[Mailman]

@TWhits

I echo the comments of most (if not all) of the other comments in this thread. I am one of the fortunate ones that has a functioning IHD and it helps me with my energy monitoring.

BUT.....

my IHD has flaws but they are flaws that I can live with because I only rely on it to provide me with certain metrics. These metrics can be (and are) provided by other means from time to time when the IHD decides that 'it needs a rest' The metrics I use are:

• Actual meter reads (I only have a single register) that I check on the monthly due date that meter reads are populated by Eon Next in my account. If my IHD was not working at all, I'd probably be checking at the actual meters once a month. Much like everyone used to do in the old days (and many still do)
• Daily Usage (in kWh) I check my IHD each morning and the history option on the IHD tells me what I used the previous day. On the rare occasions that the IHD is 'down' I pull up the Bright app that tells me what I used (kWh) yesterday. The electricity/gas usage details on the Bright app do tally with the IHD but you need to go into the individual gas and electricity menus rather than the home page for accurate historical records if this is important.
• Usage Now (just for electricity kWh because gas usage only gets read and changes every 30 mins) This can be useful if you whack on an appliance and want to see the extra power draw said appliance is pulling at that moment in time. Try putting the kettle on and the power shoots up whilst the kettle is boiling. OK if the IHD is down what do you do instead? Invest in a plug that is a 'power monitor' - you should be able to pick one up for less that £10 if you are savvy. I have one and it tells me (for example) that washing and tumble drying (heat pump) a full load uses only 1.5kWh of electricity max.

Many folk rely on the IHD for budgetary purposes but you need the correct tariff information uploaded to your meter (and henceforth to the IHD) for this to be a useful tool for some. I know what my tariff is and my electronic pencil and pencil methods (i.e the spreadsheet) gives me way more useful budgetary information that the IHD gives me and I know my spreadsheet is correct. I know with an increasing degree of certainty, as the month passes, what my next statement balance is likely to show and budget accordingly. The Eon Next app fails to provide me data that is more accurate (and complete) than what I have by other means. In fact I do not see this breakdown on my Eon Next app anyway (never have) so no better than the online account in this respect for budgetary purposes.

[WizzyWigg]

Originally Posted by TWhits

@WizzyWigg - Oh dear, you have depressed me now - you have ruined Christmas!!

We used to rely on the IHD and never really noticed if it might be a bit out. It was only when it lost all the gas usage from previous day that we started to investigate and people recommended Apps so we gave them a try. We haven't got time to fiddle around with physical meters (pressing button umpteen times to get the right display - and do they deal with day / night time rates??) so the idea of having a little display (IHD) in the kitchen appealed ..... but it is no good if it is losing data so, for instance we can't see how much we used yesterday and can't rely on it being close to the real figures.

Is it too complicated for energy providers to fathom or do they just not care about their customers or the environment?

The intention was not to depress you. I apologise.

I am a customer in a situation similar to yours. I'm afraid there are many of us.

Unfortunately my "Smart Meters" only function when they feel like it so it have to rely on old fashioned principles. It's what I did before this technology was around.

I do use the apps and IHD but because of the situation, I'm in, it can only be as a guide.

Smart Metering is very complex and it will take time to iron out all the bugs.

Again I apologise. May I wish you and your family all the best for Christmas and 2024

[TWhits]

@JoeSoap
Thanks for your input. Unfortunately, our Bright App is showing zero usage for nine days recently (similar days but not exactly the same as the Eon App has no data) whereas the Loop App has plausible figures. At least Loop flags data it thinks is suspect (I think they say the meter returns some sort of error and they claim other Apps sometimes interpret that as a zero.) It seems to us that it is our meter mis-communicating at times.

[TWhits]

Originally Posted by WizzyWigg

The intention was not to depress you. I apologise.

I am a customer in a situation similar to yours. I'm afraid there are many of us.

Unfortunately my "Smart Meters" only function when they feel like it so it have to rely on old fashioned principles. It's what I did before this technology was around.

I do use the apps and IHD but because of the situation, I'm in, it can only be as a guide.

Smart Metering is very complex and it will take time to iron out all the bugs.

Again I apologise. May I wish you and your family all the best for Christmas and 2024

No problem - I appreciated that you were trying to help and that you were doing a much better job of that than EON have been. I was only joking with my comment - if we didn't laugh, we would cry :-)

Merry Christmas.

[WizzyWigg]

Originally Posted by TWhits

........if we didn't laugh, we would cry :-)

True very true. 👍 It's what keeps us going.😂
Merry Christmas 🎅.

