Are there any rules or regulations about cutting off power ?.

Is the cut-off done by a human or a robot ?.

If you’re on Pay Monthly, only a human is allowed to do it - and there are VERY strict rules about disconnections.

On Pay As You Go, the meter itself will disconnect you if the credit runs out - the rules on this one are much simpler. This is considered to be a Self-Disconnection on the basis you’ve not paid for any energy so it cannot be supplied. The supplier doesn’t require your permission for this one.

Great. ( ? )

*Edited by Mod* on the chat is going to phone me !.

Chat was closed before I could request a transcript !

This seems to be the root of the problem. One part of the system was PAYG, the other Credit.

My IHD was not warning me, the meter didn’t do the beepy thing. I wasn’t expecting anything like that as I thought I was on a credit plan.

Can I interrogate the meter and see what instigated the cut-off ?

EDIT - It’s an Aclara SGM-1411-B

It’s now 15:00, but no phone call.

I have snipped this quote to squash it down and avoid a giant quote pyramid.

There’s no option for that I’m afraid. Logs of that type aren’t usually customer facing and even if they were, they’d only make sense to someone with a deep understanding of the system, or at very least, the tools to parse the logs and make them more human readable. That’s something that even I do not possess unfortunately.

Oooh !. Maybe my Smart Meter is not so smart, ‘cos I found some logs !.

No hacking or stolen passwords. Just press ‘B’ until it shows the supplier (Boostpower on mine ), then press ‘A’ for the relevant log.

This screenshot is an entry from the Event log. The code 0x8154 is a notification ‘Immediate HAN Interface Command Received and Successfully Actioned’. The vast majority of the Event log is 0x8154. It looks like stuff that happens when the IHD is communicating.

There is another log, the Power Event Log. However, the latest event in there is 6th Dec. There is nothing from the 9th, when the power actually went off and on. I think this log is more about the quality of the power to the meter, not on/off to the customer. ( Although I’ve not checked the details, they may be related to the watchdog error shown later in this post. )

Yet another log is the Security Log. The latest in here is 1st Dec, but that is interesting. It shows 0x8F1E, ‘Integrity check of content or format of command failed’. This is an indication that a command from WAN, i.e, the supplier, could not be interpreted. This could be a harmless corruption, maybe due to poor signal or interference. If that was the case I would expect to see some kind of success message following it, as the supplier retries. As this code is classed as ‘critical’ I would have expected a flurry of action around this time !

On 6th Dec, two days before the power cut off, I found  something very worrying in the Event Log. A simultaneous ‘Overheating’ warning and Watchdog Error. The ‘overheat’ warning was for my Network Operator, Electricity North West, and the Watchdog warning was for OVO/BOOST.  Watchdog errors can be *very* disruptive, see later.

The codes are here : https://www.smartme.co.uk/documents/Aclara-SMETS2-Single-Phase-Electric.pdf#M13.9.95701.Appendixname.Event.Codes

Today I have spent hours on the phone, and just as long on the webchat. *edited by moderator*

This is a brief synopsis of the chat :

Stuart : I can see this is being handled by our Specialist Billing team, I’ll transfer you to them.

…. Waiting …..

Me : Are you on the Specialist Billing team ?

Agent: No, I’m Customer Service

Me : Can you explain why I got cut off at 09:00 on Saturday ?

Agent: Sorry, but I can’t see any cut-off for your gas on Saturday. Very sorry, I’ll report this to someone.

Me : It’s my ELECTRICITY, not GAS !!!.  [ I’ve never bought gas off OVO/BOOST ]

Agent: Can I phone you ?

Me : Yes

Agent: I’ll ring you in 15 minutes. Immediately closes webchat, before I get chance to request transcript.

That was around 14:20. It’s now over 8 hours later.

My suspicion is this.

Earlier this year BOOST PAYG were supposed to transfer me to OVO Pay Monthly credit, but they made a mistake *edited by moderator* somewhere.

The meter switched to Credit mode, and the IHD stopped showing ‘PAYG money’ and no more beeps about running out. 

Everything ran along smoothly, nobody spotted the error, things just kept on working.

Untill 6th Dec, when a Watchdog error occured. I know a bit about watchdogs in metrology. The number one priority is to get the hardware working again, usually by reverting the system to a known-good state. Unfortunately, the meter got it’s knickers in a twist, which led it to switch to ‘Emergency Credit Active’ mode two days later, at 08:32 Saturday 9th. 

There were no warnings because they occur before the ‘EMC Active’ state, i.e. in the ‘EMC Available’ state, but there never was an ‘EMC Available’ state to trigger the beeps.

I can’t determine from the logs why the system only ran for 30 mins, but it looks like the Active state timed-out and cut off my power.

You are quite right about no comeback regarding Self-Disconnect, but this was an erronious disconnect when the meter was in Credit Mode.

I want some answers !

Interesting …. my last post ( which is not on show yet ) is being moderated.

Have I touched a nerve ?

You set off an AutoMod system designed to detect potential rulebreaking. As a result, your comment was held back until a human moderator reviewed, edited and released it. That has now been done by the looks of things.

Alas, you didn’t listen to my advice about not digging into the logs. I gave this warning because in 99% of cases, nothing useful will come of doing so and you appear to be digging into details that simply don’t exist.

One does not become an expert simply by reading a user manual.

Also, you can’t force me to answer to you. I’m a forum volunteer, so I have the discretion to completely ignore a thread should I wish to.

I will provide you with no further assistance. You’ll have to go via OVO or solve it yourself from here.

Hey @Buzby,

I’m really sorry about the issues you’ve had,

We don’t have access to your account on the Forum, so you’ll need to contact customer support to get a definintive answer. 

It sounds to me like you ran out of credit and went off supply. The following topics may have some helpful information:

How to get in contact about my OVO Pay As You Go account

• The best way to get in touch with us is via chat here. Just click the green chat icon on the bottom right of your screen. We’re here to help anytime from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm on Saturday.
• Or call us on 0330 175 9669 during the same times.

If you’re with Boost

• Find answers or chat with Boost at boostpower.co.uk/help
• Or call them on 0330 102 7517.