technically impossible for them to update the firmware as the meter is not present in Meterflow. The Ombudsman accepted that from them and said British Gas should supply a new IHD as it is only 11 months old. That is clearly not going to fix the problem and I have no right of appeal to the Ombudsman.

If I move to another supplier will they be able to upgrade the meter firmware? Is they any other way that I can get the meter firmware updated?

Netexporter

As long as the actual meter is reading correctly, it is unlikely any supplier will do anything to make the IHD agree with the meter, as they are not obliged to do so.

However, Octopus supply a device called the Home Mini which can connect you meter directly to an app on your phone. Again, they won't guarantee it to work, as they are not obliged to by the regulations.

mmmmikey

Hi - suppliers have limited obligations when it comes to the IHDs so if the fix isn't straightforward I think you'll find yourself banging your head on the wall if you pursue this. I suspect the firmware won't be updated until it becomes necessary to ensure the metering continues to function. Having said that, of the various suppliers, Octopus tend to have the widest range of smart tarriffs and as such probably make the most demands of the smart meter's functionality. So on that basis it seems like a reasonable assumption that they would be the first supplier to want to update the firmware for their own reasons - i.e. other than just to get the IHD working. So no guarantee but a switch to Octopus might be your best option. A long shot, but worth a try maybe?

Another thing you might like to try if you've already invested in the Hildebrand Glow is accessing the data from it yourself and creating your own "IHD on steroids" using something like Home Assistant or Node Red. That way, you could easily adjust out the 1000x out bug in the firmware. But this is really only viable if you've got good IT skills and have the time and inclination to invest in setting it up.

FreeBear

Netexporter said: However, Octopus supply a device called the Home Mini which can connect you meter directly to an app on your phone. Again, they won't guarantee it to work, as they are not obliged to by the regulations.

Been sitting on one of those Home Minis for the last two weeks. I can't get the darned thing set up via the app as it can not access location. Checked the app settings, and location is enabled.. Technical support from Octopus has been minimal at best (they said it would be passed over to their smart meter team).

tnjgb

mmmmikey said:

 So no guarantee but a switch to Octopus might be your best option. A long shot, but worth a try maybe?

Another thing you might like to try if you've already invested in the Hildebrand Glow is accessing the data from it yourself and creating your own "IHD on steroids" using something like Home Assistant or Node Red. That way, you could easily adjust out the 1000x out bug in the firmware. But this is really only viable if you've got good IT skills and have the time and inclination to invest in setting it up.

Thanks, Octopus maybe the IHD answer.

I have done this with Home Assistant by editing the Glow sensor.py file and adding a multiplier of 1000 which makes is useable but the problem with that is precision in that what should be say 3.123 kWh is sent from the meter as 0.003 kWh which multiplied by 1000 becomes 3.000 kWh. Taking the difference between two full meter readings where the accuracy is precise would be a way to start but would need some advanced IT work to make it useable.

mmmmikey

tnjgb said:

mmmmikey said:

 So no guarantee but a switch to Octopus might be your best option. A long shot, but worth a try maybe?

Another thing you might like to try if you've already invested in the Hildebrand Glow is accessing the data from it yourself and creating your own "IHD on steroids" using something like Home Assistant or Node Red. That way, you could easily adjust out the 1000x out bug in the firmware. But this is really only viable if you've got good IT skills and have the time and inclination to invest in setting it up.

Thanks, Octopus maybe the IHD answer.

I have done this with Home Assistant by editing the Glow sensor.py file and adding a multiplier of 1000 which makes is useable but the problem with that is precision in that what should be say 3.123 kWh is sent from the meter as 0.003 kWh which multiplied by 1000 becomes 3.000 kWh. Taking the difference between two full meter readings where the accuracy is precise would be a way to start but would need some advanced IT work to make it useable.

Appreciate this is a workaround and not really solving the underlying issue of the firmware....

If the meter readings coming from the Glow are correct, I have code (in the form of Node Red function nodes) that I can share with you that gives (for both import and export) a running total of energy used so far today in kWh, a running total of today's cost and yesterday's totals. It also saves half hourly data showing the amount of energy imported and exported during that half hour slot. This is very much work in progress and I'm by no means an expert. It's working quite well so far though.

In my case, the MQTT broker is running on a separate computer that also runs Node Red, and I'm sending the processed data from there in to Home Assistant using the API. But you could just as well use this with the Home Assistant Node Red add on.

I'm working from the meter readings (rather than the other data from the Glow) because that's all you get for export, so it allows me to treat export and import the same way. I can also use much the same code for getting energy in / energy out from my battery system - which is this afternoon's job (I've been excused from gardening duty because it's raining :-) )

I guess it depends where you are on the Home Assistant journey. If this is just a means to an end it may be more trouble than it's worth, but if it's become a technical challenge, you're enjoying playing with the technology and you want to progress this let me know and I'll work out how to export the relevant nodes in a format I can share with you (or anyone else that may be interested).

Spoonie_Turtle

Not that this helps you in any practical way, but the reason the supplier won't do anything is that it's not them who deal with meter firmware, it's the meter manufacturers.  So the supplier genuinely can't do anything about it, it's not just them being awkward or not wanting to.  At most they can maybe pressure the manufacturer to prioritise certain issues but there's never any guarantee it'll do anything.
(Just in case you're anything like me and find understanding the reason behind issues can take some of the frustration out of it.)

Phones4Chris

Who installed the Smart Meter? Surely it was incumbent on them to supply a working up-to-date meter with a working IHD?
I also thought that OFCOM OFGEM had imposed new conditions on suppliers regarding supplying working IHDs?
So why can't BG get on to the meter manufacturer to find out what has to be done to update the firmware. I thought all this functionality was something that the DCC says the network can do?
Edit: Apologies for the typo, now corrected.

Qyburn

Netexporter said:

However, Octopus supply a device called the Home Mini which can connect you meter directly to an app on your phone. Again, they won't guarantee it to work, as they are not obliged to by the regulations.

If both the standard, and third party, IHDs receive incorrect data isn't it likely that the Mini will do th same? Or has anyone seen this issue and found the Mini is correct? It seems to me it's a meter issue, not IHD.

Spoonie_Turtle

tnjgb said:

The issue is the meter is putting out certain fields incorrectly. I have been in conversation with Hildebrand as I bought their Glow IHD and they can see exactly what the problem is, they can see my meter and its firmware version and have advised me what version of firmware is needed to correct the issue. The problem is firstly British Gas initially did not understand the issue and on my complaining to the Ombudsman they then offered a resolution to fix the issue but then failed to. The Ombudsman then found against British Gas and directed them to fix the issue but British Gas appealed on the grounds that they did not have the capability to upgrade the firmware and a new person [redacted] at the Ombudsman upheld their appeal and refused to allow me to dispute this. Maybe [redacted] at the Ombudsman wants an easy life or could possibly be incompetent. Can I take the Ombudsman to another body to review their competence?

The problem for you here is that this part is correct.
If it were an issue with their backend for billing or something, then it would be something for BG to sort out, but this meter firmware issue is nothing to do with them. 
The EO directing BG to fix something they are not capable of in the first place would be what casts doubt on their competence, not the final decision.

[Though I do appreciate the preceding difficulties getting BG to understand the issue then them promising a resolution they couldn't deliver must have been frustrating in itself - perhaps the case for poor customer service is why the EO found against them initially.]

Edit: removed staff member's name in light of following post.

BarelySentientAI

@tnjgb - Be careful directly naming individuals on a public forum where you are accusing them of (at least) unethical behaviour.