Can smart meters break?

At Octopus we’re massive followers of good meters

They ship us readings routinely, so your payments are at all times correct: one much less factor in your to-do listing, and you’ll at all times know the way a lot the power you’re utilizing prices.

However the actual reality about good meters is that they unlock a key a part of the inexperienced power transition: flexibility.

The solar isn’t at all times shining, and the wind isn’t at all times blowing. So to take advantage of use of renewable power – and pay as little as attainable for it – we’d like to have the ability to adapt how we use power.

Good meters are able to logging a studying each half-hour, which allows us to construct power tariffs which are far more reactive to the supply of low-cost renewable power.

As our founder Greg stated:

Good meters sound actually advanced?

They’re! However they’re a really mature expertise, and have been utilized by prospects throughout the globe for many years. All power meters – not simply good ones – have to evolve to extremely strict authorities laws on accuracy.

Do be happy to have a learn by the complete laws in case you’re ever struggling to sleep (we joke, we all know this stuff are vital!).

Do good meters ever break?

Nothing in life is ever solely sure, however the actuality is any meter – good or in any other case – could be very unlikely to report utilization incorrectly.

(The one exception is perhaps if it’s very previous and previous its recertification date – and all power suppliers are obliged to achieve out to you and supply a brand new one if yours is previous.)

We’ve examined 1000’s of meters on the request of consumers over time, and the quantity that have been recording utilization incorrectly was a tiny, tiny fraction in comparison with the thousands and thousands of good meters we’ve put in.

However I’ve had a sensible meter put in and now it’s saying I’m utilizing extra power?

To be upfront, it’s most unlikely this is because of a fault on the meter. When meters do have faults often the display stops working, or the meter stops recording any consumption in any respect.

In case you really feel that you’re utilizing extra power after we’ve put in a sensible meter, it’s price contemplating a couple of issues:

• Is it simply because you’ve extra visibility of what you’re utilizing? Most of us don’t take note of our power payments; we simply pay the month-to-month quantity and on the finish of the yr we’ve both received some credit score left, or we owe a bit additional. Good meters could make us extra conscious of our day-to-day power consumption.
• Has something modified in your house lately? Has somebody moved again dwelling? Or are you preserving the heating on greater than typical?
• Do you’ve any excessive use home equipment, or have you ever received any new gadgets lately? Your In-Residence Show (IHD) can present you ways a lot power is being utilized by a tool; usually the very best use home equipment are tumble dryers, electrical hobs / ovens, and washing machines. Fan heaters or giant cooling models additionally use a variety of power.

Can I verify if my meter is correct?

Sure, there’s a easy verify you’ll be able to carry out which we name a creep check (no relation to Radiohead).

• Take a studying out of your meter, then flip the mains fuse off.
• Wait 5 minutes, then change the mains again on.
• If the meter studying stays the identical (no consumption was recorded) then your good meter could be very probably working as supposed.
• If the meter studying modifications one thing odd is perhaps taking place. Get in contact with us so we may help.

• Do the check if you’re not utilizing a variety of power, e.g. do not do it when your tumble dryer is operating.
• Take a studying, wait 5 minutes, then take one other studying.
• Your meter studying will change, but when it’s gone up by greater than 5kWh then one thing odd is perhaps taking place.
• Attempt to work out if there’s a specific equipment that’s utilizing a variety of electrical energy.
• If there’s nothing apparent, get in contact with us so we may help.

What kind of points can good meters have?

The most typical factor we see are connection points. Similar to a cell phone depends on a wider community, good meters use a third-party community to ship and obtain knowledge.

In case you reside in an space with restricted cellular sign, or your good meters are positioned in a sign “lifeless spot” (e.g. a basement with thick stone partitions), we are able to generally have points speaking and receiving knowledge.

It’s like your cell phone – generally it won’t ship or obtain a message, however sooner or later it’ll join once more and that message will then be delivered.

The important thing factor is that – similar to a telephone – though a meter won’t have a sign, it’ll nonetheless be functioning as regular

We perceive that it’s irritating to have to provide readings on this case, however the issue isn’t with the meter itself. If we do handle to get a sign from the meter we are able to often repair most points remotely.

What about In-Residence Shows (IHD), do they break?

That is one other quite common situation. Like meters, nearly all of issues we see listed below are communication associated, e.g. your IHD is greater than 10m away out of your electrical energy meter, or separated by a thick wall.

We’ve received a self-diagnosing software that may assist repair points together with your IHD out there right here.

We’re additionally engaged on constructing our personal model of the IHD, the Octopus Residence Mini. It takes all the primary options of an IHD and turbo fees it with some Octopus magic. Discover out extra and be part of the waitlist right here.