Secure 100 Smart Meter Issues

  • allibhai's Avatar
    Level 1
    Long Post below - summary:
    - Original Eon Customer, moved to Symbio Energy and then SOLR-ed back to E.On Next
    - Secure 100 Smart Meter (likely already upgraded) not connecting to Eon Next
    - Ivie/Chameleon noting that a different MPAN comes up when they look up my address and that my current MPAN shows no smart metering equipment on it
    - Loop app showing 400+ days of data, stopped synchronising data 9 days ago, at the same time I contacted Eon Next about Ivie issues

    Grateful for any support
    -----
    We moved into a new build house back in 2016, where the existing Secure 100 smart meter had been installed by E.On. However, there was some issues with IHD connectivity and so E.On came and installed a new smart meter (and IHD - the non touch screen black & white display one).

    A few years later (2019), we switched over to Symbio energy who at the time didn't have the capability to collect smart meter readings, but had a price 1/3 of our Eon one - so we switched even though it meant providing manual readings. Thankfully our IHD was still connected, so we could get the meter read through that

    However as you may know Symbio went bust last year, meaning we were switched over to E.On Next as part of the SOLR process and rather unhelpfully our IHD fell down and broke (screen gone) in December. Having spoken to E.On next customer services on FB messenger, they told me that there was nothing they could do - they weren't issuing any replacements for IHDs or Meters- and so if I wanted something similar I should buy a home energy monitor off ebay

    So I did some research and found out about the loop app and ivie bud. I managed to install the loop app right away and managed to get a view of my energy usage from it without needing to buy any additional hardware. However, this wasnt live data so I still wanted an IHD and fast forward to March I managed to buy one as well (compatibility check using postcode and house number showed that my meter was compatible)

    However, that is where the problems began. When trying to go thru the activation process it threw up an issue on the MPAN verification stage. Speaking to technical support on the Ivie Side they said:

    "Running the check of the address against the national inventory of Smart Metering equipment results in a different MPAN, possibly associated with a neighbouring flat. This may be where your compatibility check will have returned a response to confirm ivie Bud as compatible.

    Running a check on the inventory against your MPAN returns that there is no compatible Smart Metering equipment associated with it.

    The problem is then that the smart metering equipment is not associated with the MPAN you have rights over. The registration of equipment with your address is not something that we can influence. It needs to be done by the equipment administrator (EOn Next).

    Could you please check with Eon Next that your MPAN has smart metering equipment that is available via the national infrastructure (DCC)? It is possible that they have an entry against your address which does not have compatible smart meters fitted as a consequence of still being solely adminstrated by your energy supplier or being too early a meter to be compatible or listed.
    "


    Having messaged E.On next via FB Messenger about this they said:
    " Unfortunately we cannot communicate with this meter and it should be regarded as a dumb non smart meter. These meters will eventually be enrolled in the DCC, but this may take up to 2025 to be actioned. There is nothing we can do to speed this up, nor can we change the meter to another smart meter. I have just received this advice which I am sorry to tell you about! "

    I pushed back on this given the loop app worked, and got the following from them:
    " I have looked at your meter on the national data base and it does show your smart meter on there.
    We unfortunately can't take readings from this meter it's not connecting to us at all anymore. "

    And strangely enough the day I got this message from them is the same day the loop app stopped synchronising with the meter (it shows 400 days of data with last succesful sync 9 days ago).

    Grateful for any help on this matter and how I can get some sort of smart functionality up and running

    Thanks
  • 33 Replies

  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    Howdy @allibhai ,

    I'm theunknowntech and I'm an experienced forum volunteer here. I'm still not as experienced as some of my friends though, so I've also called in my friend Blastoise186 from the OVO Forum to go through your post with me. We've had a good chat about it on Discord today in a veeeeery long call and we think we've nailed it. Please rest assured that both of us have also read your entire post in full at least five times each, to make sure we've picked up on everything we can.

    Blastoise happens to know Chameleon Technology (the company behind ivie Bud) pretty well and both of us have a lot of experience with Chameleon IHDs. We've never worked for them ourselves, but we've mastered the IHD3, IHD6 and IHD7/ivie Bud to the point where there's not much else for us to learn. Based on that, I'm willing to agree that he thinks the diagnostics done by Chameleon are likely to be valid. They have some pretty powerful diagnostics and capability at their disposal and Blastoise has known their teams to be extremely transparent with him - even to the point of admitting that some of their services might never work with his site. I have no reason to dispute what they've told you.

