Smart meter not sending readings to Octopus

Hi ​@DJKS ,

I can try to advise, but I need to see photos of your meter first.

Thanks!

There are events which can cause this ​@DJKS but usually, the meter can be encouraged back into transmission. 
The best method is to report your missing readings via their customer support. If you’ve already tried email, then follow up via Twitter (X) and ask for a manual pull of your readings. 
Just occasionally, a meter reset is required (power cycle) but often that is not necessary.

Your meter should hold the readings for some time ready for reconnection 

Hey ​@DJKS 

Sorry to hear of the issues you’re having

We have a number of topics which may have some helpful advice:
 

• Second generation (S2) Aclara smart meter health check (SMHC) Tutorial

Thank you for the reply. To check - how are you suggesting I report my missing readings? Is there some way of pulling the data from the meter? I’ve tried using Bright App but that didn’t work (my IHD is showing usage so I know it’s not a local issue). 
 

were you suggesting I just manually record the readings (it would be quite cumbersome given the smart tariff requiring multiple readings each day)?  I wasn’t sure what you meant by asking for a “manual pull” of my readings?  Octopus have said they don’t seem to be able to connect from their end.  Thanks

Earlier this year, a number of meter/coms hub combinations stopped transmitting data possibly due to a faulty firmware update. 
Users reported this and some were told (myself included) that the meter needed to be power cycled. 
My own experience was that after initially being told this from their customer support, I continued to ask for missing data to be recovered and I believe they provided a firmware fix, possibly via DCC, the central data hub. 
I found the best contact route available was via a DM to their Twitter feed which resulted in them manually requesting a data pull which sorted the problem (normally the data requests are batch loaded and automated).

Your meter will retain a few months of data records (I think possibly 3) and so this allows for retrospective data recovery.

Some CS agents don’t appear to be trained in this aspect and so that is why it’s best to continue to ask for your data to be recovered. 
You mentioned Bright. Did you have data previously via that route and if so have you reported the missing data via them? They have been very helpful in getting to the bottom of this issue with other customers 

​@BPLightlog interesting you mention a potential faulty firmware upgrade. Mine stopped communicating mid-October, and I suggested a power-cycle, but currently awaiting the next steps from the tentacled-one. Apparently it's a bit of a strange one and has been escalated, so perhaps it is firmware related.

It took me a while to track down and get things sorted but there has been quite a few reports from users with different suppliers who had problems. 

• Third-party access to smart meter data: recent failures

I use a Hildebrand Glow IHD and so continued to get local reports but Hildebrand themselves saw a pattern with a spike in users reporting missing data. I was told that my meter needed a power cycle but after several probes to OE support, I believe that my system had an update and it’s been fine since then. 
Being an unusual issue, I suppose it’s not surprising that it took a while to diagnose and sort. 

Thanks for the reply. I’ll give the Twitter feed a try and ask about the manual pull + firmware update.  Certainly going via regular CS on phone didn’t get anywhere besides the long queue for a power cycle.  The CS rep said they tried a couple of times to re-establish the link but whatever they tried didn’t work.  

Re Bright - no I’d not used them or the App before, I just downloaded to try to see if there was any way of pulling the data locally in fear/anticipation of Octopus wiping everything on the meter and getting charged a flat rate for 2 months+ energy.  The advice from the Hildebrand team was that they thought my Communications Hub is no longer on the WAN and therefore not reporting back to the DCC (as they were not able to get a response from my meters).  This is despite the WAN light flashing every 5 secs which I’d understood was normal.  

So by way of update, I contacted the Twitter team, asking about the manual pull and whether it could have been a firmware issue (citing your and others’ examples of this resolving the issue).  Unfortunately and despite a couple of requests, they just came back to say the power cycle was the recommended solution.  It’s booked for next week so hopefully it get resolved then.

 ​@DJKS There’s a handy little utility that may be able to return a report on the state of your communication devices: n3rgy data Smart Meter check. Enter your MPAN and tick the tiny confirmation box. 

It will only work if the meter is communicating, so if you do see the report, you know that WAN communication is established. You can safely ignore warnings about security certificates, like this one:

Warning: Security Certification will expire in less than 3 months or has already expired …

It would be strange if (a) you get a positive report and (b) the WAN lamp is flashing at 5 second intervals, but no data are getting through to users (i.e. Octopus or Hildebrand). Let’s hope kicking the CH by power-cycling it will help.
 

[You never did post the photos that Blastoise asked for on day 1 - they’re always helpful when we’re trying to help diagnose meter problems.] 

​@Firedog  interestingly (or perhaps annoyingly) I'm getting a report back from n3rgy from that link and my WAN is flashing. It would be useful if ​@DJKS could confirm if theirs is the same. Still no power cuts here due to Christmas lights that would involve a power cycle for me, so the wait continues! Hope your PC works. Let us know!

​@nealmurphy Did you not notice this bit?

[You never did post the photos that Blastoise asked for on day 1 - they’re always helpful when we’re trying to help diagnose meter problems.] 

For example, 

During that painful spell, all of the affected customers had Aclara SMETS2 meters of various flavours. Aclara and DCC set to looking for the cause to make it possible to find a solution. So far as I’m aware, the origin of this problem still hasn’t been nailed down, but it seems that most affected customers have been sorted out, although what was done in those cases still remains a mystery. I know that in my own case, the CH wasn’t power-cycled, so something else must have been done. 

Just to fuel the various conspiracy theories, there were at the time suspicions about authentication, helped along by n3rgy’s architect: (16) Consumer Consent Calamity | LinkedIn  

I noticed that Blastoise requested pics of DJKS's meter but I don't think this would help narrow it down in this instance from the descriptions of what's happening, but it definitely wouldn't hurt. I guess we will have to wait and see what ideas DCC and the supplier come up with, who I believe are monitoring this thread.

OK. I’ll say it again: the problems that were reported in the thread BP referred to were confined to Aclara meters. Pictures might have led us to think that (a) other types of meter were affected by this problem, (b) one or two more Aclara meters have been shown to be affected, or (c) the problems reported here have a different cause altogether. I see from your profile (pointing at your display image and selecting About) that you do indeed have an Aclara SGM 1412 - one down, one to go!

Clear photos remove much of the ambiguity that a response like ‘I have a Landis + Gyr E470’ or ‘it’s a Single Phase Watt-hour Meter’ would otherwise give rise to.  

​@DJKS thanks for the update. That is hopefully good news for you! Would you mind confirming the make of your meter please to see if there are any other similarities?

Glad you’re sorted, at least for now 🙂
    

I think you’ll find that if 3G doesn’t cope (although 1-2 bars should be quite enough for the tiny data packets being exchanged), the SIM will try 2G, which is reaches further and is better at passing through obstacles. Get an app that tells you signal strength, force your mobile connection on to 2G and compare the dB values (smaller numbers = better signal). It was quite an eye-opener for me.
  

Thanks. My meter is a Landis +Gyr E470 Type 5394

If you need an app to test that signal stuff, try Ubiquiti WiFiman - it’s one of the only free ones that doesn’t spam you with ads because Ubiquiti customers such as myself (full disclosure there!) fund the development of it by buying their stuff.

Just by way of update, the connection appears to working normally again following the power cycle.  The explanation re the CH having lost connection due to the poor wifi signal does sound plausible.

The Octopus app has started showing usage data again, although only the missing electric readings have been restored and that was only after a request for the “manual pull”.  The gas readings for the period of downtime have not been loaded (albeit I care less about those given they aren’t linked to a smart tariff).

Thanks again for all who chimed in with help/suggestions.