Fix for non-reporting smart meters in the north of the UK.

If you’ve got a smart meter that doesn’t currently operate in smart mode due to signal issues there may be a fix. BBC Panaorama ran a program on the 11th November 2024 about the problems with northern smart meters not connecting to the data network due to poor radio signal on the comms hubs. Southern comms hubs work off mobile signal but the powers that be decided to use radio long range radio (420mhz) for the north which is roughly anywhere north of Manchester.
Anyway if you have been effected and have given up finding a solution I strongly recommend getting on BBC iplayer and watching this episode of Panorama.

I was left with a dumb meter following it’s installation and despite my provider fiddling around and swapping comms hubs It would not commission. I even tried in desperation making my own passive repeater aerial and fastened it to the chimney stack but this failed to yield results. Long story short after 16 months and considerable back and forth with my provider I am now in possession of a cellular comms hub utilising the 2/3G signal in my area. So my installation is now working and I am finally able to charge batteries/EV and export at competitive rates albeit outside of the government regional rules. I wonder how many people are still effected by this? The energy providers certainly aren’t advertising this as a fix and if it wasn’t for Panorama I would still be paying 3 times more for my electricity unnecessarily.

JamesFisher22 Great to hear that you have finally got your smart meter working.

Unfortunately how sustainable this is as a solution remains to be seen. The problem (in my view) lies with the original government contract to the network providers, mandating one as radio and the other as mobile data is in hindsight bound to cause network gaps.

The problem you have as highlighted in the Panorama programme is that you have a service that isn’t supported as the Northern provider is only contracted to provide a radio network. So if you get any problems down the road, you’re on your own. The 3G network is already being switched off, leaving just 2G.

The whole thing is a mess. As it said on the Panorama programme they should have got the DNO’s or the data collection companies to do the smart meter rollout not the energy providers. That way you’d have done whole roads and villages in one go and not the hotch-potch installations we have today.

But will OfGem re-contract for all this?

geoffreycoan

Yes there’s been a lot of failings with the introduction of this technology.
I’m happy to just have it working and I don’t see why that would change now in the short to medium term. 2G is just fine and we still have 3G for now. As I understand it the 2G must be maintained until circa 2030 anyway. Some providers are already trialling 4G hubs and these possibly in combination with Wi-Fi will takeover.

geoffreycoan But will OfGem re-contract for all this?

No. The contracts for 4G comms hubs and connectivity was signed a long time ago. Cancellation would involve giving (even more) large amounts of taxpayers cash to Crapita.

Nobody will do anything until the project fails. Again. Then they'll give (yet) another contract to Crapita. Rinse/repeat ad nauseum.

JamesFisher22

Hi. Did your provider fit the 2G/3G device ? Is the supplier Octopus by any chance? Asking because I am in the north and have data collection issues.

SteveClubley There's another Octopus user on here who had similar issues. He had to take them to the ombudsman to get anything done. There's a couple of threads about it.

Vestas
Vestas. Thanks!! I had cleaned this saga from my memory.
https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/4179-smart-meters-not-working-n-of-england
Post 16 has the successful Octo fix.

SteveClubley

Steve,

Yes it is Octopus I don't suppose I need to keep it secret. Have they tried replacement hubs and a flylead to move the comms hub away from the meter or to an area of better reception?
This is probably unlikely to work as the flylead is only 50cm I believe. If they've done all this they are then allowed to fit the cellular hub by ofgem. I assume you've got 2/3G at the meter location.

JamesFisher22
See post 16. It was fixed with with a dual band (RF and GSM ?) hub and antenna.
There is a GSM mast about 1/2 mile away in clear line of sight.

Vestas

No ombudsman in my case. I raised a complaint directly with the DCC and they escalated it with Octopus. Once the escalation number started appearing on email headers all of a sudden Octopus became all proactive.

Thanks all for the info.
I had been complaining to Octopus about their billing problems which they said was due to irregular reception of data. Strange how they were good with import data but terrible with export data. Anyway they sent an engineer to supposedly do something to the comms hub. He said we had the correct one but would replace the whole meter anyway with the same type. He said it was the best one and wouldn’t be affected by Fylingdales which is 33 miles away. He spent ages getting it linked with their system. In the process some how messed up the gas meter which hasn’t sent data since he left in November. He did replace my Octopus Mini for some reason and took away the In Home Display. Does anyone know whether the Mini is for receiving data for display in the Octopus app or does it send data to them first?

SteveClubley

I think you'd benefit from the cellular hub by the sounds of things. I had a meter swap as well, Kaifa swapped for L&G but it made no difference. I believe the mini sends straight to Octopus then populates live data usage onto the app but not meter readings.

[unknown] I believe the mini sends straight to Octopus then populates live data usage onto the app but not meter readings.

That’s correct, the mini sends real time power data to Octopus which you can see in the app. Meter readings go via the normal smart meter route.

The mini also only does import not export

[unknown] I had been complaining to Octopus about their billing problems which they said was due to irregular reception of data. Strange how they were good with import data but terrible with export data

The Octo Price app https://www.octopriceuk.app/ is great for checking whether there are any data download gaps on the Octopus systems. If you search on the forum there is a way of getting the data that the DCC collects (I think its using the Bright app) to check that they have collected it OK

[unknown] getting the data that the DCC collects (I think its using the Bright app

Yep. both import and export electric data and gas readings too. You can also use their web portal as well

https://glowmarkt.com/register/personal

geoffreycoan getting the data that the DCC collects (I think its using the Bright app

Yep. both import and export electric data and gas readings too. You can also use their web portal as well

https://glowmarkt.com/register/personal

geoffreycoan https://www.n3rgy.com/ is the one that doesn't require an app or IHD.

Vestas I used n3rgy fine last year but I could not login this year. It seems you have to login to another website to verify your identity. The one I use is loophome. n3rgy now works ok.

SteveClubley
I had 12 new gas and 12 new electric meters -all of which never worked until the dual band hub was fitted.
I had a short period when the RF electric worked (no working gas or working IHD) and then stopped working. I kept telling Octo but they took no action other than to bill me on standard import and not give me any export for a whole summer of 6 months. The ombudsman was the only way to get correct bills and action to get meters working