What is the point of the smart meter monitor?

[Mister Banks]

Not that I am aware???

For many years I have had the IHD. In October, I heard about, and requested a mini. This week I was advised by email, that the mini is about to be delivered. I already have access to the instantaneous consumption data, via the IHD, but it's not very useful on that.

The mini I have is a small square device in bright pink, it connects to the Octopus app and gives real time consumption data for electric but not gas.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The mini I have is a small square device in bright pink, it connects to the Octopus app and gives real time consumption data for electric but not gas.

Yes, that is the device I am expecting.

Inexplicably, to me - my IHD updates the gas consumption value, every few minutes. Yes I know it's only supposed to be 30 minute updates, I can only report what I see with my own eyes.

 

[ericmark]

The IHD does do one thing the other monitors can't do, it can show how many pounds worth of electric used instead of kWh, although I know total kWh used in a day, what is used before and after 8 am is hard to work out with other recorders. And at 8 am the rate changes.

So it seems the split tariff is saving me around 50p per day, and is allowing me to take less care as to when items are used. Had the app in phone been updated more often that would have worked better, still nothing past 26th Feb.

But at midnight the IHD resets to zero, and until midnight nothing to compare how much used, so the reading around 11:30 pm is about best I can do. The phone app I can go back a few days to compare, once it updates.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Put Smart in the name of any device and the not so smart will fall for it.

Stupid is, as stupid does. No need for smart if you cannot understand the reasons for smart metering.

 

[ericmark]

I must agree with @impartial viewer to me smart is when it coronates information to automatic do some function, so AMR (automatic meter reading) has been with us for years, AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) is however claimed to do more. usually involve real-time or near real-time sensors, power outage notification, and power quality monitoring.

It would be nice if we had a more integrated system, but to be frank we are today talking about daily use of around £3, and to have a washing machine, tumble drier, or dish washer which can auto turn on when we have an excess of power I think is not with us yet, I have to manually judge when to turn it on.

The immersion heater yes that does auto select when to turn on, but the iboost+ costs around £300 which is a far hunk of the price of a washing machine, and what we really want is a return to the hot fill washing machine.

It seems crazy that demise of the hot fill was in the main due to the way the energy ratings were worked out, and the hot fill fell foul of the way the energy ratings work. Yes you can still get hot fill, at a very inflated price.

But what I was looking at was the in home display (IHD) which comes with the smart meter. So I have changed tariff, and what I want to know, is have I done the right thing by changing? Now my solar panel software can tell me what I am using in kWh, today at 8 am I have used 3.4 kWh and imported 6.7 kWh if I get up early enough and read the IHD I have used £1.38 or 6.32 kWh I will assume it is the solar software which is slightly out 6.7 to 6.32 kWh anyway in my favour. If I do get up, then I can read the IHD but latter in the day there is no real way for me to look back on what was used at the cut off point at 8 am.

The app should help but this is the latest reading with the app. 26th Feb 2024 is before I changed tariff, and before the solar software was set to charge battery over night. 7.25 - 6.32 = 0.93 kWh at the higher rate of 31.31p which is 29p and 6.32 at the lower rate of 8.95p so 56.5p so standing charge 59.14 + 29 + 56.5 = £1.44 a day looking back to before tariff change shows showing nearly a whole week and it would seem what did cost me £2.14 for the day will now cost me £1.44 a whole 69p was it worth all the effort? OK £252 per year sounds better. Working on the £2.14 that is average of £65.09 a month, but being charged £81.35 a month direct debit with £414.91 in credit, I thought the whole idea of smart meter was more accurate bills? Yes idea is to select a figure which evens out through the year, so no large bills in the winter, however it is March, so we should be in debit this time of year not credit.

It seems unlikely what ever I do the bill will drop below £1.38 a day, yes I may get more than that back in energy exported, but separate billing for that. But I still feel I should be able to see a better display of yesterdays use, I would have expected four figures each day, off peak use, on peak use, standing charge, and total.

I can't expect this from my IHD, it can't show what I am generating, storing, and using like the solar software, but it could show same as the app does but up to date.

