Brian Gaff submitted this idea :
I find the whole way this has been done to be grossly inefficient and unduly
complicated for what, on the surface seems like something many pieces of
domestic gear have been able to do for years now. they say its the security
aspect, but then again, if they are reading the meter directly o now how can
this be a problem?

I agree, the whole thing has been very amateur. Even the fact that each
supplier seems to have been able to implement a separate system,
incompatible with the rest.

All I hope is that it will have a little ringer that tells you when it was
actually read for billing so one can actually make the readings agree when
the bill arrives.

The customer decides when/how often they are read - monthly, daily or
every 30 minutes, but I think that irrespective, the data is sent daily
at around midnight. The monthly, daily, 30 minutes only sets out how
the data is tabulated on their website. The IHD, via the meter I guess,
is update on the standing charges and costs per unit, but doesn't seem
to get updated on what you as the customer, pay into your account.

I had mine set for 30 minutes - which would show when the boiler fired
up to heat the tank of HW. You could also see when the oven went on and
TV's, lights turned on from the consumption graphs.

Our bill indicated by the IHD just kept on incrementing from the day it
was installed and is still incrementing - how useless is that? I
actually paid them a fixed amount towards the bill, each month, but had
to check with the site whether I was ahead or behind.

So really, the IHD is handy to see your instantaneous consumption only.
It gives a figure for your standing charges and unit charges. The
suppliers website provides the only reliable information about your
actual consumption and how much you owe them/they owe you.

The suppliers seem to be suggesting that all readings of the SM's are
collected by an independent third party, if that is true then
differences in SM's shouldn't really matter - the third party ought to
be able to ensure there is continuity of data reading, when you switch
suppliers.