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Smart meter In-Home Display (IHD) has stopped showing cost of gas used but will show amount in KWH. How can I fix it?

  • 28 October 2021
  • 52 replies
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IHD was working perfectly after recent installation but the gas display has just become a series of dots on the cost option. However, the KWH’s used displays fine on day/week/month options. How can I get the cost option working again?

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Best answer by Jess_OVO 2 November 2021, 12:32

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Hey there @Keith2375 !

Please could you show us some photos of your Smart Meters and IHD? I have started to build up a possible theory but I could do with knowing what you’ve got to see if it holds true or not.

Thanks! :)

Userlevel 1

Hi

I unplugged the IHD yesterday intending to move it nearer the meter but forgot about it. The IHD battery ran down and this morning I plugged it in and it has started to work normally, again! I guess it just needed rebooting!

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Yay! It’s amazing how often that trick works.

Glad to hear it’s all fixed up. If you get stuck again, we’ll be right here. :)

I have had new meters fitted in February because my last provider said they were out of date.

after waiting for them to get my hd working then being told my hd was not compatible I told them were they can stick it!!!!

My Hd is still not working (PLEASE NOTE)

I have done all the suggestions on here an other sites but no joy

I read about the Samsung thingy but can i get a pc version?

Thanks

 

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Hi @todick ,

Probably the easiest way to get usage data from your Smart Meters on a PC would be via your supplier’s web portal, such as MyOVO. There’s also other ways that may work in some cases, but they require more technical skills. @Simon1D for example has a Python script he’s been working on that attempts to use OVO’s APIs.

There’s a Chameleon Integration with Samsung SmartThings that may work, but it’s not an official OVO offering and you’re limited to community based support. It seems there’s a possible way to use it on Windows 10 and Windows 11 as well, based on this support article I found. https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00088943/

Hope this helps. If you could show us some photos of your meters and IHD as well, we might be able to offer advice to get it working.

I'm about to return to using the python script that @Blastoise186 mentions, to update the local copy I keep of all the smart meter data ovo have of mine.

As it happens, and in connection with another little project, I learned how to do the very standard thing of bundling up a python script into a form that works with pip install.

It would be worth my putting those things together, and making a tidier version of the python script available on GitHub. In a form that people could conceivably download and use, without too much trouble.

At least if they're already comfortable looking at a python prompt on their pc screen...

Userlevel 7

Updated on 16/06/23 by Emmanuelle_OVO

 

 

I have had new meters fitted in February because my last provider said they were out of date.

after waiting for them to get my hd working then being told my hd was not compatible I told them were they can stick it!!!!

My Hd is still not working (PLEASE NOTE)

I have done all the suggestions on here an other sites but no joy

 

Sorry to hear of the issues you’ve been having accessing your smart meter usage data, @todick.

 

Just to double-check, were the new smart meters installed by OVO? If so you should’ve been offered a compatible In-Home Display (IHD) to accompany the new meters, as it sounds like your existing IHD isn’t SMETS 2 compatible. If you haven’t already, it would be worth reaching out to our Support Team to request a new compatible device - the easiest way to get in touch is via our webchat which you can access here.

 

As our community volunteer, @Blastoise186 has already mentioned another way to check this usage data, providing the meters are in communication with us, would be via the ‘usage’ pages of your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS) - There’s more info on this great guide:

 

 

Worth mentioning here that other smart meter usage data apps (such as SmartThings) are unsupported by OVO. This doesn’t prevent you downloading and accessing your usage data here yourself, however you should be aware that you’re entering into an agreement with a third party app to grant them access to your usage data. As such we’re not able to help with any technical issues you experience when using these type of third-party apps.

Anyone one else having trouble with smart meter IHD6 reading failure. Gas reading shows ---- on cost setting only. Talked to OVO they stated leave for 24 hrs switched off, then switch on, while we fix problem. True enough problem fixed. 1 day layer problem back.

Userlevel 7

Hi @RLG and Welcome to the OVO online community,

 

Sounds like you’re having a similar issue to the one  @Keith2375 experienced recently - In this case a simple re-boot of the device (switching off and on again) managed to fix things - although it sounds like you may have already tried this approach. In which case it could be that there’s a deeper issue (perhaps with the communication of your smart meters themselves) which is behind this. Have you logged in to your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS) to check whether the usage data here is also affected?

