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Hi there @powerhungry, welcome to the Community! The digital meters do not connect to your home internet, rather the data is transmitted wirelessly through to your distributor.
And yes, that is correct! Usage data is transmitted to the distributor half hourly and manual meter reading is no longer required. You can also keep track of your usage in real-time via our handy mobile app! With this you are able view your bills, set usage alerts and compare data from previous periods to see in real time how you are tracking.
My.new.meter.was.installed.for.free.at.about.the.middle.of.last.year(2017).has.an.LCD.screen,and.it.has.replaced.the.old.dial.type.meter.
But.it.is.apparently.not.a.smart.meter.
Why?
Hey FruitarianHuman,
Thank you for your post!
Meters with a digital or LCD display replaced the old style meters a number of years ago as they're much easier to interpret for meter readers and customers alike. However, the key feature that differentiates a 'basic' meter from a 'smart' meter is not how it displays meter readings, but by the fact that smart meters are able to transmit your usage data remotely.
Hopefully this clears things up!
Kind regards,
Jayden
I had a new digital meter installed today. Upon completion, I asked the electrician to show me how to read it, however, he clean up his tools and took off, not even say a thing to me. The new meter MK10D is splashing on different numbers on the screen and I don't know which one is which. Check AGL website to find instructions on how to read this meter and only found 3 simple readings but not related to how and where to look for it on the new meter. Contacted AGL and chat to an agent, after nearly 1 hours, the agent couldn't help and couldn't tell me what is my usage in the last 4 hrs since the meter is installed. She asked me to take photos of the meter and send them in to AGL,,,, what a jokes...Is anyone experience this kind of service from AGL? Is the a rep from AGL can feed back to this issue? Thank you upfront.
Hong,
A simple search on the web for MK10D, will show you manuals and YouTube videos on reading the meter.
If you go out with your last bill in hand and watch the meter readings you should quickly work out what each reading is.
As this is a smart meter you can go to either your retailer (AGL) or your supplier and get information that will be only 12 or more hours old.
Searching on the web would have taken ten seconds to get a result.
Hope you have now done this.
Cheers
Neil
(NOT AN AGL EMPLOYEE)
G'day @JeremyH ,
Noting that the meter records consumption in 30 minute blocks ... how frequently does it go back to base with the stats. Given it is using the 3G? mobile network ... is it utilising the RACH or CPCH channels to send the data at regular intervals ... or is it batching it up for a burst transmission at some point in the day (perhaps just past).
I guess there will be some back channel to confirm safe reception and deal with collisions / packet losses etc ... as well avoid/manage congestion at the receiver?
Basically the question is ... with the tech deployed today will we ever see near time supply data on an api in this decade?
Frank,
Data can be transmitted from Smart Meters at either 15min or 30min intervals (possibly at other rates).
The Standard appears to be 30mins (the NEM standard allows for the 15 or 30 min rate) for most users.
https://www.victorianenergysaver.vic.gov.au/get-help-with-your-bills/smart-meters-and-how-they-work
Basically from what I can gather, data is transmitted from your smart meter to YOUR ELECTRICITY SUPPLIER, who in turn send the data to your retailer (AGL in this case).
The data from your supplier is sent on-wards to your retailer who then supply the data to you on a daily basis. Not every 30 mins.
This would require quite a bit of computing power as the meter reads would need to be examined, tested for accuracy, then the retailer determined and the data sent to them.
Firstly you can get the data directly from your supplier in most cases.
I am in SA, I have signed up with my supplier (SA Power Networks - SAPN) and I can download the data from them most days after about 9:00 am (09:00) for midnight, yesterday, whilst to get the same INFORMATION from AGL takes ANOTHER 24 or 48 hours.
The data from SAPN is supplied in NEM format (basically a row of 48 meter readings for each half hour of the day) in Meter order
Data Date 00:30 01:00 /////// 23:30 24:00
300 | 20190428 | 0.217 | 0.228 | ~~ | 0.191 | 0.191 |
While the data from AGL is presented in the format you are used to if you download from your My Usage page.
