Why is my Gas meter 2 days behind with the readings.

Hi ​@Macktuna ,

Sounds like the Meter is still setting itself up due to the recent swap. Try giving it up to six weeks to see if things calm down a bit.

Other than that, it could be that OVO is waiting for something else such as Calorific Value data before committing it.

Hi Blastoise186,

Thanks for the speedy reply nothing was said when it was installed it could take some time to set itself up. 

Thanks again. 

No worries.

During the first few weeks post-install, there’s a lot of stuff that runs in the background. I won’t bore you with the details of all the industry stuff, but for the Meter itself it has to pull down firmware updates, retrieve configs, run tests and other setup related jobs and these have to take priority over other things it communicates.

Given that it only wakes up and communicates with the Comms Hub in short bursts once every ~30 minutes to prevent excessive battery drain, there’s a limit as to how much can happen with each heartbeat. This is why it tends to be slower than Electricity to get things done.

It’s possible that your gas meter updates readings periodically rather than in real time, especially if it’s a smart meter. Communication delays between the meter and the provider’s system can cause a 1-2 day lag. Contact your energy provider to confirm if there’s an issue or to get clarification.

It's also possible for gas meter readings to be delayed awaiting the results of the calorific value tests which converts cubic metres consumed to kWh. Unlike electricity, gas is not a uniform commodity. There are various sources of gas supply each with their own proportion of constituents and these get mixed in the gas distribution system in various proportions to give an ‘average’ gas which has a calorific value which can vary between limits. In order to bill the customer accurately the calorific value has to be determined and this value is added to the calculations so that you are billed as kWh supplied. That's the simple version.

The full version:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gas-meter-readings-and-bill-calculation

Peter

Thanks for all your replies everyone, smart meters are a lot more complex than I thought!

Different suppliers take different amounts of time to process the data. To be honest OVO is quite quick off the mark. I'm with Octopus and there is a lot more variability with the availability of my data. My gas data is normally about half a day later than the electricity data.

I also use the Hugo App and they are a lot quicker (but less reliable) at getting the data. The early gas data (in kWh) is also only for an average calorific value.

Peter

If you wanted to go ultimate geek (apologies in advance) and you’ve got nothing else better to do, then you can read about how the National Gas Grid determine the calorific value of gas in order to do the cubic metres to kWh conversion. They use fully automatic, strategically placed Gas Chromatographs that somehow make their readings available to energy suppliers so that bills can be calculated. If with a slight delay.

Now, adding this note may seem a bit over-geek, however, when we get to the point where hydrogen and/or biomethane is injected into the grid at various points (I didn’t think of that particular point) it could be that the calorific value departs quite a lot from normal levels and the calculation will be very important.

https://sensirion.com/products/product-insights/specialist-articles/calorific-value

Hi ​@Macktuna

Thank you for the feedback which actually is the best answer because that was the cause of the delayed readings.

I'm happy to take ‘geekiest answer’ as my prize :)  I'm trying to out geek ​@Blastoise186 but I've a long way to go.

​@Peter E is correct. The UK is broken down into multiple Local Distribution Zones (LDZs). Each zone has multiple supply inlets and outlets. Gas chromatographs are used to measure the gas composition at each entry/exit point and the flow in/out of each zone is also measured. The average Calorific Value for each zone is then calculated.

This data is available from National Grid ( Find gas data | National Gas Transmission Data Portal ).  The data is subject to review and can be revised. Hence gas readings may take several days to formalise.

My personal view is that Hydrogen should not be used for domestic heating. (See 

You will NEVER outgeek me… For I have many Sekrit Weapons at my disposal… MUHAHAHAHAHA!

Really glad to hear this is sorted ​@Macktuna 😊 Please pop back if you have any further questions