[DebF_EONNext]

Evening lovelies 👋,

I hope you are all recovering well after the Jubilee weekend celebrations!

We’ve been doing some brainstorming 🤯 here at E.ON Next on some of the ways we can make things better for our customers. One of the things we are looking at is smart meter analysis. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting however if we can use the data we get from the smart meters then we can work out what we need to do to make things better for you guys, our awesome customers! This could help us bring in things such as new tariffs etc.

You might have noticed us asking recently (or you’ve maybe even been asked by us already) if we can change your settlement settings so we get your readings half-hourly. This helps both us & you by letting us understand your usage better & it also allows us to gain regular reads which keeps your account up to date & as accurate as possible, however half-hourly has a lot more surrounding it & this is where your input is needed.

We would love to know what you guys already know about the half-hourly settings & the benefits of having this setting? If you don't know much that's ok, we want to hear from you too!

We are still in the very early stages of seeing what half-hourly can do for our customers so we are still a while away from launching anything new & exciting but we wanted to get your thoughts. We know our community members are amazing & we would love to get you involved to help us shape where we go with it! 🤗

[Andy65]

I opted for half hourly readings @DebF_EONNext and to be honest I was somewhat disappointed to then find that I actually couldn't access them.

I've read my meters for years, at the end of every month I'd pop into the garage, record my meter readings and then enter them into my spreadsheet. I didn't want smart meters, mainly because of the horrendous cost, but I was essentially forced into having them a few months ago.

My reasons for wanting half hourly readings are explained below:
I thought that being smart meters, my life would be a bit easier because I now wouldn't have to go into the garage at the end of every month, but I was wrong.
My read schedule has been set up for the 28th of each month, not the last day of each month which I would have thought would have been logical and something a smart meter should be able to accommodate.
So I still have to go into my garage to read them myself on the last day of each month.
However, for Gas I can take the reading from my IHD but I can't for Electricity. Because I'm on Economy 7 I obviously want both readings. The IHD for some bizarre reason will only show me the total of both, so I have to read the meter myself and deduct that from the total on the IHD. I could take both from the meter but that's not as straightforward as it should be.

As a consumer, it should be a basic function of a smart meter that I can take a reading any time without having to go to the meter. The IHD only does half the job and I have to unplug it to use it every time then plug it back in again.
The Bright app gives me usage down to 30 minutes but bizarrely doesn't show meter readings as far as I can see.

Another reason why I want to have half hourly readings is because I sometimes get fluctuations month to month and it I'm curious to know I'm doing differently, historical data would help that.

If the Bright app can show me my usage every 30 minutes I don't see what's so difficult in E.ON-Next and Bright giving me the actual meter readings every 30 minutes.

I've never liked smart meters, the cost, the suggested 'benefits' etc, but now I've got them I can honestly say that it now takes me longer to read my meters than it used to, I'm not billed on the dates I want and they (including suppliers) lack giving the consumer basic functionality. It's not really progress is it?

[Andy65]

I should have added that the ability to download usage and readings should be a basic feature.

[StePhoto]

I think first you should concentrate on getting the basic features working as expected.

I transferred my gas to you in March and I still can't see my gas data on the IHD and the DCC don't have any data either.
I can download half hourly electricity data via n3rgy.com but the gas is empty. I can can also see the same data on the bright app.

I raised the issues with 'n3gy' and they said this: BTW your gas meter is alive (just pinged it and it was last awake 28mins ago). However it might not be successfully taking to the proxy. Also the gas meter firmware is 4 versions out of date which could account for the issue also. We've had other customers with issues with eon gas setups. I suggested they remind eon of their supply licence obligations (condition 39) where they are required to install and maintain the equipment.

I've raised a formal complaint and will take it to the ombudsman if nothing is done. Heard nothing so far...

If you can't update the firmware and and fully enable the IHD's then I wouldn't work on additional features just yet.

[meldrewreborn]

@DebF_EONNext

Lets be honest here - the need for 30 minute readings is to help facilitate the eventual billing in 30 minute segments, with prices varying according to cost of supply.

Thus there might be an eventual benefit to the consumer, if by switching of appliances that use a lot of energy, at peak price times, they can save money. But we're years from that at the moment. The number of homes with smart meters is rising but still quite low considering every home was scheduled to have them in 2020. Lots of smart meters that are installed are dumb and not connected to the supplier. The DCC is struggling to get SMET1 meters reporting , and customers services seem incapable of dealing with smart meter issues in an acceptable time frame. Smart switching between suppliers isn't in yet.

The old saying is "you have to learn to walk before you can run"

Switching to 30 minute readings increases the number of messages between meters and supplier considerably and for no appreciable customer benefit. Perhaps, in the spirit of transparency, you'd like to share with us what the tangible benefits to customers could be. I note that eon next use the kraken accounting and customer management system from Octopus energy. Their customers can already do a lot with their data but Eon next don't seem to have any ambition to do likewise.

[DebF_EONNext]

Thanks for your feedback so far. There are no plans in place as of yet so any changes would be a long way off still. We're really just after an understanding of your knowledge as it's important to us to get things right for our customers. Of course mistakes can be made, things can go wrong and sometimes things just don't work but our hope is that we can use the half-hourly smart data we receive will help us understand our customers usage and how we can make changes for the better for our customers.

[deekie]

@DebF_EONNext It's a no brainer in the current climate. 30 minutes should be the longest time not the shortest. Depending what I'm doing I may want an up to date record of my spending. I had this facility with other provider before moving to Eon. But fixing the HAN and Mesh connections between my gas and electric meters is far more important at the moment. I should not be climbing a step ladder with epilepsy to provide electricity meter readings.

[Beki]

All really valid points raised here and I was wondering the same with Octopus Energy/Kraken technology too. I think there are a lot of things that go into polling that data, a lot of underlying work to still be done with the half hourly readings and the information that comes with it.
@deekie That is not an ideal situation to be in. Is it that your meters are not communicating together or that we cannot receive the data from your smart meters? Have we looked into the connectivity issues with your meters for you? If so, I wonder if I could arrange to have your meter moved so that they risk of falling from an attack is lessened? Can I ask if you are registered on the Priority Services Register?

[JoeSoap]

@DebF_EONNext

As far as I can remember, when I moved to Eon Next I could select the frequency of smart meter readings and ‘half-hourly’ was recommended. At the time I could see no advantage of half-hourly, but by the same token, no disadvantage. For that reason, again as far as I can remember, I selected it.

Having read this thread, I still see no disadvantage to me of having my meters send half-hourly readings and if the data helps suppliers improve things (hopefully for us all) in the long term, then happy days.

[Andy65]

@JoeSoap

It does have one advantage for me in that as you can see from below I can see my usage and costs every 30 minutes. The peaks in the early afternoon were when I was cutting my grass. This is where the IHD can be something of an ornament, it's okay if you're in front of it while you're using something otherwise it's not much use.
My guess is that when 30 minute charging comes in the only ones that will gain will be the energy providers and customers who have the time and effort to actively make best use of it.