One of the really cool tricks with Smart Meters is the ability to check your tariff info on the meter itself, along with the contact details for your supplier and whether you’re paying off any debts if you’re on Pay As You Go. This stuff is pretty useful info, but what if you don’t want other people being able to see it? Or maybe your meter is in a cupboard outside that you can’t get to easily and you tend to use your IHD instead, so you’d rather not be able to see it on your meter?

Well, Dr. Blastoise here has a solution for that problem! Introducing… the Privacy PIN!

This is a pretty cool feature which allows you to PIN protect certain info on your meter that might be a privacy leak, while still allowing easy access to meter readings without too much trouble. It’s a good balance between privacy and availability too. This particular guide is for SMETS2 Aclara meters only, such as the Aclara SGM1400 Series. Raichu happens to be one of them too, as it’s an Aclara SGM1411-B.

This feature may also exist on other SMETS2 meters, but I’ve only got access to Raichu, so I can’t do a guide for other brands.

So what does it do exactly?

Good question. The main purpose is of course to improve privacy, since the Privacy PIN will hide details such as the name of your supplier, your tariff details, supplier contact details and any debt repayments. With the Privacy PIN enabled, these details will only become visible when the correct PIN is entered first. However, meter readings will always remain accessible, even without the PIN. If you’re on Pay As You Go, the Privacy PIN will not interfere with topping up your meter.

There’s no additional cost to set up and use a Privacy PIN. It’s worth considering if you’d rather not allow random strangers to fiddle with your meter too much.

Why can’t I hide meter readings too?

The main meter readings have to remain accessible at all times. It’s worth remembering that on a traditional non-smart meter, the ability to hide meter readings didn’t exist anyway. The Privacy PIN is only intended to hide some of the extra stuff that shows up on a smart meter.

Meter readers and engineers also need to be able to check your meter readings without obstruction too, so not having the Privacy PIN get in the way makes their job a bit easier and allows them to get more jobs done each day. :)

Ok, I like the sound of this feature. How can I set it up?

Got about five minutes? If so, cool! This doesn’t take long. Please bear in mind that these exact steps will only work on a SMETS2 Aclara SGM1400 Series meter, such as my Aclara SGM1411-B that I call Raichu. If you’ve got a meter from another brand or you’ve got SMETS1, the steps may vary or may not work at all.

Please be advised that some suppliers may take a dislike to customers accessing the B Button Technical Menus at all and may opt to configure the meter to trigger a tamper alarm if any Technical Menu is accessed. To the best of my knowledge, OVO does permit members to carry out the steps below, but I cannot promise that all suppliers share this same view. While I did obtain permission from OVO to make this guide public before it was published, I cannot accept responsibility for any tamper alerts that are triggered as a result of following the steps below. If you are ever in doubt, please ask your supplier for help first.

1. SUPER IMPORTANT! Make sure the orange B Button is not sealed off with some kind of Anti-Tamper or Tamper-Evident Seal. If it is, I’m afraid you can’t set the Privacy PIN up. If this is the case, please ask your supplier for help first as you may otherwise trigger a tamper alarm. 
2. Press the orange B Button to wake up your meter. If you can’t seem to press it, try gently rotating the button clockwise until it stops, to release the button lock - please don’t force the button too hard as excess force will damage the meter
3. Press the orange B Button a few more times until you reach a screen that says Privacy Menu, Press A to Continue. Now press the blue A Button
4. Instructions will appear for a few seconds, followed by the Privacy Menu. Press the orange B Button to reach Set Privacy PIN, then press the blue A Button
5. You’ll be asked to set a 4 digit Privacy PIN of your choice (the default one is 0000 but it is strongly recommended that you change it!). You can use the blue A Button to scroll through the digits 0-9 and the orange B Button to advance to the next slot. When you’re done, hold the orange B Button for five seconds to save. You may be asked to re-enter the PIN to confirm.
6. Done! The Privacy PIN is now active. You can scroll through the menu to find the Exit option, select it with the blue A Button and then press the orange B Button a few times to return to your meter readings. If you later want to disable the Privacy PIN, simply repeat these steps but choose Disable Privacy PIN instead.

So now I’ve got the Privacy PIN all set up, how do I access the stuff that’s locked?

Not a problem. This can be done from the Privacy Menu as above, the only difference is that you’ll want to select the option Allow Access To User in the Privacy Menu, then enter your current Privacy PIN. Don’t forget to hold B to confirm! If you do it correctly, the message PIN Correct, Press A To Continue will appear. You now have full access as usual.

If you don’t touch anything for around 15 seconds, the meter will lock again and the message User Access Timeout, Press A To Continue will appear. This means the meter is now locked and the Privacy PIN has been re-engaged. I recommend that you press the blue A Button at this point, to help make sure your meter goes back to sleep mode properly.

Can I change the PIN later?

Sure! You can change your Privacy PIN anytime from the Privacy Menu by using the Change PIN option. It can’t be changed remotely either via your supplier or through an IHD though, so you’ll need to get to your meter to do this.

Help!!! I forgot my PIN!!! What can I do?

Oh no! That’s not good! Don’t panic, it happens to the best of us. Even I forget things sometimes. :)

The good news is that there is an emergency reset feature, but it involves getting help from your supplier. If you’re with OVO, you can reach the Support Team right here.

What you’ll need to do is ask the support team of your supplier to issue a special SMETS Command called Disable Privacy PIN to your meters. This will remove the Privacy PIN from your meters completely and turns the feature off. It will also allow you to set up a new Privacy PIN later if you wish. Your meters must have good comms to DCC for this to work however. If there’s no connection, that may prevent this feature from working.

Please note that your supplier will not know what your Privacy PIN is set to and there are no SMETS Commands that exist to enable or change the Privacy PIN, only to disable it.

There’s no charge for having your supplier use SMETS Commands to disable a Privacy PIN as it can be done remotely. But it may take up to 24 hours to go through.

I’m moving house soon, should I disable the Privacy PIN? And what if it’s already set when I move in?

Yup, that’s probably a good idea too actually! It’s not only polite to the next householder, but also makes their life easier. Don’t worry if you forget, the supplier can disable the Privacy PIN remotely later and the new householder can request that once they take on the supply. But if you’re able to disable it before you leave, it would be appreciated. :)

Likewise, if you move in and there’s a Privacy PIN set which you don’t know, feel free to chat with your supplier and they’ll zap it for you. :)

There’s no charge for this either, other than the cost of a phone call at most.

Cool! So what’s Raichu’s Privacy PIN then?

Hehehe. Nice try! But that’s a sekrit which I’m not going to reveal!

I’ve got another question! Can I ask it here?

Go for it! In actual fact, if it’s a good one, I might even add it to this guide too. :)