    As for E.On Next? To be honest... It seems to me that they think you're talking about the meter that is supposedly yours but actually isn't. Does the data even match up to what your IHD was showing?

    It is possible that your meter has started to migrate to DCC which would be great news for you in about six weeks time. I can't confirm or deny this however. But I still think more can be done to check on the status, so I'll flag this with @HannahD_EONNext just in case. It could also be a dodgy or flaky connection, but I can't diagnose that very easily I'm afraid.
    Just another guy passing by... The unknown tech way...
    Pete is an IHD Tariff Update Robot! 🤖 Anasa is a Giant Enemy Robot Spider 🕷 🤖 Hannah is neither! Need Customer service? click here! Replacement IHD Guide? Here it is!
  • allibhai's Avatar
    Level 1
    Thanks for reading my post @theunknowntech, discussing it and getting back to me - sorry it was so long!

    So when Chameleon are saying a) that there is a different MPAN coming up when they look up my address and b) When they look up my MPAN it comes back with no smart metering equipment against it, what do you think the issue is and how can I go ahead and resolve it? For info, there is only one house on this entire plot of land/address with only one electricity meter (though our solar panels have their own generation meter)


    So when the IHD worked, the data on it matched up with the meter perfectly well whilst it was smart and we were with Eon, when it was dumb and we were with Symbio, and whilst it was in working order and we moved over to Symbio. Obviously the key difference between when it was smart (eon era) and when it became dumb (symbio and eon next eras) is that the tarrif info was incorrect, and so the £ calculations were wrong - but the info on usage/load was always right


    Thanks
  • allibhai's Avatar
    Level 1
    @theunknowntech & @HannahD_EONNext sorry for chasing, but I just wondered whether you had a chance to review the above and had any thoughts?
  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    Hmm... Interesting...
    @PeterT_EONNext would you be happy to run some checks against this site? Chameleon are probably right but if they are, it's a seriously bad state to be in!
  • allibhai's Avatar
    Level 1
    Hi @HannahD_EONNext & @PeterT_EONNext have you had a chance to look at this thread and consider my case by any chance?

    cc @theunknowntech for info that I havent had anyone come back to me yet :(
  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    Thanks for the heads up. I'll fling a few reminders about this thread.
  • PeterT_EONNext's Avatar
    Community Team
    Hi @allibhai - I'm sorry for the late reply to you on here.

    I can't say much about your account on here as it's a public forum. What I can confirm though is that I can see you have a SMETS1 Smart Meter originally installed by E.ON Energy. This hasn't yet been re-enrolled onto the DCC again but hopefully will be soon enough, at which point, we'll then be able to communicate with the meter.

    From what I understand, you don't live in a non-standard address (ie a flat or apartment 2/4 etc) so if your address is a house on it's own, with your electricity meter located in your home/on the outside wall and not near any one else's meter, there shouldn't be any confusion over your MPAN/Meter details.

    I've taken a look over your property info for both your MPAN and Meter Serial Number and everything seems to match up, and I'm afraid this means I'm unsure what Chameleon are referring to when they've mentioned "A neighbouring flat"

    - Pete 😊
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  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    @PeterT_EONNext Chameleon don't have access to ECOES or Xoserve if memory serves, but they do have the ability to query sources like DCC and might be getting different data to yourself. You may want to check BOL in case that provides further clues...
  • PeterT_EONNext's Avatar
    Community Team
    Thanks for that @theunknowntech 😄

    Unfortunately I'm unable to access BOL but we do have a dedicated Smart back office team that can check with the DCC directly, I've referred this issue to them so they can check if the details we hold match up.
    @allibhai I've escalated the issue to our Smart back office team who will chase this up with the DCC in relation to your MPAN not pinging anything back to us when we check to see the Smart Meter information associated with your MPAN.

    The only information I have currently is that we're working on enrolling your meter with the DCC after this previously dropped off of their network, this can take some time which I'm unable to provide a time scale for currently.

    Pete 😊