Sorry for any semantic confusion …
Hildebrand certainly provides the POSSIBILITY to access yr meter data.
But Hildebrand does not provide the MEANS/HOW TO download that data and integrate it into emon.
My script does that for me.
I will certainly post here.
It appears that Dutch Smart meters have a special serial port which is accessed via a matching special USB to serial converter cable and this allows local real time data access. See the following.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kaifa-Dutch-Smart-Meter-ft232r-ISKRA-ME-382-EN-MT3/dp/B07DFM2H6S
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This is the problem with all UK available CAD devices as far as I am aware.
All the CAD devices available in the UK that I have come across - which seems to be a pretty small list do not make the data available locally, the CAD devices all upload the data to a proprietary cloud service run by the manufacturer of the CAD and you then access the data via a proprietary API over the Internet. This is effectively the same approach as accessing DCC uploaded data also via an API as provided either by your energy provider or n3rgy. The only advantage of current CAD solutions is that they can upload data to the cloud far more frequently than the intervals used by the DCC network.
The three available CAD makers I have found are -
- Chameleon with an optional CAD built-in to their IHD products
- GeoTogether with an optional CAD built-in to their IHD products
- Hildebrand a CAD only device
To make matters worse, neither Chameleon or Geotogether will sell their CAD module direct to consumers, they only sell to Energy providers. Frustratingly many Energy providers do not include the CAD itself which is fair enough as only a minority of customers would be interested in them but they also refuse to resell the CAD module to those who do want this.
Therefore the only solution available direct to consumers is the Hildebrand one.
It should be noted that nothing technically prevents a CAD from providing local LAN based access as opposed to cloud based access. By forcing you to use a proprietary cloud solution you are at the mercy of -
- Internet outages
- The manufacturer/cloud operator going bust (infamously when the Den smart light switch company went bust all the smart switches they had sold stopped working because their cloud service was shutdown)
- The possibility that the manufacturer/cloud operator starts charging a subscription fee to access their service and YOUR data
The RainForest Eagle-200 is a US made CAD which as far as I can tell allows both a pure local data access and a cloud based access. Unfortunately they have not made a version compatible with UK SMETS2 meters and more importantly have not had their product certified for use in the UK.
https://www.rainforestautomation.com/rfa-z114-eagle-200-utility/
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Thanks for your very informative, if depressing, post. My understanding is the same, but I haven’t done such careful research. One possible ray of hope might be the obligations of electricity suppliers to make data available, if they could be enforced, but I confess I know even less about the technicalities of that area.
Arguably supplying data via the cloud meets that requirement.
MPs are infamous for being technically and scientifically illiterate. However overall the Smart Meter framework is surprisingly forward thinking even if the reality is unsurprisingly depressing.
MPs coned themselves and tried to con the (far smarter) public that a smart meter and IHD would magically result in significant energy savings and hence cost savings. However the smart meter framework does in theory provide the means to obtain detailed energy consumption information and also next day tariff information. As per this thread some of us are trying to use this as arguably this was intended. Some energy providers - very few, probably as few as less than the fingers on one hand have also taken this up such as Octopus with their Agile tariff.
What most people are unaware of is that in theory the smart meter framework documents talk about incorporating smart home appliances e.g. a washing machine so that the washing machine could run its cycle during cheaper times of the day or even the possibility of less critical appliances shutting themselves off in the event of energy shortages. In theory a washing machine could have built-in Zigbee connectivity to talk directly to the same HAN the meter is on. In reality a more sensible approach will be to link via a smart home platform.
As far as I am aware no country has achieved these capabilities yet although perhaps you might be able to do some of this using the Samsung Smartthings integration offered by the Bulb energy provider.
I am sure we do not have a uniquely enlightened MP to thank for any of this, although the failure to follow through on this is clearly the fault of our ignorant masters.
Q. How many MPs does it take to change a light bulb?
A. None, they pass a law decreeing darkness is a legal requirement.
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Hi all! My first post here, interesting topic 
I can confirm that Geo do sell directly to the public. I purchased their CAD module and installed into my Trio 2 IHD (provided by Ecotricity without the CAD.)
It seems to work as expected. I can get live import readings from their cloud API now. I currently pull this data every 20 seconds and push it into Domoticz (my choice of home automation software.)
Clearly it would be better to get local access to this data but it is a start. No export readings appear despite me having solar panels, import just falls to zero. The meter clearly registers the export so I guess that is a reason to buy a device like the Glowstick. Can anyone confirm a Glowstick will give me export readings?
Cheers!
Stu
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@Stu_A
Thanks for the news about Geo.
I cannot say for certain as I don’t have any solar (yet) but are you on the old FIT - Feed In Tariff, or the new Smart Export Guarantee?
It could be the FIT scheme does not show up since it pays a fixed amount whereas SEG is dynamic based on actual amount exported. SEG does actually require therefore you have a Smart Meter.
Typically SMETS meters will not report exported energy unless there’s been an Export MPAN assigned to the meter. That said there are a number of exceptions!
Presumably this would be so if the customer is registered on a SEG tariff?
correct, the hoops the consumer has to jump through are typically
- install PV
- Get a MSC
- Get a letter of authorisation from you DNO
- Ask you supplier for export tariff
- wait for export mpan
- wait for smart meter to be commissioned with export mpan
- wait for supplier to figure out how to read your export data
- wait for their (sometimes quarterly payment cycle to complete)
- calculate if your payment was correct
- raise a compliant (potentially)
Only party joking but you won’t get paid for any export between steps 2-6
@Stu_A do you have the documentation on how to use the Geo API? I tried to contact them about it but their response was that “there is no consumer facing API”
Are yo using this API: https://api.geotogether.com/
Rgds
Gavin
Hi @gavraq , yes that is the API endpoint in question. No official documentation as it’s designed to support their app, but some reverse engineering found out how to use it.
Please consult these code bases for more details 
Also I now have export readings since Geo upgraded the IHD firmware 
Just FYI, I managed to make the n3rgy API work in POSTMAN:
Prerequisites: - Smart Meter with MAC address/GUID printed on it. Mine is from OutFoxTheMarket and is made by Chamelion Technology.
-
Sign up to n3rgy data using your MPAN (from your printed bill) and your MAC/GUID address from your smart meter
-
In Postman, create a new http request using GET to https://consumer-api.data.n3rgy.com/electricity/consumption/1. Include a header ‘Authorization’=(Meter MAC address in CAPS with no hyphens). For example Authorization=0DB4E3010153EB74
-
You can filter using dates by adding ?start=yyyymmddhhmmss&=end=yyyymmddhhmmss to the query
