A taste of things to come? - UK smart meter data access

Integrations
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Wow, 9 months later and still we’re in this mess with SMETS1 meters!

However, since posting, there’s now been this published, which is an overview of the SLCs (Standard License Conditions) for smart metering :

Below are the licence conditions that relate to this theme (smart metering). We’ve highlighted
some parts of these rules, but you should refer to the actual SLCs for the full detail

Here are the interesting parts:

SLC 34/40 Provision of an in-home display
…Includes rules on maintaining in-home displays, and what a supplier’s duty is when there is a fault with an in-home display.

SLC 43/49 Smart metering systems and in-home displays – operational requirements
…As part of these requirements, suppliers must take all reasonable steps to establish home area and wide area network (HAN and WAN) communications.

SLC 45/51 Smart metering – customer access to consumption data
Part A (in both licences) covers domestic premises with a smart metering system installed. It sets out suppliers’ obligations about retaining consumption data and making it available to customers.

Most interestingly:

SLC 44/50 Smart metering – continuation of arrangements on change of supplier
Rules for what should happen when there is a change of supplier at a domestic premises with a smart meter already installed.

  • Part A sets out the old/losing supplier’s obligations relating to notifying the meter asset provider.
  • Part B sets out the new/gaining supplier’s obligations relating to making arrangements with the meter asset provider. (There are additional obligations on suppliers with over 250,000 domestic gas/electricity customers.)

The full SLCs are found here:
Electricity
Gas

So it seems there are obligations already on suppliers (former and current), entirely separately from the DCC, although I haven’t yet worked out how exactly it can be used to enforce energy providers to let me pair my CAD with their adopted gear…

I’m also interested as to whether or not the 12 month requirement, for enrolling a smart meter to the DCC, is retroactive; in other words, if a customer switched 12 months before the rule came into force, is the energy company obligated to transition them immediately? Or 12 months from the rule coming into force? Or only for new/newly transferred customers, from when the rule came into force?

If things haven’t slipped yet again, we actually should be currently in a period of transition. I think the start date was May?

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82

Hopefully it is useful to share some information about the platform we (Critical Software) have built for n3rgy (pronounced ‘energy’, in case you wondered).
n3rgy basically wanted to offer a service that took away all the complexity of getting to energy data held on smart meters in the UK. So, basically, an organisation can use a simple API to get to the consumption and tariff data held on the meter. No worries about security, regulations, consumer consent; all that is provided by the service. We are keen to break down the barriers to data access, whilst ensuring all the security is in place.
Loads more information here : n3rgy data - accessing smart energy data
We wanted to have a completely open API, costing model, terms, etc. so it is all on the website.
The service includes a consumer portal which allows every consumer to control who can access their data and they can see their own data too.
The system is live now and there is a free sandpit area where you can try the API with example data.
If anyone has any questions or what might be missing from the service and would be useful, please let me know.

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83

Hello, and welcome to the site.

Do you have a website? That is, something with HTML pages that display in a browser. I don’t see anything at all when I go to the address you provided.

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It works on my Chromium and Firefox…

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No, you have javascript enabled and are seeing the result of it downloading code to your machine and executing it. You’re not seeing a website.

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data.n3rgy.com should work.
If you go to Google and type ‘n3rgy dat’ you should get the link from there too.

But if you still dont get the website, let me know and I can send you some information or answer any direct question.

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Sure, please send me some information.

88

Do you have an email address I can send something to?
What is the best way to send you the information?

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You can send me a message, and you can attach files to messages

90

I’ve had my SMETS2 meter installed on Wednesday and am looking forward to seeing some data from it.

Apparently even though Bristol Energy are installing SMETS2 meters their own systems aren’t yet capable of processing the consumption data. Their mobile app / website doesn’t show any readings and the in-home-display shows a status error for a ‘cloud’ connection via my WiFi network. I think I’m one of the first with SMETS2 for Bristol Energy so assume I’ll just have to wait until they are ready.

@MattB I tried setting up my meters on n3rgy using IHD MAC Authentication but I just get the error “MPxN or IHD MAC couldn’t be found. Verify the values you have inserted.”

From what i can see in this thread there are still no CAD devices available in the UK for SMETS2 meters?

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Hi James,
I assume you are using the consumer portal rather than the sandpit area.
The sandpit area only has example data, so that will not find your meter data.
If you have a SMETS1 Secure meter (which I dont think you have) your data should be there.
But if you have a SMETS2 meter, then there is an issue with the DCC link right now, which means we are not able to get to the data.This should get sorted out soon and when it does, I shall let you know.
Thanks,
Matt

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@MattB, yes, I have been trying the consumer portal so assume I’m seeing the broken bits. I can’t see a status page that highlights the issue and gives a target date for a fix, so I guess I just keep trying occasionally :man_shrugging:.

I’m surprised there are still zero options for getting hold of SMETS2 smart meter data via CAD or DCC. Bristol Energy don’t even seem to be able to access it at the moment :exploding_head:.

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Well, we are just waiting to have the DCC complete our security audit - then we should be able to provide that option through our service… I shall be sure to let everyone know when that is available…

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@MattB I know that these things can take a while. Where can I see the status of this audit? I have a SMETS2 meter.

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@beaylott how are you getting on with the consumer devices to directly access meter data from within the home?

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Hi Jack… we are still looking at the best way to add a CAD to our capabilities. We are focusing at the moment on testing CAD pairing and integration with existing products through the new SMETS2 system, including the Rainforest Automation Eagle mentioned above. In the longer term we would like to add CAD capabilities to our existing home management system. The main reason for us to do this is to get access to near real-time data to use for optimising the operation of energy smart appliances behind the meter.

Aside from this we have had some success with n3rgy in accessing SMETS1 meters. We provide this as a service for our members now. We are hoping their SMETS2 link will be fully up and running soon and then we can offer the same for our members with SMETS2 meters (or migrated SMETS1 meters). Of course the data available through the SMSO/DCC back-end is more limited than you maybe able to get from a CAD but is adequate for most of our use cases.

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@beaylott

Excellent. I look forward to this device being available.

They just emailed me that they’re expecting final approval in the New Year. N3rgy’s service will hopefully be up by the end of January.

N3rgy’s promise is that all data and access management happens in one place, their website, on the internet. That is preferable than having multiple companies having direct access to my meters. Also I have web access to my own data without all of the security implications of running that service for myself elsewhere.

Jack

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Generally access to the DCC will be on the basis of consent. Only very specific types of regulated organisation can have access to meter data without your consent and what they can do with it is tightly controlled. Other organisations would need to ask your permission.

There is currently a proposal to make public certain energy usage data, such as the total annual consumption of all supply points, as this would be of huge benefit to the effectiveness of targeting interventions (and so in the public interest) whilst not having any significant implications for privacy etc.

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That depends on your point of view.

As I tell folk when talking about personally identifiable data, the purpose the data is released for is king. What exactly would be the purpose of releasing that detailed data; what is the public Interest?

I was then to be bombarded with sales calls as I fit that specific criteria, I’d be less than impressed.

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The purpose is important but if it’s PII (Personally Identifiable Information) that is released that release cannot be undone. There is already too much data out there that identifies me. I don’t want to add to that data if it can be avoided.

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