[TWhits]

Originally Posted by Mailman

@TWhits

I echo the comments of most (if not all) of the other comments in this thread. I am one of the fortunate ones that has a functioning IHD and it helps me with my energy monitoring.

BUT.....

my IHD has flaws but they are flaws that I can live with because I only rely on it to provide me with certain metrics. These metrics can be (and are) provided by other means from time to time when the IHD decides that 'it needs a rest' The metrics I use are:

• Actual meter reads (I only have a single register) that I check on the monthly due date that meter reads are populated by Eon Next in my account. If my IHD was not working at all, I'd probably be checking at the actual meters once a month. Much like everyone used to do in the old days (and many still do)
• Daily Usage (in kWh) I check my IHD each morning and the history option on the IHD tells me what I used the previous day. On the rare occasions that the IHD is 'down' I pull up the Bright app that tells me what I used (kWh) yesterday. The electricity/gas usage details on the Bright app do tally with the IHD but you need to go into the individual gas and electricity menus rather than the home page for accurate historical records if this is important.
• Usage Now (just for electricity kWh because gas usage only gets read and changes every 30 mins) This can be useful if you whack on an appliance and want to see the extra power draw said appliance is pulling at that moment in time. Try putting the kettle on and the power shoots up whilst the kettle is boiling. OK if the IHD is down what do you do instead? Invest in a plug that is a 'power monitor' - you should be able to pick one up for less that £10 if you are savvy. I have one and it tells me (for example) that washing and tumble drying (heat pump) a full load uses only 1.5kWh of electricity max.

Many folk rely on the IHD for budgetary purposes but you need the correct tariff information uploaded to your meter (and henceforth to the IHD) for this to be a useful tool for some. I know what my tariff is and my electronic pencil and pencil methods (i.e the spreadsheet) gives me way more useful budgetary information that the IHD gives me and I know my spreadsheet is correct. I know with an increasing degree of certainty, as the month passes, what my next statement balance is likely to show and budget accordingly. The Eon Next app fails to provide me data that is more accurate (and complete) than what I have by other means. In fact I do not see this breakdown on my Eon Next app anyway (never have) so no better than the online account in this respect for budgetary purposes.

Thanks for the insights into how you operate. We did have a problem in the past with EON not being updated for our new tariff but eventually we got them to download the correct data. Yes, we have "gone into the data" on the Apps to see past days data for electricity and for gas.

We have been using our IHD as a dynamic indicator for in-day usage monitor (including checking previous day's use) and occasionally checking monthly total. We mostly rely on EON's Smart meter readings but do check those from time to time with a manual read of the meter. Like you, we enter each month's data into a spreadsheet so that we can see if anything is amiss or if we can adjust the way we use energy. If there is no reliable way of seeing the day's usage, that undermines our daily monitoring BUT we are more unhappy with the way EON have dealt with us.

Even their rushed out final "saddened" message comes across as more "for show" rather than any serious attempt to rectify the situation.

[TWhits]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

these meters are promoted to customers on the basis of advantages that in reality are extras which the supplier is under no obligation to deliver or maintain. Because you do not directly pay for the meter you have no contractual rights to fall back on and so long as the meters actually record your consumption you face a long battle to get the advertised advantages back working.

You are probably right and it is a sad state of affairs.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by TWhits

Like you, we enter each month's data into a spreadsheet so that we can see if anything is amiss or if we can adjust the way we use energy.

I do it monthly of course AND update daily usage 🍺

[TWhits]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

these meters are promoted to customers on the basis of advantages that in reality are extras which the supplier is under no obligation to deliver or maintain. Because you do not directly pay for the meter you have no contractual rights to fall back on and so long as the meters actually record your consumption you face a long battle to get the advertised advantages back working.

If contractual rights are difficult, I wonder if OFGEM might be a better bet? They did intervene for us once before when another energy supplier claimed it was impossible to fit a Smart meter for us (after messing us about a lot), the supplier was made to pay us compensation and EON then fitted us with Smart meters - which proved it wasn't impossible!

OFGEM say:If you are unhappy with your energy supplier’s service, you have the right to complain.
Problems commonly involve:

• meters
• bills
• switching energy supplier
• customer service

Let's see what EON manage achieve first, but this might be the solution.

[meldrewreborn]

@TWhits

whether it’s OFGEM or the Ombudsman it’s a hard slog. I haven’t faith in either.

I think all the ombudsman services are underfunded and overwhelmed and service to us plebs severely compromised.