topic Re: Time of day usage data in Managing Your Energy

Time of day usage data

Williampape — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 06:41:54 GMT

Hi where can I find time of day electricity usage data ?

i have looked in the AGL app and can see total daily consumption but no further breakdown.

i understand other retailers supply hourly or every 2 hourly usage info. Thanks & Regards

William

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:12:54 GMT

William,

With AGL you can never find current usage, the best they can supply me is either two or three days old. (Time/date is 7:00 am 13 Feb here and data is showing for midnight 11 Feb).

Was not aware that any Retailer supplied data that was nearly "Realtime", even though in theory, it would be possible.

My supplier (SA Power Networks) will have up to midnight 12 Feb available just after midday (thus data only 12 hours hold) if AGL supplies them the data on time.

Your Smart Meter supplies data every 30mins to your retailer, they have to process this and place it into your file.

If you download the Manual for your smart meter (should be available on your Suppliers web site) you should be able to find the correct process to read your Current Line Voltage (1 decimal point), Current Consumption in both AMPS (two decimal points) and WATTS (1 decimal point) for all of your sub meters (Peak, OffPeak, Solar etc).

If you have Solar then remember that your house will consume any Solar Available for itself before it is exported.

During the day then you can see your instantaneous Solar Output in Watts from your inverters webpage and by reading your current output (in watts) from your meter see what your consumption is by subtracting the the output of your inverter from your export amount. If your are not Exporting the you are consuming all of your Solar and the Reading on on your smart meter will be showing your current import figure so you would add your Solar production to to your current consumption to get your usage.

Hope this helps, generally just knowing how to read your meters current figures is much better than waiting for data to be supplied from you retailer or supplier as it is not current.

Cheers

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:21:57 GMT

Oops William,

If you log onto you AGL Account page. You can see you data in a ½ hour data usage or you can download your usage file (for up to the last two years) and decode that to produce useful data. (This of course one or two days old)

I have written some programs to do this for users but no-one seems interested in using them so have given up on that project, now but still use them my self to calculate my usage data and calculate my current bill projections.

Cheers again

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 02:15:05 GMT

William,

As I predicted, checked my Electricity Suppliers web site I can can see all my usage up to Midnight on the 12th (about 12 hours ago).

The AGL data is still only up to Midnight on the 11th.

Cheers

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

Batts — Sat, 07 Mar 2020 07:31:17 GMT

@NeilC

I cannot find a usage data icon or appear to have any access to it, and I am also interested in your program, PM sent

batts

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 02:39:54 GMT

Batts,

Below is what you should see after you login on the web interface

After LoginUsagePage

And above after you have clicked on the view usage

Cheers

Neil

(PS sorry have been away on holidays)

Re: Time of day usage data

Williampape — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 10:35:33 GMT

Hi Neil

Thanks. I'll have another look as just what I wanted to understand. When I looked before i only saw daily data,

Solar is so time of day dependent and I want to understand our current consumption to see the overlap.

They assume 40%, I suspect far, far less.

Re your programs, do they run on a MAC ? are you usung excel macros ?

Regards

William

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 03:41:27 GMT

William,

Sorry they don't run on a MAC but they will run off a USB stick. So you could run them on a PC at your local library etc. and then use the results on your MAC.

The program(s) end up creating a TEXT file and a CSV file which can be used in a word application or a spread sheet application.

You set up the reports you want created you can have 36 reports created for each day ( The AGL download file contains 48 lots of data for each day ).

Cheers

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 22:49:03 GMT

William,

In case you have not found it.

If you click on one day on the web page you will see a graph of the days usage as per below

9April 2020

You can see the days breakup.

I have Off Peak on my meter but it is not in use and is not shown on the day. So some people may see more or less than I have here.

If you do not have a smart meter it is not possible for a daily graph to be shown.

If you find this post useful, please click the like button on the pages you find useful.

Cheers

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

cthaffy56 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 00:23:01 GMT

Hi Neil.

you mentioned that you have "off peak" on your meter.

How did you get it set to off peak, please

cheers

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 08:02:45 GMT

@cthaffy56,

Off peak (or controlled load) is an option on meters.

