[BCM454]

@geoffers Thanks, again! I feel a little bit like I am entering the ALCS conversation at chapter 3. Reference was made to a 5 terminal meter concept but I freely admit to wondering what all 5 do! Is there a beginner's guide to the function of terminals 1 to 5? Is it naive to assume 3 of them are Live, neutral and earth? What's 4 and what's 5?

DCC must be electricity supplier/setter of the tariff times but what do the letters stand for, please?

Only once in the whole 18 months I spoke to an absolute star at Eon, who understood and knew things. She was the one who found in 5 mins how I had been overcharged over 2000kWh in 2024, when I thought itworth asking her after everyone else dismissed my claim. I wish I could recall her name to get hold of her again!

On the back of all this, I emailed Kaifa (my meter manufacturer), again, to ask for a manual. I assume its trade only but if I can get one, I can see if the tariff times are displayable, and likewise for the randomised time offset and perhaps find an ALCS setting. Here's hoping!

[BCM454]

...I wondered whether a lecturer at a tech college might know this level of detail about domestic electricity meters? ...then all I need do is find one to ask...

[geoffers]

@BCM454 - no problem : I've just picked all this stuff up from following this forum.

1) A normal meter has 4 terminals -

• 2 = live and neutral in from the supply
• 2 = Live & neutral out to the consumer unit.

2) A 5 terminal meter has a 5th terminal which is the Live wire powering the Auxiliary Control circuit, and switched on via the timings in the ALCS calendar

(I have also discovered that a 4-terminal meter like mine can use an ALCS calendar, but this needs to connect to an external relay which switches the Auxiliary circuit on, rather than being contained within the meter itself)

3) DCC is the centralised Data Communication Company who are the intermediate "portal" between the energy suppliers who set the tariffs & bill us (plus other parties) and the customers (us), and who coordinate all the connections/security etc in the Smart metering system

This schematic shows the links between the various entities

[BCM454]

@geoffers Thanks again, I will. I am still in the Ombudsman queue and I want them to flag this nonsense with OFGEM, along with Eon's idiotic claim that IHDs do not work with an EV tariff. I don't buy it. I know the IHD works with 2 tariffs - I saw it with my own eyes, albeit that they had the wrong hours. Now I have changed to Time of Use tariff at 0000 to 0700, the IHD has only 1 rate set and is showing stupid daily spend figures.

Someone in Eon Ops management has not given any thought to associated tasks like setting up the IHD config when people change tariffs. I think of the film 2001, with the monkey wielding the stick! This complete absence of sensible thought and stepping through the reality steps involved makes me want to weep and makes me question whether we would have invented the wheel, if Eon had been in charge of the cavemen (other genders are available)! ...aaand relax!

[geoffers]

@BCM454 - with my Next Drive ToU billing being from midnight local time, I've been monitoring the meter's R01/R02 totals which switch based on the meter "timings" - currently 01:30-08:30(BST) and in the winter would be 00:30-07:30(GMT)

As I said before they have managed to upload both these times to my meter and they therefore carry over to display on the IHD


So if my meter went dumb and they reverted to me having to send in the readings manually (if they would actually allow this), I'd currently end up being charged at peak rate for the first 3 x ½ hourly readings from local midnight, amounting to about 3 kWh and costing 73p rather than 20p per day ... over 3.5 times higher!

However, knowing that the register time-change happens at those fixed (GMT) times it would always be possible to adjust my charging times to match the meter time settings.