ESB Networks issue for smart meters - heads up

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lff12

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I noticed that my Electric Ireland daily usage had ceased after the 4th March and so I went to look at the ESB Networks data.

I nearly gasped when it told me that my usage for 3 days was a whopping 8881kw.
(My normal usage is around 6-11kw per day. Its not even humanly possible for me to get to this amount of usage in a year never mind 2 days).

If I download the HDF file I can see what appears to be happening - up to March 6th it appears to be ok, after that, the readings appear to be multiplying the actual smart meter reading by 1000 - so the reading for 6th March is 277.526 and then for 7th March it is 277890. And it continues on for 8th March - which now reads
278437. And on it goes, instead of adding 6-7kw per day, its now adding huge figures to the total based on a multiplier of the actual data.

I'm on the phone to ESB Networks customer services right now to try to get a better picture from them what is happening, but just a heads up in case you are seeing strange things happening. I don't fully trust ESB Networks 100% but they say they have reached out to suppliers to let them know that some smart metering data customers are getting wild readings like mine, so it might be worth watching your bill for the month to make sure there's nothing strange happening.

There is a pop up on the site saying that they are working on the issue but it might be worth monitoring just in case your supplier doesn't identify the issue in time for billing.
 
I just check my own recorded usage - 53.3kWh two weeks ago, 7452kWh last week. It would be great if you post here once you talk to them.

There is a message on the page: 'We are aware there is an internal processing issue that has arisen following a systems upgrade that is affecting the usage information on the Online Account for some customers. We are working to resolve this issue. Apologise for any inconvenience.'
 
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Same here, It's showing a massive, impossible jump on the 7th. Will keep an eye out on the bill.

I just checked the CSV and it is incorrect, it looks like the figures are ok, but it's missing the decimal point. e.g. one of last weeks readings 1.283, this weeks reading 1606

Thanks for the heads-up
 
"Massive malfunction" with electricity smart meters over the weekend flagged on the news this morning on Ireland AM the cause of some consumers being told they'd consumed thousands of euros worth of electricity.
 
Surely this malfunction is to do with how electric ireland read the smart meters into their system not with the physical meter itself. Its hardly the case that the meter reading in your house is also multiplying by 1000, surely that physical reading is correct?
 
Mine looks fine for now but I've seen some of the bad data from others in the HDF file available from ESBN, the latest readings are missing their decimal point, so reading ~1000x
edit. Double checked they're missing 3 decimal places in the latest readings
 
Ok but is the physical meter reading correct on the meter, is it the reading of the meter remotely by ESB networks where the problem is?
 
It's more likely a missing scaler in their data ingestion pipeline, very strange it made it to production though, so it might be some other unintended interaction with something else in the pipeline.
 
m.independent.ie

Smart meter glitch: households told they owe thousands of euro

A massive malfunction on electricity smart meters over the weekend meant some householders were told they had consumed thousands of euro of energy.
m.independent.ie m.independent.ie
A spokesperson for ESB Networks said that last Friday, a planned software upgrade to one of its internal systems caused some customers’ meter readings to be processed incorrectly, resulting in high and incorrect usage on ESB Networks online accounts and on those of suppliers.

“This is an internal software issue and is not related to the integrity of smart meters or the recorded energy use,” the spokesperson said. “We are in the process of identifying and resolving the issue in our systems and will systematically correct all affected data.”
Click to expand...
 
Mine is wrong too but Yuno was smart enough to ignore those claimed usage rates and put a "Some usage information for this period is estimated. This can happen when meter readings are not received or delayed" on their daily usage with an estimate that is based on previous averages. I feared I would get hit by this, so fair play to Yuno.
 
RTE News Website Update

"ESB Networks is advising households and businesses that they are working to resolve an issue which caused some smart meter readings to be processed incorrectly last week.

It has apologised for the "confusion and concern" this may have caused and said they are reviewing their processes to ensure this does not happen again."
 
MY account was affected. SInce yesterday ESB has removed the erroneous figures and Friday 6th onwards are currently blank. Energia still has a massively inflated figure for Sat 7th but has a notice on their website saying they know about the issue. Compensation would be nice.
 
joe sod said:
Its hardly the case that the meter reading in your house is also multiplying by 1000, surely that physical reading is correct?
Click to expand...
No - it you look at the data you can pull from ESB networks they pull a reading from your smart meter every half hour. So typically this would be, say 279.562 followed by 279.895 half an hour later. This would give you a net usage for a 30 minute period of 0.333kw. Or in watts, 333w.
But if the meter's data is recorded as watts rather than kilowatts, then it gives a reading of 279562 followed by 279895, which gives a 30 minute usage of 333kw. Which is theoretically plausible for a heavy industrial site, but impossible for a single phase wired family home, which has a maximum draw of approximately 7.4kw.
 
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