 

If so it might be worth reaching out to our Support Team again - They may advise you carry our a smart meter health check to help diagnose the issue. Check out our guide to these checks for your meter type below:

SMETS1 Secure Smart Meter Health Check

SMETS2 Smart Meter Health Check

 

Hope this helps get to the bottom of things - do pop back with an update or if you need any more advice. We’re always happy to help here where we can! :slight_smile:

I did do a power off and 3hrs later a power on. Normality restored. I can't say its a communication problem between devices. All readings were displayed correctly except for gas usage in £. History also correct for gas and electric on App for all features.

Thanks for speedy reply 

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Hello, I’ve tried some of the suggestions on this thread ref getting gas cost information, but nothing has worked so far (well, except letting the IHD battery run flat - yet to try this).

In the meantime, a few more observations regarding my account info on the IHD.

Scrolling through account info, I have “waiting for tariff”, “waiting for standing charge” - both of these are for the gas tariff. On the next screen, it says “waiting for (CIN)” against the electricity and “customer identification number (CIN) of 0000 against gas.

The one other thing which is probably relevant is that my account has only just been moved to the new system and all my tariff information in the app and on the website is now correct, whereas before the upgrade, there was no gas tariff information. So the IHD seems to be stuck in the pre-upgraded account state!

 

Userlevel 7
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Hmm… I’d say let the battery on the IHD run completely flat so it powers off, recharge it fully and then power it back up. It will take at least 60 minutes after doing this to start showing any kind of gas data at all, since gas meters only ping the Comms Hub with a heartbeat roughly every 30 minutes or so. In some cases, it may take 48 hours for this - so you’ll want to leave the IHD on charge while it’s on!

The IHD also has no awareness of what billing system is being used per se, as that’s a separate system. It won’t know anything about your account being moved over, but SMETS Commands are used to configure both it and the meters. You might want to ask the Support Team to fling the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration at both your meters, as this should force everything to catch up properly.

Userlevel 3

Hmm… I’d say let the battery on the IHD run completely flat so it powers off, recharge it fully and then power it back up. It will take at least 60 minutes after doing this to start showing any kind of gas data at all, since gas meters only ping the Comms Hub with a heartbeat roughly every 30 minutes or so. In some cases, it may take 48 hours for this - so you’ll want to leave the IHD on charge while it’s on!

The IHD also has no awareness of what billing system is being used per se, as that’s a separate system. It won’t know anything about your account being moved over, but SMETS Commands are used to configure both it and the meters. You might want to ask the Support Team to fling the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration at both your meters, as this should force everything to catch up properly.

I tried the forced reboot by letting the battery go flat and then recharging before switching the IHD back on, but still no gas tariff information and all the other symptoms ref no CIN and also the electricity meter information is “waiting for MPAN”.

I guess this means I am going to need to get the Support Team involved again as you have said

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No worries. Mondays aren’t the best day to call in about this, as the Support Team get swamped with tons of stuff that built up over the weekend. I also need a little time to play with the Kecleon Brothers and test a theory of mine. You OK to hold off making that call until tomorrow? I can make it worth your time if you’re OK with that.

I could also do with asking you to check a couple of things. On your Comms Hub above the electric meter, please tell me which lights flash/pulse and how often - this helps a lot with diagnostics. If you could also show me clear photos of your meters and the IHD, including at least one photo of all their displays lit up, that would be great. For the IHD, please take that photo about 10 minutes after the IHD has powered up in the usual place you put it in the house.

Thanks

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Ok, I’m back.

Having just had some fun with the Kecleon Brothers and with Raichu, I’m able to verify a few things. It appears that the Customer Identification Number is never passed to the IHD anyway and it doesn’t seem to be sent to the meter either. So you can probably ignore the fact that your IHD is showing no CIN for electricity and 0000 for gas. This appears to also be the case for the MPAN/MPRN as well, but the meter usually has this in memory.

The Standing Charges and Unit Rates config for the electric meter should be retrieved by your IHD within a few minutes of it connecting to the HAN (Home Area Network), often faster than that due to how frequently the electric meter is able to send heartbeats - usually every 10 seconds or so. However, the gas meter only sends heartbeats roughly every 30 minutes, so it can take at least an hour for the IHD to start showing anything for gas after it powers up and connects to the HAN. This sort of thing isn’t usually stored on the IHD itself as it gets retrieved via a sort of “real-time live streaming” mechanism, so to speak. Just like how live TV broadcasts won’t know about someone deciding to randomly jump in front of the camera until after it happens, your IHD can’t predict the data from your meters before it gets sent over.

