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My Landis+Gyr E470 smart meter isn't communicating following my switch - What can I do?

  • 20 August 2020
  • 51 replies
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51 replies

Userlevel 7

Hi @sonaldo I’ve just replied to your other topic about about this:

 

 

Economy 7 user with 80% annual night time usage. Meter installed by EDF in October 2019. I switched to Ovo in January 2021 on a two year fix, then when the fix ended this January I went back to EDF to achieve the lower Ec7 rates. Throughout this time the meter performed without issue.

Last month I decided to switch to Utility Warehouse, as their Ec7 rates are the lowest available for the West Mids.

In just over two weeks I’ve had many issues with them, most of which have yet to be resolved.

From the day my supply went live with UW, the IHD display has shown my unit rates as £0 and UW say they cannot connect to the meter. Many phone calls later and the situation hasn’t changed. Spoke to someone in their escalation team today and they’ve arraged for an engineer to visit to carry out a power cycle. But my question is whether this will make any difference? I use the Bright app, and whilst it still shows unit rates from EDF, it shows my actual half hourly usage almost up to the current time. At the moment it is 16:20 and it shows that between 14:30 and 15:00 I used 0.08kwh. Surely if this information is being pulled from the DCC, it proves that the meter is connected and sending readings through as it always has done; further pin pointing that the issue lies at UW’s end, and that a power cycle will make no difference?

I’d be grateful for any advice you guys can give. If the power cycle is pointless then I won’t hesitate to cancel and move back to EDF.

Many thanks.

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Hey @david59 ,

I’m Blastoise186, one of the forum volunteers here. Welcome by the way! My speciality is indeed in Smart Meters, but as I don’t work for any company in the energy industry (or anything related to it!) I’m independent.

Thanks for telling me your supplier by the way - this will ensure I don’t try any OVO specific solutions with you.

Could you show me some photos of the Meter(s), Comms Hub and IHD please? There’s a few things I can check even without access to any industry systems.

Thank you for your reply.

Here are the pictures you requested.

 

Here are two shots from the Bright app

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Thanks!

Everything looks good so far. I still don’t understand why suppliers keep giving out the Chameleon IHD3 rather than the IHD6/7 for S2 sites though…

Let’s try something real quick. Please can you run the meter(s) through https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/ and tell me the results - especially which supplier it comes back with?

Your electricity meter's working in smart mode

Supplier: Electricity Plus Supply Limited

My Chameleon 3 came with the meter install, Oct 2019

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

I see.

Electricity Plus Supply Limited = Telecom Plus PLC = Utility Warehouse. Utility Warehouse is a known Trading Name of Telecom Plus PLC.

They are connected to your meter based on the results of that check, or at very least, DCC believes they are.

I’d say the fault lies within UW own systems. You might want to go back to them and tell them that a forum volunteer on the OVO Forum has already checked the connection and it seems to be working fine. Feel free to link them to this thread too for proof of that.

If they still won’t budge, feel free to switch away to any supplier of your choosing.

Thanks for that.

Just for confirmation, the Bright app proves that my meter is sending up to date info to the DCC doesn’t it? Therefore a power cycle will achieve nothing?

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Correct. I believe that it’s working fine so I can’t see any value of power cycling it.

Userlevel 2

I have just switched to OVO and my meter isn't communicating or sending data to OVO. Has anyone else had this problem?

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Hi @Viv1966 and welcome to this customer forum. Smart meters typically take a few weeks to re-synchronise when switching supplier. It’s worth keeping track and updating readings manually in the meantime. 
Incidentally, do you happen to know if you have 1st or 2nd generation meters?

Userlevel 1

Hi @Viv1966 I have been told it can take upto 6 weeks for the meter to update to send reading I'm having to do them manual for the time being 

Userlevel 2

Hi @BPLightlog  I am not sure it has the letters SM 1 on the front of it so I am assuming it's 1st generation....am I right?

 

Userlevel 2

Hi @Csm  thanks for that at least I have an idea now...do you send weekly readings?

Userlevel 1

Hi @Viv1966 I have been sending them weekly but was told as long as they get a reading by end of billing period this would be good 

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Hi @BPLightlog  I am not sure it has the letters SM 1 on the front of it so I am assuming it's 1st generation....am I right?

 

It’s difficult for me to tell without seeing the meter but yes, I would guess it is. It’s just that all 1st generation meters are going through an upgrade process which should help with connectivity 

Userlevel 2

Hi @BPLightlog  thank you for your advice I have read up a little about meters via OVo apparently if there is a Trilliant Communications Meter by the side of the smart meter it's more likely to be an SM1

Userlevel 2

Hi @Csm  thanks for your reply have submitted one meter reading now, will submit another this week

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

If you came from British Gas, you could be waiting a while. Trilliant Comms Hubs have been causing nightmares with DCC.

Userlevel 2

Yes I did wasn't happy with them at all. Is it these Trilliant Meters that are causing the problem with communication s then?

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

The meter you’ve got is probably an S1 Landis+Gyr E470. The Trilliant device is separate and is not a meter by itself.

All I know is that those hubs are more unreliable than most. I’m afraid everything else I know is non-public info that I can’t share. But yes, the long story short version is that your Trilliant hub is the most likely culprit.

Userlevel 2

@Blastoise186 thank you so I much for this info I have been banging my head against a brick wall with British Gas.…they have been charging very high bills and no knowledge of where they are getting there figures from as I have no Smart Monitor.. The figures have been changing weekly since I have left by the hundreds. So am figuring what to do next.

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

OVO will try to get them working. If a year passes without any success, the meters will be replaced with S2 and a new IHD.

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