Our old power meter had it so our new Smart Meter came with it as well.

We don't use the function as our hot water unit (refrigeration type) I programmed to come on during the day and if available it uses solar generation to power it.

If you have a smart meter then you should see it on your meter readings but with 0 values.

Off peak (or controlled load), the timing is set by your supplier (not AGL your retailer).

This should be visible on your smart meter download data if it is available. AGL will ignore the readings if you are not using it.

Account	NMI	Device	RateType	StartDate	EndDate	Value
XXXXXXXXX	20XXXXXXX	U0xxxxxxx	Solar	31/05/2019	31/05/2019	0
XXXXXXXXX	20XXXXXXX	U0xxxxxxx	Generalusage	31/05/2019	31/05/2019	0.111
XXXXXXXXX	20XXXXXXX	U0xxxxxxx	Controlledload	31/05/2019	31/05/2019	0

Above is a cut down version of my meter-data file.

It clearly shows my three meter types..

If you have the facility available there should also be a BOOST button so you can manually turn it on.

Hope this helps

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

cthaffy56 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 08:25:36 GMT

Hi Neil

many thanks for your reply.

I am correct in thinking that one would think that off peak would be the preferred way to go, especially if your readings are over the moon?

I do have a smart meter, but don't know what it is set to, I do know that my usage is shocking (no pun intended) and hence I am wondering if it is set to peak.

Where/how do I get access to the "meter data file". I can see my usage on the AGL data graph, and the PowerCor data graph. Also, where do I find the "boost" button ?

regards

Chris

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 21:38:42 GMT

@cthaffy56

Chris,

Off peak / Controlled load is what it states.

It is a way of getting cheaper rates when general consumption is lower. Typically between 11:00pm (23:00) and 5 to 5:30 am (05:30).

As stated, this time is set by your supplier and depends on their demand times. With Smart Meters they can log onto your meter and set the start and end times.

To view your usage file.

Log onto your user account.

View your usage.

Near the top of the page there should be a box indicating your current view and a download link.

Download the data.

This is not easy to decode.

You only need to see the first few lines to see if it shows you have a controlled load meter.

IF YOU CANNOT SEE A BOOST BUTTON then you do not have a meter that supports controlled load.

Also with a controlled load circuit there is a limit on what you can run from it.

However you can get meters with more than one controlled load output.

I would suggest though if you have a constant high usage that you take action to reduce your usage.

If you use Reverse Cycle Air Conditioning change the settings to reduce your usage. For instance run the cooling at 24 degrees and heating at 18 degrees. Lights don't use much power but many lights on means more usage.

I have a program that I use to convert the Data file from AGL into a more usable format. I use it nearly every day to keep track of my usage.

We have been having many overcast days (with no rain) and at the moment (60% into our billing cycle) our electricity bill prediction is going to be a whopping $37.00. In the last 2½ years we have only had one bill where we have paid money and that was $16.00.

We have a credit on our account and won't pay any money (they will deduct it).

Cheers

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

Giff — Tue, 10 May 2022 00:40:09 GMT

Very useful. Thanks @NeilC

Giff

Re: Time of day usage data

LipT — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 23:29:09 GMT

Hi Niel,

I know this post is sometime ago. I just got a smart meter a month ago and as you said can see the daily and hourly usage.

The only issue I have is that from the hourly usage page, I cannot go to the previous day or the next day although there is an icon for you to do that. To go to the previous day, I would have to go back to the daily usage page and click that day to see the hourly usage.

Just wondering if you have that issue too.

Thank you

Regards

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 08:01:28 GMT

@LipT

I don't use apps on my phone so I only use a WEB Browser on my computer (or phone if I have to) to access our AGL Data.

Above is the screen when I select View Usage.

If I select a single day I get.

Now to go back a day click on the < under the "01" Jun to view that day and I get

So I can scroll through the days.

Now I can also tell you that the figures shown are not for that day.

The figure shown for 12AM is actually the last hour of the day before and you are missing the 23:00 - 23:59 figure for the 1st June.

But for general purposes the figure is OK for tracking your general usage.