And the big hype about more accurate bills, clearly with £414.91 in credit and still taking £65.09 per month that is plain lies, no other way to put it, yes smart meter is saving me money, but an AMR could have done that, no really need for AMI. As to the Smart meter allowing a switch to pre-payment, no it could not, as the IHD has not got the touch screen required.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I must agree with @impartial viewer to me smart is when it coronates information to automatic do some function, so AMR (automatic meter reading) has been with us for years, AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) is however claimed to do more. usually involve real-time or near real-time sensors, power outage notification, and power quality monitoring.

It would be nice if we had a more integrated system, but to be frank we are today talking about daily use of around £3, and to have a washing machine, tumble drier, or dish washer which can auto turn on when we have an excess of power I think is not with us yet, I have to manually judge when to turn it on.

I do agree, it could have been so much more, better implemented, but we are, where we are.

If I do get up, then I can read the IHD but latter in the day there is no real way for me to look back on what was used at the cut off point at 8 am.

You can download the lot, from the server, the following day, and feed it into a spreadsheet, via an API.

My mini is due for delivery this morning, which gives me direct access to live data, I'm sure there will be some way to collect that live data.

And the big hype about more accurate bills, clearly with £414.91 in credit and still taking £65.09 per month that is plain lies, no other way to put it, yes smart meter is saving me money, but an AMR could have done that, no really need for AMI. As to the Smart meter allowing a switch to pre-payment, no it could not, as the IHD has not got the touch screen required.

What is to prevent you from requesting a refund? What is preventing you from adjusting your monthly payment? My credit built up to almost £400, I simply went on line, clicked a few buttons, to adjust both.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

It would be nice if we had a more integrated system,

This probably isn't going to happen meaningfully until some standard is mandated by the EU or some equivalent body. I wouldn't want to spend money on smart appliances that, for example, rely on some Google service that they lose interest in after 3 years.

 

[ericmark]

I did look at the instructions for the IHD, and it seems there is a version which does connect to wifi and will allow down loading of info, but not mine.

I am sure once it has been running for some time with a smart meter, split tariff, and solar they will allow the bill to be adjusted. But the whole idea of a smart meter is no more estimated bills, but to even out bill summer and winter clearly one has to estimate what power will be used, the weeks usage shows how Saturday has been missed, what happened I don't know.

 

[ericmark]

This probably isn't going to happen meaningfully until some standard is mandated by the EU or some equivalent body. I wouldn't want to spend money on smart appliances that, for example, rely on some Google service that they lose interest in after 3 years.

That is very true, seen how my Nest thermostat works, however with a daily bill of £2 and unlikely to drop below £1.38 is doing anything to save electric really worth it?

It is easy enough to use a socket adaptor and switch on a device remotely when power is cheap, but the power hungry items are, the cooker, kettle, microwave, and shower, and these are manually switched anyway, the freezers and would not want to chance turning them off, and the dish washer, tumble drier, and washing machine, and on removing supply they default to off.

So really down to last three items, and they already have a start delay, so one can look at weather forecast.

The odd fog patch possible in the morning otherwise largely dry though staying fairly cloudy. Lighter winds than of late and temperatures around average for the time of year. Maximum temperature 11 °C.

how does that help knowing what the solar panel output is likely to be?

I am charging batteries at 57 watt, the state of charge (SOC) has gone down, (68%) I want to use excess power only, the iboost+ will do that to an extent, but any thing else is manual, so OK for me, retired I can switch items on when the sun shines, but most people need to make a guess at what the weather is going to be like. I want to see as much as possible in the battery at dusk, and the weather forecast does not really help.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

how does that help knowing what the solar panel output is likely to be?

You need a more specific tool. The Energy Dashboard in Home Assistant, for example, will use weather forecast data to predict solar generation. It's not doing very well for me today! And you can't see what was predicted when looking at previous days, so not sure how useful it really is.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

but to even out bill summer and winter clearly one has to estimate what power will be used, the weeks usage shows how Saturday has been missed, what happened I don't know.

It's simple - you take a full years consumption of gas, likewise of electric, add the costs together, plus the SC then divide by 12. That determines how much you need to pay, but even so, the cost vary dramatically because of tariff changes, and consumption changes, plus the weather variations.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So it seems the split tariff is saving me around 50p per day, and is allowing me to take less care as to when items are used. Had the app in phone been updated more often that would have worked better, still nothing past 26th Feb.

Tracker is saving me close to 50%, all day long. The octo mini arrived this morning, so I'm busy seeing what that can do. Certainly better than the IHD.