Smart meter problem

  • Louanne2169's Avatar
    Level 3
    We have a Trilliant smart meter in the house that we have just brought, the red light has been flashing on the HAN network since we moved in. I managed to get in touch with a woman in customer service and she said she was picking up electricity readings her end, but the meter is still quietly beeping and flashing red and there’s no Gas readings going through at all. Is it broken or is there anything I can do or anybody I should speak to regarding this does anybody know?

    We are First time home owners here, very confused!!! 😂😂
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  • 10 Replies

  • JoeSoap's Avatar
    Level 91
    @Louanne2169

    The best I can do is to tag our volunteer smart meter expert @theunknowntech who may be able to stop by and give you some advice.
    I'm an Eon Next dual fuel customer with no particular expertise but have some time on my hands that I am using to try and help out a bit.
  • retrotecchie's Avatar
    Level 92
    @Louanne2169

    As far as I am aware the Trilliant unit is just the communications hub. The Landis and Gyr jobby is the electricity meter. You should have another bit of kit, i.e. A gas meter somewhere. Any chance of a picture of that too, just for the sake of completeness.

    And could you try the Citizens Advice smart meter checker to see if your gas meter is visible on the network?

    https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/
    Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player. I DON'T work for or on behalf of EON.Next, but am willing to try and help if I can. Not on mains gas, mobile network or mains drainage. House heated almost entirely by baby dragons.
  • Louanne2169's Avatar
    Level 3
    @retrotecchie yes of course, I’ve attached picture of gas meter and also the results for both meters online…. Thanks for that link!

    Inputting gas readings is fine I don’t mind that and the electric meter seems to be connected which is good. I’m just not understanding why the HAN light is flashing red and there’s a faint beeping sound coming from the electric trilliant thing though, it’s strange

    thanks for your help with this, it’s all very confusing to me
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  • retrotecchie's Avatar
    Level 92
    @Louanne2169

    Do you have an in house display and does it give you any information?

    WAN is the communications link between your Trilliant Hub and the data network at DCC. That's how meter readings get back to EON.Next, and that bit seems to be working fine.

    HAN, or Home Area Network, is the local communications between the meters and the hub, and your IHD and the hub. A flashing red light, with the beeping indicates that the problem is local to you.

    Either the HAN itself is not right, in which case the IHD will possibly be off, unplugged or out of range and that will be obvious, or it's the communication between the gas meter and the hub.

    Your gas meter is an earlier SMETS1 unit. The problem with these is that if there was a change of supplier at any time since the meter was installed, then they cannot be automatically carried over from an old supplier to a new one. DCC are trying to 'adopt' these so-called orphan meters onto their network, at which point it could all start working again, but it is a bit of a slow process and even if completed, some old meters will still end up dumb.

    In theory, everything that can be done should be done by the end of this year...but that's just a theory

    Hopefully, it will sort itself out in due course, and all will be well, but this is not within the control of the energy suppliers, but DCC themselves, and they give the impression of being even more of a secretive mob than MI5 or the CIA!

    So, I'd check you are getting electricity info on your display, which you should have. It may be you can even see data from your gas meter on the display, but you won't have costs or tariff information, maybe just consumption.

    If you are missing IHD data, then this indicates a bigger problem with the HAN, but other than an email to customer services, there is nothing more that you as a user can do. Might be worth turning off the IHD for an hour, and then turning it back on later to see if it reconnects. That can sometimes reboot things.

    Let us know what your IHD is doing, and that might give us a few more pointers. As long as you can send gas meter readings manually, then you are not going to be any worse off than someone with a conventional meter, for now.

    One of my fellow volunteers, @theunknowntech is a bit more savvy about such things, so I've tagged him in this post. He may have some other ideas, but will need the info on what your IHD is doing.

    Please bear with us. We don't have access to any 'internal systems' at EON.Next, but we can often get to a point where we can point you to an answer and save you wasted time if you do need to make a call!
  • Louanne2169's Avatar
    Level 3
    @retrotecchie ok thank you for all that, we don’t have anything in our home other than the things in the pictures I’ve sent you, does that mean something is missing? If so, is it a problem if said something is missing Or will it not cause any issues?

    thanks again :)
  • retrotecchie's Avatar
    Level 92
    @Louanne2169

    Ah, you may not have an in house display unit then. No biggie, you just can't see at a glance indoors what is going on with the meters.

    If your electricity is phoning home ok, and you are OK with manual gas readings for now, then nothing you can really do other than wait and see if your meter gets it's mojo back via DCC.

    Was the purchase a new build? If so, might be worth a word with the developer or their agent. If it's a 'used' house, then either the previous incumbents didn't have an IHD (they are optional) or they took it with them when they moved out. But as it's 'paired' with your meters and can't be repurposed, pretty much no use to anyone.

    May be worth a call to Customer Services if you really want one, but I doubt you'll get one for free. Replacement units are chargeable.
  • Louanne2169's Avatar
    Level 3
    Ah I see! Yeah it’s a “used” house, the previous owner passed away and it had been put up for auction 2 times before we purchased it so I’m not sure if they had one or it has been lost between the sales.

    thank you for all your help :)
  • retrotecchie's Avatar
    Level 92
    @Louanne2169

    No worries. Sorry I couldn't do more. Quite possibly the family of the deceased, or a house clearance outfit, just emptied the place and the IHD (if there was one) got carried out in a cardboard box or black bin bag without a second thought.

    Might still be worth a word with customer services, but if you've never had one, you won't miss it and won't be any worse off.