UKC

Background:

My mother-in-law had a smart electricity meter fitted a few months ago. It works correctly - the supply company is getting good readings - but the associated In-Home Display (IHD) has never worked: it just displays 'awaiting data' or similar.

I have chased this issue with the supply company, and sent them diagnostic codes produced by the IHD, as well as serial numbers etc. Their first response was to suggest that we locate the IHD closer to the meter. I did that - the IHD is now about three feet (!) from the meter, and is displaying a very good signal strength icon - but it still isn't working.

I now find myself just going round in circles with the supply company, and getting nowhere.

My question:

Can anyone explain in detail what goes on 'under the bonnet' to make the IHD logically associate with meter, and what can interfere with that association working correctly? Is there a technical specification for this available somewhere on-line?

The supplier needs to send a service request to the dcc to join the ihd into the install. Some can be done remotely but it may need a visit. You can't do it yourself if it hasn't been correctly joined. 

Having recently gone had a couple of smart meter issues fixed which needed the energy company to actually do something my advice is to be extremely persistent, to put up a bad review on TrustPilot (they suddenly started paying attention at that) and to threaten to, or actually, take your complaint to the ombudsman. 

Otherwise, in my experience at least, they will string you along forever in the hoping that you will eventually just give up and leave them alone.
 

Thanks. I would still like to better understand how this all fits together.

I can understand that the domestic 'Communications Hub' (hereafter, 'hub') is under the control of the DCC, and that that hub needs to know the Zigbee/'Home Area Network' addressing details of both the IHD and (if fitted) the gas meter. But one would think that all of that could/should be arranged at the time the installation was done.

What's the normal (or expected) procedure for arranging the above? Does the person doing the physical installation merely forward the Zigbee details to the supply company, who then forward them to the DCC people?

Secondly: in which circumstances would it need a home visit to rectify any such comms problems? If the DCC can successfully communicate with the hub, then you would think that any necessary configuration (or, if necessary, rebooting) could all be done remotely.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Yes, noted. The supply company is being slow and uncommunicative. I'll get there in the end ...

All your statements make sense however in practice there are often issues. Sounds like your are interested and this free book should provide all the answers! https://www.cgi.com/uk/en-gb/smart-metering-for-dummies

My IHD seemed to be just plug and play (it did its own setup automatically when plugged into the mains that I saw).

Any prior authority or whatever the installer needed, if any, must have been during, or prior to, my smart meters installation last year.

The installer at the end of the install asked if I wanted the IHD working, or just put in a drawer! When I said I did want to use it, he plugged it in, and let it go through its setup. During that time he filled up paperwork which I was told included the old meters’ and new meters’ readings. All working with the IHD within just a few minutes.

Whilst the IHD worked there and then, he told me that it would take a couple of days minimum for the meter to connect and communicate the meter readings onwards, but could take longer in some circumstances. IIRC it was 3-4 days before my supplier got access to meter readings.

It seems from a lay person’s perspective, if the meter to network works, it will be hard to get anyone to be interested in sorting whatever problem there is with the IHD not working! It will be low priority to the network/energy supplier. Good luck.

Same with ours, I gave up and just use the Octopus App for previous data and continue my normal habit of going round the house switching everything off people have left on…..I am one step away from starting to be me grandfather and saying “you do realise we don’t own the electricity company”

Thanks for the reference - I appreciate it. I have now skim-read that book, and it seems at best like a general overview. What would be great would be to get a reference to a reasonably-technical functional spec of the UK system. But likely nothing like that exists.

Yes - that's my distinct impression.

Ah, interesting. The supply company in this case is also Octopus. Up till now, they have seemed okay - but on this specific issue they have been slow, uncommunicative, and generally unhelpful.

These things never work. Wasting your life trying to make them work is pointless, unless you enjoy it 

We have a switch by the central heating boiler. On/off. That's all.

In this case, the smart meter itself does work.

Apart from that, the entire concept of 'smart metering' seems sensible to me. But I am getting the impression - I could well be wrong - that the UK implementation has been rushed, and that some of the design work has been done on the hoof.

I am just trying to get a handle on some of the details of the technical implementation.

Actually it's all on the govt dcc website as far as I remember. Also if I remember rightly that book is part of a series of books on the subject some of which do go into technical details. It's been a few years since I worked in this area but essentially that ihd has to be paired and whitelisted with the comms hub and this is done at install time but later on could also be done remotely. It's way more complicated than you'd expect mainly for security reasons but also because different suppliers built slightly different things that needed to work with the generally agreed standard. 

Thanks. I have tried to find the kind of info I am after - but I will go looking again.

Are you phoning or emailing?

Looking at the email reply I got earlier this week from them re a specialist technical problem with EV charging, it had all the signs of being an AI reply (no personal name (all previous emails have had my name), just Hi, no questions answered, background ignored, and a generalised reply avoiding any relevant details). They used to do AI replies a few years ago but had to stop. Maybe they have restarted it - looks like it to me!

Emailing. 

Your suspicions might be right: perhaps I should try phoning ...

Think you are correct about the implementation. Martin Lewis is campaigning for the requirement on companies to install smart meters in X% of households to be changed to a requirement to install working smart meters in X% of household because of the problems.

Although, your MiL's meter is working I'd say, as the IHD is not working, the installation is not working.

Good luck.

Dave 

Thanks. If/when I make progress, I will report back. 

Plug it in right next to the meters! Defeats the point, but it usually gives results. The wifi system on the mains meter is not very powerful/effective and so the IHU needs to be close. Especially if the place is solid and well insulated!

As mentioned in my OP, I have done that - and the IHD is showing full (four bar) Zigbee signal strength.

Unfortunately not, in this case.