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Error message on my Pipit In Home Display (IHD): "Helpdesk Help Line No Refer Retailer Guide Supplier 0000" - What does this mean?

  • 1 December 2020
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Transparent
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Thanks for posting those symptoms @73richardsd 

So I’m going to follow the same logical path I used above and suggest that this is what’s happening:

a: You have SMETS1 meters which have been remotely upgraded to run SMETS2 software by the manufacturers.

b: On Fri 4th, OVO migrated your meters to the National Smart Meter Network

c: There is a pre-existing software fault within the route between Communications Hubs and the Data Communications Company (DCC). This often causes “missing data” errors, most commonly with gas meters. As your data now runs through DCC, you’re seeing the same intermittent fault as the rest of us with SMETS2 meters.

@Tim_OVO have you yet been able to discuss this feedback with both the Billing Team and the S2 Engineers?

These faults occurring when meters are migrated are particularly helpful in narrowing down the search for the source of the errors.

 

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Thanks for the useful information @Transparent. I shall follow this topic with interest.

Tim_OVO
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@Tim_OVO have you yet been able to discuss this feedback with both the Billing Team and the S2 Engineers?

 

Yep @Transparent this IHD message has been raised directly with Secure as they:

 

“Aren’t sure why this is happening but they are looking at it as an escalated issue. We're working on a common theory that it has something to do with Enrol & Adoption but can't confirm anything yet”.

 

Keep us updated here peeps, and I’ll do the same!

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
Transparent
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@Tim_OVO wrote:

it has something to do with Enrol & Adoption

… and are you going to expand on that?

Or do you want to leave us in awe of such a technical expertise from Secure?  :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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@Tim_OVOwrote:

it has something to do with Enrol & Adoption

… and are you going to expand on that?

Or do you want to leave us in awe of such a technical expertise from Secure?  :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

 

I was intrigued what this referred to, and found this information on the DCC (Data Communications Company) website. The video is worth watching, and there’s FAQ’s too.

Enrolment and Adoption (smartdcc.co.uk)

Transparent
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That’s excellent @73richardsd so within the space of a week you’ve progressed from being an enquirer to an information provider. Have a gold star :star:   :wink:

OK. So I’ve viewed the video and understand what Enrolment means.

Then I’ve read the downloadable Factsheet and learned what they mean by Adoption.

It’s a pity they’ve changed the terminology. Up until now we’ve been trying to use the terms which we were told last year:- upgrade and migration. But the concepts are slightly different.

For the sake of clarity, let me now define the terms as follows:

 

Upgrade: the meter manufacturer changes the software Over-the-air to achieve SMETS2 functionality

Adoption: the Energy Supplier on whose proprietory network the meter(s) has been installed, gives the key to the Data Communications Company (DCC), who adopt it

Enrolment: the current Energy Supplier acquires access to the meter(s). If the customer has switched in the meantime, then this Supplier won’t be the same as the one who installed it.

Migration: the overall process which encapsulates Adoption and Enrolment. We now understand that the process may require action by a previous Supplier with which the customer may no longer have a contractual relationship.

 

I wonder how long that terminology will prevail?!

 

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That’s excellent @73richardsd so within the space of a week you’ve progressed from being an enquirer to an information provider. Have a gold star :star:   :wink:

OK. So I’ve viewed the video and understand what Enrolment means.

Then I’ve read the downloadable Factsheet and learned what they mean by Adoption.

It’s a pity they’ve changed the terminology. Up until now we’ve been trying to use the terms which we were told last year:- upgrade and migration. But the concepts are slightly different.

For the sake of clarity, let me now define the terms as follows:

 

Upgrade: the meter manufacturer changes the software Over-the-air to achieve SMETS2 functionality

Adoption: the Energy Supplier on whose proprietory network the meter(s) has been installed, gives the key to the Data Communications Company (DCC), who adopt it

Enrolment: the current Energy Supplier acquires access to the meter(s). If the customer has switched in the meantime, then this Supplier won’t be the same as the one who installed it.

Migration: the overall process which encapsulates Adoption and Enrolment. We now understand that the process may require action by a previous Supplier with which the customer may no longer have a contractual relationship.

 

I wonder how long that terminology will prevail?!

 

Gold star accepted, thanks @Transparent! 🤣

Tim_OVO
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Updated on 14/06/23 by Emmanuelle_OVO

 

Sorry for any confusion caused by this weird error message on your smart meter In-Home Display (IHD). We checked this one with the manufacturer of your Pipit IHD, who advised:

 

Our technical team has identified that this appearance of text on IHD screen can be seen only for IHDs with older firmware version than IHDAE05. An update has now been made available and any IHD within HAN signal should be updates, with this message no longer showing on the homepage. It will show in ‘messages’ section as this looks at previous messages.  

 

There’s more advice on getting the most out of your Pipit In-Home Display on this great guide.

 

Worth mentioning that your smart meter usage data is also accessible on the usage pages of your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS) , if you haven’t already got to grip with checking the usage info here - check out this tutorial.

 

Hope this clears up any confusion and you can get back to enjoying the full benefits of going smart!

 

OVO member but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!

