Just a little element concerning the complexity of fixing good meter points

First issues first, it’s price taking a second to emphasize how a lot we love good meters right here at Octopus. This unimaginable tech has paved the best way for some unbelievably progressive tariffs, which permit our clients to eat greener power extra affordably, and contribute to a better, greener electrical grid for everybody. Who wouldn’t need that?!

We’re additionally proud to have clients who’re extremely motivated to make use of good meters – demand is excessive, and the overwhelming majority of installations are completely easy, so you’ll be able to order your good meter with confidence.

As somebody whose job is to make things better once they go mistaken, I wished to speak about what occurs beneath the hood – the problems that may often crop up, and what we will do to assist repair them.

The metering system is awfully complicated (that is typically right down to safety and Greg, our CEO, goes into extra element about that right here). This will make pinpointing a selected challenge difficult. Given this complexity, protecting clients within the loop whereas we’re fixing them poses a little bit of a dilemma – we perceive that listening to “we’re nonetheless working it out” can rapidly put on skinny. Hopefully this piece provides you some concept about what we are literally as much as!

How ought to SMETS2 meters work?

SMETS2 meters – the most recent technology of good meters – are nonetheless fairly new, so the infrastructure is consistently being improved upon. To grasp what’s occurring – it’s good to know somewhat concerning the infrastructure first!

First there’s the meters themselves. There are quite a few producers and fashions, completely different firmware variations and completely different communication hub fashions. Then there are additionally various kinds of In-Residence-Show (IHDs).

As a facet word, WAN shouldn’t be but accessible in each postcode. All good meter interactions (not simply consumption information, however all of the instructions given to meters, and many others) are routed through each the DCC, a government-appointed firm, after which the Adaptor – a security-audited firm by which all of our communications with DCC are routed. (I instructed you it was difficult).

A easy set up requires harmonious interactions between ALL of those varied elements.

Within the SMETS2 system, all of those elements had been designed individually, however launched on the similar time. They wanted to perform nicely independently in addition to once they work together with one another, so there’s no shock that the odd glitch wanted to be recognized and ironed out.

Now, in case you encounter one among these points, it can typically make its technique to me or one among my colleagues. I’d now prefer to shed some gentle on what sorts of points crop up, and what goes into resolving them.

The “Holy Trinity”

When making an attempt to establish a SMETS2 challenge, we examine the “good portal” (the platform we use to watch and handle installations and the meters thereafter) and search for the “Holy Trinity” – the ‘Fee’, ‘Configuration’ and ‘Becoming a member of’ of the meter. For the meter to efficiently talk and the IHD to replace, all three of those processes should be profitable. First, the fee has to undergo efficiently for the configuration and the be part of course of to start. If the fee fails, the 2 different processes are more likely to fail. Here is how the Holy Trinity ought to look when throughout an electrical energy set up:

It is helpful to notice that every section of the “Trinity” is break up up into varied “service requests”. If one among these service requests will get caught or fails, the entire course of fails. Here is what I see when taking a look at a profitable set up.

Fee

The primary stage within the “Holy Trinity” is Fee, which is made up of 12 service requests.

Configuration

The second stage within the “Holy Trinity” is Configuration, which is made up of 17 service requests.

Becoming a member of

The third stage within the “Holy Trinity” is Becoming a member of, which is made up of 5 service requests.

We are able to see that for the meter set up to be a “success”, 34 steps should be accomplished efficiently. And that’s only for the electrical energy meter!

To see an instance of what occurs when one thing goes mistaken, take a look at the commissioning on this electrical energy meter beneath:

We are able to see that there is a difficulty on the 8.1.1 – Fee Gadget which requires our consideration.

On one other instance beneath, we will see that the meter is stuttering its method by the commissioning orchestration:

The place we discover an error within the Holy Trinity, we have to decide the supply of the difficulty. This course of will be prolonged. There are a number of levels involving a number of organisations that should be processed, each to verify we’re doing what we will to resolve the difficulty and that we’re not lacking any vital info.

Timing out

The primary port of name is to examine the good meter portal supplied by our Adaptor, TMA. In most cases, we’re capable of resolve the difficulty by repeating a service request that had beforehand gotten caught. The most typical motive for the preliminary failure is {that a} service request typically “instances out”. For each service request, there’s a set time wherein it should full the motion. If there’s a short-term drop in sign energy, then the service request can get caught, and the commissioning course of won’t proceed. If we repeat the motion, this gently reminds the meter that it nonetheless hasn’t accomplished the fee, configuration or be part of orchestration. If the sign energy is robust sufficient, we’re capable of resolve most points this fashion. Fortunately, we’re presently engaged on growing a repair that may apply a ‘repeat motion’ routinely. If the repeat motion technique doesn’t work, then it’s probably there’s a extra complicated challenge at play. Usually, we’ll request a job report from an engineer. The aim of that is to examine to see if there’s any indication of a sign challenge.