Acc# | NMI | Device | D/Type | Register | RateType | StartDate | EndDate | P/Read | R/Read | Quality |
7.06E | 2E | U2600 | COM4 | 57#B1 | Solar | 28/04/19 00:00 | 28/04/19 00:29 | 0 | 0 | A |
7.06E | 2E | U2600 | COM4 | 57#E1 | General | 28/04/19 00:00 | 28/04/19 00:29 | 0.445 | 0 | A |
7.06E | 2E | U2600 | COM4 | 57#E2 | Controlled | 28/04/19 00:00 | 28/04/19 00:29 | 0 | 0 | A |
7.06E | 2E | U2600 | COM4 | 57#B1 | Solar | 28/04/19 00:30 | 28/04/19 00:59 | 0 | 0 | A |
7.06E | 2E | U2600 | COM4 | 57#E1 | General | 28/04/19 00:30 | 28/04/19 00:59 | 0.175 | 0 | A |
7.06E | 2E | U2600 | COM4 | 57#E2 | Controlled | 28/04/19 00:30 | 28/04/19 00:59 | 0 | 0 | A |
As you can see the NEM format data is easily read (specially in a S/Sheet).
You may also notice that they data supplied by AGL is incorrect because they are trying to fudge the information due to the fact that I am in SA and THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE IT.
Which is in my favour, as my bill is always less than what it should be.
Now in answer to your question, will you able to see the data in near time in this decade.
Probably, it may appear, but there are technical details that you have to think about.
1. What do expect to see. The last 5, 10, 15, 24 hours or all of the data at the time you request it.
2. Is their any advantage in doing so.
3. There is technology now that allows you to see individual power usage in your home and AGL are trialing this I believe.
If you look up the manual for your smart meter you will find you can do a few things.
I can see my current consumption in AMPs and Watts or I can see my output to the Grid in AMPS and Watts, the frequency of my ac, the voltage of my ac, my current meter readings for all of my supplies etc etc.
Having current data (ie now) does not have any real benefit for me as I am interested in the trends I can obtain from analysing the data over a period of time.
For instance consumption at 12:00 on a week day will consist of whatever fridge is running at the time. While on a weekend 12:00 consumption will be completely different, the washing machine going, I am welding up a project in the shed or machining a part, Mary is cooking a a cake etc.
For instance here are the last three days for my usage up to Midnight 18 April.
Well would you believe I cannot do this right now because of Technical Difficulties with SAPN web site.
NMI: 20XXXXX: A technical issue has occurred which prevents the retrieval of NMI details. We apologize for this inconvenience. Web service callout failed: Failed to get next element.
Oh well not that important, I can do it later or maybe even tomorrow.
Cheers
Neil
Thanks for the info @NeilC
To your points ...
"but there are technical details that you have to think about.
1. What do expect to see. The last 5, 10, 15, 24 hours or all of the data at the time you request it.
2. Is their any advantage in doing so.
3. There is technology now that allows you to see individual power usage in your home and AGL are trialing this I believe."
1. this an api (required) parameter ... to be fully functional it needs to enable the call to specify the period of data required. This will support backfilling for lost data points and also support users who have different reporting tempo.
2. main advantage I can think of is stickiness,
3. ok - I am looking to integrate with my inverter performance data which might be/not incorporated.
Frank,
OK I have been processing AGL and SA Power Network from the downloads available from my logins on these sites for over a year now.
I have written two programmes, the first converts AGL data into a NEM format file and the second takes a NEM format file and produces up to 36 daily reports for all my three meters.
It also tells me my current meter readings (@ midnight) on the last date of the requested infomation.
Both AGL and SAPN data are available for up to two years. Which is handy as I changed providers (to AGL) on the 28th April 2019.
So my AGL data is nearly a year old but my SAPN data goes for 15 months to when my new smart meter was commissioned.
If you are a programmer the process to convert the data to NEM is simple in fact you can get a NEM format file by request from AGL on the web site.
https://refer.agl.com.au/forms/request-metering-data/
NEM format files can easily have the data extracted from the in a spread sheet.
The files are simply a Table that contains 48 column of usage data by the number of days in the file. There are a couple of other columns in each row that give you the date etc.
As I stated before I don't really think that instant data is of any real help but analysis of data over periods is of great benefit.
Here is a sample of one sheet that I use to keep track of day to day info over a billing period.
Below is for March this year..