I’ve been able to verify this using both Kecleon Green and Kecleon Purple. Having two IHD’s does sometimes come in useful for this, as it makes it easier for me to double check that it’s not just a fluke.

If everything’s working though, the IHD should pull down the correct tariff rates for both meters within an hour or two of being powered up.

Hope this helps!

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All lights except “mesh” flash green every 5 seconds on the electric meter. I’ll retake the pictures as display not clear to read

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Ah ha, that’s perfect. Thanks!

Yup, the Comms Hub sounds healthy then. That pattern is exactly what you want to be seeing.

It looks like you’ve only recently had these meters installed, and you’re currently around the six week mark when your meters are finishing up with the commissioning process. Gas meters can sometimes take a little bit longer than that to finish up, but either way yours should be pretty close to being fully commissioned and ready to go. It’s definitely clear that the Comms Hub knows that a gas meter has been paired and is communicating as well, so that’s perfect. If that wasn’t the case, your IHD wouldn’t show any gas meter stuff at all.

Have you been getting any gas usage data or readings on the IHD at all during this time - especially during the last week or so? If you have, then that’s a good sign. I think what’s probably happening, is that the gas meter might just be still waiting for the tariff config to be downloaded, which should happen eventually.

Could you also check to see that you’re getting meter readings through for both meters in MyOVO and on the OVO Energy app please? If you are, then that’s definitely a good sign that the meters are working properly. You might want to think about whether you’d like Half-Hourly, Daily or Monthly readings, but feel free to have a think about the options first. You can let the Support Team know what you’d like via Live Chat when you’re ready. I can also explain these if you’d like to know more about what each option means. :)

My diagnosis would therefore suggest that everything seems to be working as expected at this stage, with probably just a few final steps left to run in the commissioning process in the background. I’d say give it a few more days to see if the gas meter tariff starts to show up on your IHD, just in case it’s being a little slow. If you still don’t get anything by Friday, feel free to ask the Support Team to use the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration to force the meters to pick up the correct tariff rates - this will also cause your IHD to pick them up as well once it’s been completed.

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Hi @Blastoise186 yes these are only just past the 6 week installation/commissioning stage and following the upgrade of my account just the other day, I am getting readings from both meters to MyOVO, so all the important stuff is now working. I’ll give it a few more days as you say before doing anything else ref the IHD and decide then about the half hourly reads (although I think I did request these way back, and am sure I am already getting them for the electricity)

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Nice! That’s great to hear.

One of the advantages with SMETS2 meters, is the ability to freely switch between suppliers and still retain Smart features without needing a Meter Exchange. Admittedly, it can take up to six weeks for the Change of Supplier process to complete before the new supplier can start communicating with the meters, but it works pretty reliably overall and is far less disruptive than with SMETS1 meters! Eventually, all the older SMETS1 meters will be migrated to DCC in order to have that ability as well, but it’s a long process.

Then again, some of the oldest ones still in service are probably starting to get near to the end of their service life and up for re-certification anyway. So this problem would eventually resolve itself once all SMETS1 meters are removed from service. In the meantime, migrating them over to DCC at least makes them more useful. :)

If you’re already getting Half-Hourly readings for electricity, then I think gas will do the same once it starts flowing in. If that doesn’t happen, the Support Team can force it through for you.

If you ever need a hand again, feel free to stop by and say hi. We’ll help out as best we can.

Userlevel 3

My IHD showing software version. Would this be the latest version?

it’s connected to WI-FI as well as can be seen.
 

 

Userlevel 7

Thanks for posting this photo of your IHD Software Version, @croninsfc

 

I’m not the expert (although @Blastoise186 I’m sure will know more than me on this front) but if your IHD is connected to your WiFi, it should be automatically updated to the most recent software version.

 

Even without these software updates, we’d expect you to be able to view both the usage and tariff info on your device if it’s been over 6 weeks since the smart meters were installed. So if it’s still not showing your gas costs, it might be worth reaching out to our Support Team who can delve a bit further into the behind-the-scenes action of your meters. 

 

Don’t forget to pop back and let us know how you get on - We love to hear once these initial teething problems get resolved!

Problem solved . Technical department advised to switch off unit for a day. Turned unit off and on next day . All OK.  Fault returned 48 hrs later but another 24hr reboot fixed it and still  OK after 3 weeks.

Userlevel 3

Just noticed a message icon on my IHD and it said that both my meters have been initialised.

Gas cost information is now coming through! :raised_hands_tone1:

Lets hope it’s not just a temporary blip of correct functioning as some on here have experienced.

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