[Beki]

Hey Community members! Beki here! 👋

We have seen a few posts recently relating to your In Home Displays (IHDs) not connecting so we wanted to collaborate all those smaller threads into one big thread with a wealth of knowledge inside. With help from @theunknowntech, please check out the most frequently asked questions below. If you have any other IHD questions, please keep to the thread below. 😊

I’ve switched suppliers and now my IHD isn’t working…

SMETS1 - The first generation meters were found to have a fault where many stopped working after customers switched suppliers. This is not just a problem for EON Next - it is an industry wide issue and your meter will not become 'smart' again until they have applied a patch to make the meter universal. Like the rest of the industry, we are trying to enrol SMETS1 meters into the Data Communications Company to enable customers to switch between suppliers and maintain smart functionality without customers needing a meter exchange, the timescale for which is out of our control but a vast majority have had this fix applied already. If your meter has had the fix applied, please see below.

So your immediate options are to hold out for this fix of your SMETS1, or I can register you for an upgrade to a SMETS2 in the near future. In the meantime, we will need monthly meter readings to keep your bills accurate.

SMETS2 - It can take 6 weeks (42 days) for your smart meters and IHD to transfer over and re-activate properly when you switch suppliers; even if you have switched from E.ON Energy to E.ON Next this is classed as a change of supply. In this time, it's common for devices to lose connection, as they have to be reconfigured for the new supplier. If it has been longer than 6 weeks and you still don’t have connectivity, then I would suggest getting in touch with us on Facebook/Twitter (@eonnext) with your account details so that we can investigate further.

Gas showing 'waiting for data'...

This is definitely something that will need to be looked into. It is always worth doing a reset before you contact us though as this would be our first request.

To reset your IHD please follow the instructions below.
- Unplug the device from the mains, and switch it off (there is a small on/off button on the device, press and hold this until it is off).
- Take the device near to your electricity meter, as close as possible.
- Switch the device back on (hold the on/off button down) the device should come back on and resync.

If this doesn’t fix it, then it’s best to get in touch with us (Facebook/Twitter is best) so we can investigate. We have had some information from @theunknowntech who has suggested that this could be due to a firmware update on the Chameleon IHD3 and this is something that is out of our control, however it would be good to check over your account just in case.

[theunknowntech]

Oh wow, that's a Chameleon IHD1 by the looks of things. You probably have no idea how rare those things are these days! In fact, I've never seen one before at all. I only recognised it after a lot of research on a hunch that it was similar to the Chameleon IHD3. You've clearly had that for a very long time.

I'm tempted to agree with you as to the source of the fault here. I don't believe the IHD will have just randomly unpaired itself without you knowing about it, but at the same time it is a very, very old model by now and it suggests the meters you've got are some of the earliest S1 meters out there. I'm afraid I suspect this IHD is one of the few legacy models that won't fare well anymore, especially once your meters are on DCC and capable of working across all suppliers.

Leave this with me for a bit. I think I need to dig through the archives of my home forum and probably a few other places. You might not be alone here, so I'm going to head off and try to see if anyone else is having this issue. I'm not with E.On or E.On Next myself, but I know enough about IHDs to have a good idea of what I'm looking for.

[theunknowntech]

Perfecto!

Ahh yes, I think I can diagnose this issue then. My friend Blastoise186 saw this thread earlier and this is what he told me (I'm still learning from him!).

It can take several weeks for your Smart Meters and IHD to transfer over and re-activate properly after you switch supplier. The process is hopefully going to get faster in the future, but at the moment it's still six weeks. And this is also six weeks from the date that the old supplier releases control, rather than the date your account is switched over. In the meantime, it's pretty common for devices to lose connection, as they have to be "reconfigured" for the new supplier, so to speak.

And that's what he told me. As far as I can tell, everything sounds healthy. Strictly speaking, even an "internal" transfer like E.On -> E.On Next is treated the same as any other transfer when it comes to Smart Meters and it often still requires the same six-week transfer process. If it's been a lot longer than that, then I would personally consider that something's not right and needs to be investigated. You'll definitely want to flag this up in such cases.

One of the ultimate fixes is to "Cold Reboot" the Comms Hub. However, this can only be done by DCC on request of a supplier and it's generally a last resort fix. There's other steps that can be attempted before that however. It's worth talking to customer service just in case.

[theunknowntech]

Originally Posted by Daljit

I have the same problem - it is something to do with Eonnext loading their software or config. onto the smart meter. They don't respond to the problem hoping it will go away. It is not the display unit.

This is actually not the case. I'm not the kind of person to defend E.On (I'm actually supplied by OVO) but I will not hesitate to intervene in order to dispel misinformation or speculation.