Now the AGL figures show that I used 3.86 kWh and I generated 9.72 kWh, in actual fact I used 3.885 and generated 9.724.

Now to go back into views, near the top of the page is a button that now says daily

Click on that and you will get

Select the appropriate selection to go to that view.

Now in fact I have a touch screen laptop and can use that to finger touch my selections.

I hope this helps.

If it does please click the like button next to this post, this took some time to get the screen shots and to put this reply together.

Cheers

Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

Giff — Sat, 04 Jun 2022 05:30:19 GMT

Hi @LipT

"The only issue I have is that from the hourly usage page, I cannot go to the previous day or the next day although there is an icon for you to do that. To go to the previous day, I would have to go back to the daily usage page and click that day to see the hourly usage."

This is a "feature" of the app, but as @NeilC pointed out, this facility is available via the web browser. You could create a new "Idea" for this enhancement.

Note: I have the iPhone app and it shows me 1/2 hourly usage data.

Cheers

giff

Re: Time of day usage data

NeilC — Sat, 04 Jun 2022 08:49:52 GMT

@LipT @Giff

Ok, I gave up and installed the AGL App on my Android phone.

When I started the app (after logging in etc for first time) I saw a Overview Page.

TOP right hand side saw a messaging Icon.

Clicked on that and got a messaging screen

Went back to Overview Page.

Clicked on Electricity and got my daily usage for the current billing cycle.

Clicked on the graph and got a daily screen, in this case 3 June as last data.

Selected 3rd June and got data shown in half hour increments with MIDDAY (12:00) the highlighted hour.

Not very impressed as this showed as (1.28kWh) High Usage ..... amazed as I had no usage and this was 1.28kW generated from 11:30 to 12:00.

Looking at my NEM format file this was the usage from 12:30 till 13:00 (ie the 13:00 report).

I could scroll through the day and see the figures for each 1/2 hour during the day.

Then at the top of the screen I had to click on the arrow next to hourly to go back to the Daily report.

For the DAILY report I could only see data for my current billing period (13 Apr - 11 July), also noted that I could select either kWh or $ as the major value (even though both are visable).

Was not impressed with the APP and immediately removed it from my phone.

I will now make sure that I tell people to use the WEB Based version where possible.

Us, South Australians, usage will always have an issue as all times listed on the AGL site are EST (or EDT) but in SA we are supposed to be billed in SA time.

AGL also has an issue as in their DATA file when Time goes forward (DAYLIGHT TIME STARTS) there is only 23 real hours in that day (well 46 half hour reports not 48 half hour reports) yet on the return they manage to get the usage (for 25hours correct).

Anyway don't like the APP, anyone concerned about tracking their usage should use the web on screen that allows them to read all of the data.

Cheers Neil

Re: Time of day usage data

Giff — Sun, 05 Jun 2022 03:20:37 GMT

@NeilC

Hi Neil,

In my case, the 1/2 hourly app data correlates exactly with the NEM data from Ausgrid and the csv download from AGL. It looks like your data is offset by 30 minutes due to the time difference between South Australia and the eastern states. I.E. the app displays the data in AEST time. I agree that the app should display your usage in your local time as this is how you are billed, or should be.

On the iPhone app, which I use, the 1/2 hourly data begins at 12:00am though to 11:30pm, so the time shown is the beginning of the 30 minute period.

Incidentally, daily usage for prior billing periods is accessible on the app via first screen after the overivew page, prior to the daily usage page.

Cheers,

Giff

Re: Time of day usage data

pcp20us — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 06:51:43 GMT

Recently we had a smart meter installed. Have read and can see hourly usage on the AGL Web page.

I would like to make it more useable data.

Neil you mentioned you hade a way to decode the data from the CSV file. How can i do this? The download file only shows complete usage for the day?

I find the daily hourly usage is good to look at for a day, but rather useless if you want to analyse your hourly usage over winter and summer. Now that we are on time of usage need this data to tweak loads at certain time during the day.

Cheers

PS. Don't find AGL providing any info on how to access your data when you get a smart meter. However they do provide info on power prices going up and how much AGL save you per year?!?!?!!???