Wildly different grid energy data - GivEnergy vs Octopus Smart Meter data

Hi,
I had a new GivEnergy AIO install some months back... very happy with it. All works well and the data I see on GivEnergy portal matches my intuition in terms of home consumption, solar, battery charging etc.
However, recently decided to actually look at the Octopus smart meter data... I moved to Octopus Go and have been charging my AIO battery overnight in the offpeak period. On inspection, the Octopus data does not appear to match the GivEnergy data... they are significantly out both in terms of the consumed / exported energy and the intraday timing. Am I missing something... surely the smart meter is correct? Any ideas what is going on? I have attached an example from mid-June...

I can't wait to see what the answer to this one is!

The only possible explanation I can think of is that you are seeing data from someone else's meter on your bill.

Alasdair Do you still have the IHD for the smartmeter? Perhaps you can use that to correlate usage reported by the smartmeter - while the price info will be garbage, the energy readings should exactly match the smartmeter. That might be one way to confirm that the smartmeter is attached to the correct account. Can possibly also display mpan numbers from the meter ?

Or maybe you can read the info directly from the smartmeter, using the buttons on it to explore the configuration. Can't remember if you can get mpan numbers out of it that way.

DD Well - it's funny you should mention that as I don't have a working IHD (something I am on to Octopus about... it's a new build home and I have a Hildebrand Glow CAD and an Octopus Home Mini - neither can connect to the smart meter)... I will press some buttons on the smart meter to see if I can get some readings that way.

The bill is for meter 23L3509057. Is that the number on your meter? The serial number should be printed on the front of the meter just below a bar code.

PianSom That was the explanation in my mind... the patterns of usage every day are so far away from mine which basically loads vast majority of grid import in to the cheap period to charge my battery and EV.

Rubikcube Erm, well I think we have the problem! My meter number clearly different!!! (23L3509064 not 057)

thank you

🙂 How long have you lived there?

PianSom Moved in here March - brand new build and intiially there was no smart meter data going to the national hub. An engineer came out to "fix it"... given the serial numbers are close, presume this is one of my neighbours... just need to work out if they consume less leccy than me!!!

Call Octopus and they will get the ball rolling to sort it out. It may take a few weeks if the person getting your bill is with another supplier.

Off topic for this forum, but this is not uncommon and likely a local government error. Don't blame the builders and the energy companies this time!

The local council has to approve planning permission for new developments and then leaves the builders to build. Only after building control signs off the development does the (same) council assign street names and house numbers. Meanwhile the builders use plot numbers to track the development. The change from plot numbers to house numbers is often the cause of errors. If street names and house numbers were assigned straight after planning consent and given to the builders, lots of errors (in conveyancing, deliveries, utilities, etc.) would be avoided.

Not sure if this helps, put if you have your MPAN number (from bill) and MAC address from label on back of IHD you can download data from your SMART meter by getting an account at n3rgy.com. I have just done this as my Scottish Power bills have errors and the downloaded data is fairly close to my G.E. data so I know the bills are wrong.

Might be a good idea to make sure the meter you think is yours is really yours.

Clearly it looks likely it is the wrong usage being billed.

If the meter is on the side of the house it is most likely yours. Where confusion sometimes happens is in flats where there are several meters all in the same room.

In those such cases, the recommendation is to turn a lot of things on then check the meter to see if the red light is flashing very quickly. Then turn everything off at the circuit breaker and check that nothing happens on the meter. Although with an AIO the easier test might be to force a fast charge whilst watching the meter and then go back into eco mode which should then mean the meter won’t be moving.

TX200 Thanks - definitely mine - meter located within garage of a detached house so no ambiguity about that

Amusing tale. I wish I could have a 3kW daily consumption and be worried about the bill being wrong!
OK we don’t have gas so all the cooking is electric and the ASHP for the hot water, but 14-16kWh a day is quite typical for us even in the summer.

geoffreycoan Ha - no... we are consuming way more! I guess I had better get it fixed but very tempted to stick with this billing arrangement 🙂

Alasdair If you have the import MPAN for the meter (should have been on handover docs from builders with meter readings) then you can go here - https://homebrew.n3rgy.com/ and enter it.

It'll tell you what meter and GUID is associated with that MPAN and any problems which are obvious to them. My money is on you being given the wrong MPAN by the builders in the handover docs.

The "GUID" is the MAC address on the front of the meter & on yours starts 98-

I assume you're in Scotland (due to the comms device at the top/name) and have no mains gas? If you do actually have gas then it'll show you the details of the gas meter as well.

Edit - you can also try to work out who the "other half" of this billing mistake is by putting in addresses, but don't put too many in too quickly or they'll temp ban your IP address as you look like a bot.

Edit2 - if you/Octopus applied for an export MPAN that'll likely be associated with the wrong meter as well.

Vestas Hi - that site is really helpful - thanks... pretty sure my MPAN is accurate. It was what I was told by Scottish Gas, and same as on Solar MCS certificate etc. However, that site reports GUID on the electricity meter of 98-B1-77-FF-FF-50-56-54 which is a mismatch to the GUID per the photo above... off by a single digit so presumably a typo by somebody at some point. The communications device GUID looks completely off too.
I am in Scotland and do have gas so I will check the gas GUID when i get a moment.

Alasdair Who is the DNO for the area as they would have issued the MPAN?

If the GUID for the comms device is wrong too then the MPAN you were given isn't for your property.

This will also be why your IHD doesn't work.

Edit - your MCS cert will be wrong too, so will need re-issuing, as will any G98/G99/G100 permissions.

Vestas Thanks for all that information - pretty annoying and expecting it will take a lot of hassle to fix, but per @Rubikcube post, sounds like it is not that uncommon for this to get messed up in a new build.

Alasdair sounds like it is not that uncommon for this to get messed up in a new build.

Depends very much on the builders and who they employ to install the electricity/gas metering really. A decent site manager should NEVER be letting this sort of thing happen.

I suggest you call & email Octopus to tell them the MPAN is not for your property. Even then don't expect them to do anything about it anytime soon - their "customer service" is bloody appalling now (complaints up over 1200% in 2 years).

Look on the bright side - if it takes them until next March to sort it out then they can't back-bill you 🙂

Update case anybody is interested - Octopus are going to undertake a "trace and label" procedure on my meters to realign things. Sounds like the right action but will post back on how this goes!