I've been seeing a lot of reports recently about the Chameleon IHD3 having trouble with getting data from meters. My friend Blastoise186 has also seen even more reports elsewhere. It's definitely not an issue specific to just one supplier, nor is it related to any config or software deployed as such. True, suppliers can run their own code to an extent... But there's limits to that capability for security reasons. Naturally, supplier specific configs are also a thing, but these are mostly related to things like encryption keys, tariff configs and a few other bits and pieces. Nothing particularly interesting or fancy, so to speak.

The best I can suggest right now would be to flag this up with customer service, so that it can be investigated. I wish I had more advice, but as me and Blastoise are just forum volunteers and don't work for any energy suppliers, we're both limited to publicly available resources. SmartMe for example, being one of the really good ones if you'd like to know how it all actually works.

[theunknowntech]

Thanks.

Yeah, that would make sense as well. I have known a lot of cases where IHDs temporarily "fail" during a supplier switch, only to suddenly revive themselves several weeks later - especially after the rest of the site stabilises and comes back online with the new supplier. I'd probably say give it another month or two and hopefully your IHD will eventually wake up properly again - especially once the gas meter is fully operational. Gas meters always seem to take longer to do just about anything than electric meters, due to the half-hourly heartbeats in a gas meter, against the 10 second heartbeats in an electric meter.

[Han_EONNext]

Originally Posted by Tiberius

@Beki_EONNext

I have been trying to get a smart meter for ages but no response. I also have both gas and electricity from Eon and have both accounts on Eon Next but every time I log in it says my accounts are not available!??
I have tried to book an appointment for a Smart Meter but keep getting sent back to the log-in page.

Please tell me what is going on?

Hey there!!
There could be many reasons as to why getting a smart meter installed is causing you problems 😮.
Perhaps the signal in the area is poor or you do not have a eligible meter type - (we can only upgrade a credit meter to a smart meter)
Perhaps you are trying to get a traditional PP meter upgrades to SPAYG - E.ON Next is working really hard to get this avaliable and we are closer than ever! But at the moment we are not able to book this in!

If those ^ do not apply to you, and you are still having trouble booking in, then please contact us to get a member of the team book you in 😊

[brisinger]

I've had enough. I was foolish enough to get a smart meter early on because I have solar panels. It's turned out to be a SMETS1. I've been very patient trying to sort it out but my patience is at an end. This has been going on for months. All Eon are telling me is that I'll just suffer and not have one.
There's a red 'X' on the IHD and it just won't sync. That suggests to me that it's a fault at the meter end of the HAN system not the IHD by the amount of research I've done. I've noticed that my bills are being taken by smart now.
Has anyone ever had this and managed to fix the issue because it's just been a fiasco with Eon digging their heels in and are unprepared to fix a problem.
To say I'm angry with this company is an understatement with number of problems I've had since they bought out NPower Select. This company is a joke and I wish I hadn't got a smart meter now.

[brisinger]

Originally Posted by theunknowntech

Oh wow, that's a Chameleon IHD1 by the looks of things. You probably have no idea how rare those things are these days! In fact, I've never seen one before at all. I only recognised it after a lot of research on a hunch that it was similar to the Chameleon IHD3. You've clearly had that for a very long time.

I'm tempted to agree with you as to the source of the fault here. I don't believe the IHD will have just randomly unpaired itself without you knowing about it, but at the same time it is a very, very old model by now and it suggests the meters you've got are some of the earliest S1 meters out there. I'm afraid I suspect this IHD is one of the few legacy models that won't fare well anymore, especially once your meters are on DCC and capable of working across all suppliers.

Leave this with me for a bit. I think I need to dig through the archives of my home forum and probably a few other places. You might not be alone here, so I'm going to head off and try to see if anyone else is having this issue. I'm not with E.On or E.On Next myself, but I know enough about IHDs to have a good idea of what I'm looking for.

It's probably got antique value now being in mint condition. Personally I think they should provide a brand new IHD it's that old. When I'd finally had enough I contacted SmartGB and they told me that as a disabled priority customer I should have an AIHD.

[brisinger]

They said they are not replacing them!!! I've been in touch with SmartGB and they say that they have to so it seems like it's yet another battle with this crooked company going round and round in circles. They've taken on the wrong person here though because I won't go away without making a fuss. They may think that they can hoodwink people but they have obligations to the consumer.

[theunknowntech]

Unfortunately, it's pretty rare for you to be offered a new IHD unless there's an unrecoverable fault on your current one that cannot be fixed any other way. If yours has completely failed and meets the criteria, then yup, you can ask for a free replacement to be sent out in the post. You may be asked to send the existing one back - a freepost returns kit would usually be provided for this purpose.

As far as I'm aware however, the only Accessible IHD I know of is the Geo Trio II Accessible, which is only compatible with S2 meters. I'm not aware of it being compatible with S1 and you probably wouldn't ever get it to work with your current meters. The only way to get that to happen would be if the meters themselves were replaced with S2 - which is only usually done in response to faults with the meter which can't be fixed otherwise.

In addition, not all suppliers have the Geo Trio II Accessible available. I don't have a list of suppliers that do, but you can ask around.