 

Interested but not yet an OVO member? - Check out our plans!

 

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
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Update on this one, everyone, from the manufacturers of these Pipet In Home Displays:

 

Our technical team has identified that this appearance of text on IHD screen can be seen only for IHDs with older firmware version than IHDAE05. However, our team is working to fix this issue and the new feature will release in UAT environment in the end of December-2020.

 

Amending this for everyone will depend on the results of this testing, but we’re hopeful of this in January 2021. 

 

@Tim_OVO Does this update also address the problem of gas usage history not being updated on the IHD, as mentioned in various previous comments? I would suggest that is more of an issue than the rogue text messages.

F
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Update on this one, everyone, from the manufacturers of these Pipet In Home Displays:

 

Our technical team has identified that this appearance of text on IHD screen can be seen only for IHDs with older firmware version than IHDAE05. However, our team is working to fix this issue and the new feature will release in UAT environment in the end of December-2020.

 

Amending this for everyone will depend on the results of this testing, but we’re hopeful of this in January 2021. 

 

Okay cool, but what does it mean? This thread has ended up with a lot of jargon, but the very basic questions I asked were:

Does this matter?

Can I ignore it?

Just pretend I’m an absolute idiot who knows nothing at all about Pipits or UATs or IHDs.

Blastoise186
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Hi there @FlexibleHead ,

As far as I’m aware, the messages were probably just part of a system test that took place recently. You can safely ignore them and nothing will happen to your supply.

The manufacturer should be able to fix this problem within the next few weeks.

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Going back to my time in engineering (not this outfit though) all this is very plausible. It stems from a poor upgrade set of assumptions (or maybe the assumption was that there were none of the old IHD left in use) and then proper testing before deploying. Sneaking suspicion would be that it would have been cheaper to distribute new IHDs

Transparent
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So this is a classic example of an issue which us Forum members could’ve resolved several days ago.

We really must be given the tools to diagnose these errors related to software version numbers. Have a look at what I posted about this here six months ago.

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Tim_OVO
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Another update on this from the manufacturers of these Pipet In Home Displays:

 

Our technical team has identified that this appearance of text on IHD screen can be seen only for IHDs with older firmware version than IHDAE05. Secure have released this firmware update to the Pipits so customers should no longer see this text issue.

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
R
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this has not solved my problem on the pipit ihd still got messages and it is not showing a graph for gas can i have it changed please for a new one or not many thanks richard

R BARKER
Transparent
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I’m not sure you’ll want to go through the technical sequence for pairing a new/different IHD to your Communications Hub, @richard1966.  It’s not just a matter of you receiving a new unit in the post!

However, your feedback is exactly what the OVO Engineers need to read.

Either Secure haven’t yet managed to fix the bug within Firmware IHDAE05, or else there has been a problem sending it to your site.

@Tim_OVO- can you please draw the attention of the S2 Team to this post?

And they should note that this site is in Arqiva’s Territory because that might make a difference.

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R
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i hope i get a resolution to this soon i will be glad to get it sorted out many thanks Richard

R BARKER
Amy_OVO
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I’m sorry to hear the remote fix hasn’t helped with this, @richard1966 , please reach out to the team, they’ll be able to help further with this. 

We’re on Facebook, Twitter and our Help centre has online chat!You can reach our team on: 0330 303 5063. Our opening hours are 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.

OVO-Joyed to help!
Transparent
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… but let us know what happens please @richard1966 

Here on the Forum we’d obviously like to learn if this was a specific failure to get your IHD software upgraded, or whether other customers also still have the problem.

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Tim_OVO
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Yes @richard1966 can you confirm if you’re still seeing this error message, and I can pass this on directly to the S1 team

 

 

 

 

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
R
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yes I am seeing both messages for gas and electricity I hope I   can be  sorted I am disabled and have cancer I would appreciate it thank you Richard

R BARKER
Tim_OVO
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Thanks @richard1966 - I’ve passed it to one of our Smart teams (I get confused on their names), and they’ve passed it directly to Secure, the IHD manufacturer. This is really handy so thank you for flagging it here!

 

As you’ve mentioned a disability, I wanted to make sure you were aware of the options available to you by signing up to the Priority Services Register. More info and a link to the application page here.

 

Tim

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
R
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hi I think I am already registered for priority service I think I did I when I first joined thanks Richard

R BARKER
Tim_OVO
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Thanks @richard1966 *edited by mod*

 

Are you also able to confirm if this message appearing straight up when you look at the IHD or do you have to navigate through the menu a bit before it appears?

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
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@Tim_OVO Not sure if you meant your last comment for me or richard1966 that you were talking to in the last few days. However I can confirm that after the initial notification back in December, the two historical messages are only visible from the “Message” option in the main menu. However as discussed last month, the messages are not really the problem for me, it is the fact that the gas history graph stopped working at the same time, and still doesn’t show any data. So from the main menu, select “History” and the electricity usage is shown, all up to date. Switch to gas and there is no hourly data for today, daily, weekly and monthly data stops at around the time the messages came in. For example weekly data stops 30th November, and I got the messages on 4 December. I am running APP VER IHDAE05 RF-VER ihdAE03.

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