How do I read new Landis+Gyr 355 smart meter ?

[AvH_40]

Hi everyone,

I've just had a Landis+Gyr 355 smart meter installed at home. I've received no information on this meter and cant seem to find it, or any information, on the internet.

Is anyone able to tell me what the different codes correspond to?  I have general use Tariff 11, Economy Tariff 33 and I have a PPA with Energex through to 2026 at $0.44 per kW.  Im stuggling to work out the different codes.

According to the AGL App I have almost ceased exporting power to the grid from the date of installation.

Can someone help fill these codes in for me and/or point me to a customer/user information sheet for this meter?

Thanks AvH_40

1= time

2 = Date

3= ?

4 = ?

15 = ?

16 = ?

21 = T33 (Pretty sure)

22 = isnt being used.

[RichardP]

RickN, my latest bill also had "estimated" readings, this was after the so-called smart meter was installed. It took me two attempts, with over 25 mins. on hold each time, to finally get through to a "customer resolution" person. She explained to me that the "estimated reading" is basically rubbish and the correct readings were on the bill and to ignore the words "estimated reading". It appears to be a problem with the implementation of the software from AEMO and AGL's software, my understanding is they don't talk to each other too well!

Remember the early days of trying to work out mobile phone plans? Well, the same thing appears to be happening with power bills. Incidentally, because I am on the SA Government solar feed-in tariff they will no longer pay me anything for the power I generate - in other words, I am giving them free power which they then onsell at an inflated price! One word - crooks!

[NeilC]

@RichardP 

You poor man, you are getting 44c per kWh instead of that plus 15c or 10c.

I will swap your 44c per kWh for my measly 15c for the first 14 kWh and 5c for the rest.

Why don't you download your file from AGL and see what its says about Estimated.

Nothing in my file except for the last reading which is 0 with a M.

The file from SAPN reports a couple of 400 readings and that's all

The last one was in my current billing period for my Solar Export sub meter on the 12 Apr 23.

So there was an error in the transmission between 20:10 and 21:05.

[NeilC]

@QAZ 

Boy are you going to be happy now, this will be on your next bill.

My meter has been reset back to zero at least 6 times in the last year. So I no longer user meter readings but download the file and read that for my daily usage.

By the way the figures above are exactly what the meter information in the file supplied by AGL contained.

Just went and had a look at my meter is reporting 2067 for solar so last meter reset was on about the 24th Feb 2023.

And above is my Usage and Generation since my last bill.

[Richlamb]

Its amazing that AGL presents their half-baked answer to customer service so boldly to google searches. You search a topic like "how to read an E355 smartmeter" and you get front-and-center examples of customer complaints and how badly AGL handles them.

I'd hate to be an AGL customer.. rather bury myself alive.

[Sheri]

I've just had my meter changed today, based on an energy efficiency FB page indicating bills will be reduced as we will now have peak and off peak (SA). 

I took a meter reading this morning off the old meter, and took one tonight with the new meter. Wildly different numbers and I'm terrified of the ride I've just jumped on, given the existing comments.

Someone please hold my hand hahaaaah!!

[NeilC]

@Sheri 

Glad to see that you have changed your meter to a smart meter.

You don't need your hand held, in fact you don't even need to read your meter at all now.

The visual screen that you see on your meter is an accumulation meter and as such only shows you your total usage for each meter configured on your smart meter.

The power of the smart meter is the fact that it reports your usage (or export) in intervals of 30mins or less.

I too live in SA and can tell you that you can download your meter data from SA Power Networks for the day previous about 6 hours after midnight, AGL takes up to FOUR days to show you the data.

Now AGL supplies me the data in 30 min blocks but SAPN supplies me the data in the 5 minute blocks that AGL has configured my meter to supply.

To access your data from SAPN all you need is your NMI Number and some personal details, simply go to

https://www.sapowernetworks.com.au/your-power/manage-your-power-use/your-meter-data/ 

Clicking the above link will take you to the correct page to login or create your account.

Data from SAPN is supplied in NEM 12 format which is the industry standard whilst data from AGL is supplied in a linear CSV file both of which are directly readable by any Spread Sheet file from which you can extract the details necessary to check your bill.

Neither of the visual graphs of your data supplied from SAPN or AGL are suitable to calculate your current usage unless you are on a single rate tariff.

There are numerous messages within this post that give either the codes or ways to get the codes to read your meter.

However, reading your own meter is only good as long you read your meter EVERY DAY.

I used to read my meter regularly as a check but after having my meter reset at least SIX time since 2019 I long ago stopped reading the meter.

In fact, AGL no longer supplies your ACTUAL meter readings for Smart Meters on your bill but uses the data from your transmitted data to calculate your usage.

1234567	1234567	X12345	COMMS4	56789#B1	Solar	17/09/2021 0:00	17/09/2021 0:29	0	0	A
1234567	1234567	X12345	COMMS4	56789#E1	Generalusage	17/09/2021 0:00	17/09/2021 0:29	0.127	0	A
1234567	1234567	X12345	COMMS4	56789#E2	Controlledload	17/09/2021 0:00	17/09/2021 0:29	0	0	A

Above is an extract of the data from the file which is (or will be) made available from your AGL My Usage Page.

The data file available from SAPN is at least 51 columns wide and  would not be viewable on this page.

However, I can read both of the files and thus calculate my usage EXACTLY with the AGL file and approximately with the SAPN file.

The reason I cannot calculate the exact figure with the SAPN file is that it is supplied in EASTERN STANDARD TIME with NO daylight saving time offset.

Having stated the above, what I am saying is that all you can do is trust your Retailer to supply you accurate details and billing costs.

In the last few months I have detected issues with the file that AGL was supplying and have had resolved to the benefit of AGL customers that download the file (I have never seen any issues reported on these pages about the download files other than when they went to the change of supplying the file in a compressed format).

If you ever decide to go down the path to actually convert the AGL into usable data be aware that when the change occurs to DST that they do not pad the missing hour but simply skip the hour thus having 23 Hours only that day.

I can also tell you that up to the 17th Sept the information on the graph on AGL My Usage Page was correct with the data supplied.

I can also tell you based on the data supplied that I am expecting a bill of approximately $106 dated on the 4th October. This should be lower than this as the days are getting longer and thus should be generating more solar.

Peak kWh	Shoulder kWh	O/peak kWh	Export kWh
192.482	4.797	80.300	1117.085

My usage for the last 73 days is shown above and as I have stated, I no longer even bother reading my meter.

[QAZ]

I take it you haven't recently installed an off-peak hot water system or
something similar, and that you will now be charged different rates at
different times of the day. This will only save you money if you have
things you can easily use only in the off-peak periods — for example a pool
pump. If not, your bills will probably skyrocket. Savings are possible, but
at the cost of convenience. Be careful!

Rafal

[mikekc]

About as helpful as a kick in the head Jenna

[mikekc]

Distributors tell me  to contact the retailer.  Useless Jenna.

[mikekc]

Pressing the green button won't make any difference to mine Richard.  My water heater is gas.