Gadget ID Errors

We’d additionally take a look at the images of the meters, comms hub and IHD simply to guarantee that their machine IDs correlate with the set up report. That is trickier than it sounds. Throughout a twin gasoline trade, there are 5 gadgets put in (the ESME, GSME, PPMID, CHF and GPF) and every has a 16-digit code (For readability, these acronyms are detailed beneath). If one digit is mistaken, the fee fails. In most installations, the machine IDs are scanned in straight from the meter so the chance of error there may be considerably lowered. Nevertheless, we now have come throughout situations the place engineers have needed to manually enter machine IDs as a result of their scanners weren’t working, and this typically ends in failed installations. We’ve additionally had engineers report that sure meters are very tough to scan, that means that it’s simpler to enter the machine ID manually.

If that does not work?

If these two frequent errors aren’t chargeable for the difficulty, and the reply nonetheless is not apparent, we’ll elevate it with each the portal and DCC. We’ll then work along with these organisations, sharing as a lot info as attainable to find out what the difficulty is. The portal group will then work on making a repair for the service request which will be utilized routinely, with the intention to have the least impression on the shopper. These cases typically require a number of evaluation. The firmware, meter mannequin, machine IDs and repair request all should be detailed in order that we will spot any developments with these elements and see if this an area or extra widespread fault.

As soon as a repair has been decided, we then have to check it to make sure this works. Importantly, once we repeat an motion on the fuel meter, it may take as much as 64 minutes earlier than we all know whether or not this has been profitable. When contemplating there could possibly be 34 service requests to undergo, realizing whether or not the fee has been accomplished efficiently can take a very long time.

In Residence Show errors

The most typical queries we come throughout are associated to the In-Residence-Show (IHD). We even have a sequence of checks we will run by to verify the IHD is speaking appropriately.

Nevertheless, we nonetheless often come throughout cases the place, regardless of all communication checks being profitable, the shopper experiences that the proper info isn’t displaying. Once more, the problem right here is pin-pointing the place the error is going on.

Such as you, we’re tremendous eager to resolve these points as a result of we perceive how worthwhile a functioning IHD is. We’re in steady dialogue with the IHD producers, who commonly spend time in our workplace, working alongside our good meter group to make sure that each buyer has a easy journey. In case you do have an IHD challenge, it’s at all times actually useful to incorporate the next:

With an IHD challenge, one vital optimistic to recollect is that you probably have a sensible tariff (OctopusGo, Agile and many others) and we all know the meter is commissioned, having an IHD that doesn’t show the proper tariff won’t impression the billing and you’ll nonetheless get pleasure from the advantages from being on the good tariff.

Different commissioning errors

As talked about above, there may be room for a spread of errors in such a posh system. If we can’t apply our Octopus certificates to the meter (it is a safety measure that ensures that solely we will learn your meter), we won’t be allowed to finish the commissioning course of. In case you look again over Picture 5 above, because of the good meter group’s onerous work, we labored out that by re-sending a separate 6.21 service request exterior of the commissioning course of, DCC will examine and re-apply the related certificates on a meter. Picture 7 reveals the end result, a profitable fee! On this case, the engineer visited on 08/01 as a result of it was vital that we frolicked truly discovering the answer versus merely changing the meter. For all we knew, changing the meter earlier might have resulted in the identical challenge occurring. For this repair, we needed to invite representatives from the Adapter to the workplace, and reveal quite a few incidents with the intention to work out an answer. Now we all know that when different clients have this challenge, we will apply our tried and examined workaround.

The picture above outlines a few of the procedures we observe when a buyer tells us that their set up hasn’t been profitable. Since we began the SMETS2 roll out, we’ve come such a great distance with ironing out these preliminary teething points. We report each single challenge {that a} buyer experiences and this has helped us pinpoint the place we have to focus our efforts. Finally, we’ve been capable of make nice progress and create lasting workarounds with the intention to minimise the impression on our clients.

At any given time, we now have a hardworking group of extraordinarily devoted people engaged on resolving each SMETS2 associated challenge thats involves us. In case you do have a difficulty, please word that we’ll do what we will to resolve this for you – we all know how vital functioning good meters are for each the person buyer and the way forward for power extra typically.

That being stated, I’d prefer to reiterate that almost all of good meter installations undergo and not using a hitch. For each challenge you see – many extra clients could have had a hassle-free set up course of – after all, they’re much less more likely to tweet/fb/and many others about it! The place there are points, we’re typically assured that we now have the data and workarounds to repair them remotely. If we’ve finished what we will, we’ll organize for a site-investigation to be accomplished by an engineer.

Furthermore, I’d prefer to reiterate that these sorts of points are fairly customary with new tech. Many of those guide processes and fixes can be automated over time – however till then, it’s typically a case of eliminating variables and making an attempt time and again till we get it proper.

Though these points are already unusual and getting rarer every single day, Octopus is especially affected as a result of our improbable tariffs – Agile, Go and Outgoing – all require fully-functioning good meters. We all know how irritating it may be ready for points to be resolved, particularly in case you’re ready to be switched onto a sensible tariff. That’s why we’re investing thousands and thousands of kilos in build up our personal good set up and good challenge decision groups – with the intention to velocity up and enhance the set up course of, and repair these sorts of issues as rapidly as attainable.