Date | Peak | Exported | Solar Gen | Used | Meter | Solar |
Carried Fwd | 215.956 | 775.597 | 1004.2 | 211.005 | 2118.826 | 8146.693 |
1-Mar-20 | 5.169 | 21.185 | 25.60 | 4.42 | 2123.995 | 8167.878 |
2-Mar-20 | 5.470 | 27.454 | 32.10 | 4.65 | 2129.465 | 8195.332 |
3-Mar-20 | 6.007 | 12.216 | 13.90 | 1.68 | 2135.472 | 8207.548 |
4-Mar-20 | 7.105 | 20.857 | 23.10 | 2.24 | 2142.577 | 8228.405 |
5-Mar-20 | 6.489 | 13.516 | 18.60 | 5.08 | 2149.066 | 8241.921 |
6-Mar-20 | 7.557 | 16.515 | 21.40 | 4.89 | 2156.623 | 8258.436 |
7-Mar-20 | 5.380 | 30.370 | 36.40 | 6.03 | 2162.003 | 8288.806 |
8-Mar-20 | 4.307 | 32.323 | 38.20 | 5.88 | 2166.310 | 8321.129 |
9-Mar-20 | 4.494 | 27.082 | 31.90 | 4.82 | 2170.804 | 8348.211 |
10-Mar-20 | 3.114 | 33.247 | 37.10 | 3.85 | 2173.918 | 8381.458 |
11-Mar-20 | 2.993 | 29.907 | 33.60 | 3.69 | 2176.911 | 8411.365 |
12-Mar-20 | 2.911 | 17.907 | 21.40 | 3.49 | 2179.822 | 8429.272 |
13-Mar-20 | 3.947 | 18.08 | 23.30 | 5.22 | 2183.769 | 8447.352 |
14-Mar-20 | 5.152 | 28.713 | 38.00 | 9.29 | 2188.921 | 8476.065 |
15-Mar-20 | 3.851 | 33.098 | 37.50 | 4.40 | 2192.772 | 8509.163 |
16-Mar-20 | 9.484 | 29.172 | 34.60 | 5.43 | 2202.256 | 8538.335 |
17-Mar-20 | 6.641 | 27.656 | 32.70 | 5.04 | 2208.897 | 8565.991 |
18-Mar-20 | 3.647 | 18.563 | 21.90 | 3.34 | 2212.544 | 8584.554 |
19-Mar-20 | 5.370 | 18.133 | 27.10 | 8.97 | 2217.914 | 8602.687 |
20-Mar-20 | 5.928 | 23.961 | 28.20 | 4.24 | 2223.842 | 8626.648 |
21-Mar-20 | 4.579 | 26.917 | 34.30 | 7.38 | 2228.421 | 8653.565 |
22-Mar-20 | 4.577 | 18.514 | 23.30 | 4.79 | 2232.998 | 8672.079 |
23-Mar-20 | 6.650 | 26.749 | 31.90 | 5.15 | 2239.648 | 8698.828 |
24-Mar-20 | 5.784 | 4.261 | 9.40 | 5.14 | 2245.432 | 8703.089 |
25-Mar-20 | 4.494 | 31.556 | 35.50 | 3.94 | 2249.926 | 8734.645 |
26-Mar-20 | 4.849 | 30.296 | 34.90 | 4.60 | 2254.775 | 8764.941 |
27-Mar-20 | 3.321 | 25.536 | 29.60 | 4.06 | 2258.096 | 8790.477 |
28-Mar-20 | 4.113 | 26.047 | 32.40 | 6.35 | 2262.209 | 8816.524 |
29-Mar-20 | 6.217 | 7.261 | 18.10 | 10.84 | 2268.426 | 8823.785 |
30-Mar-20 | 5.185 | 26.542 | 30.80 | 4.26 | 2273.611 | 8850.327 |
31-Mar-20 | 5.329 | 28.566 | 33.00 | 4.43 | 2278.940 | 8878.893 |
31-Mar-20 | ||||||
Count | Peak | Exported | Solar Gen | Used | Meter | Solar |
31 | 376.07 | 1507.797 | 1894.000 | 368.605 | 2278.94 | 8878.893 |
Min | 2.911 | 4.261 | 9.400 | 1.684 | ||
Max | 9.484 | 33.247 | 38.200 | 10.839 | ||
Monthly Avg | 4.63 | 21.66 | 26.390 | 4.94 | ||
Month Data | 160.114 | 732.2 | 889.800 | 157.6 |
Peak and Exported is produced by my programs and I cut and paste that in.
Solar Generated is a download from my Inverter and I cut and paste that in.
All the rest is just formulae in the sheets.
Here is a sample output from my MeterRead program (NEM to Data)
Simple Report - 4 * 6 Hour - starting from 10 Apr till last day in file.
Have to use the AGL Data as the SAPN site is still having issues.
DATE | NMI | TYPE | D/Total | 00:00>06:00 | 06:00>12:00 | 12:00>18:00 | 18:00>00:00 |
20200411 | B1 | Solar | 18.971 | 0 | 7.575 | 11.396 | 0 |
20200412 | B1 | Solar | 24.018 | 0 | 13.089 | 10.929 | 0 |
20200413 | B1 | Solar | 28.082 | 0 | 16.218 | 11.864 | 0 |
20200414 | B1 | Solar | 25.875 | 0 | 14.546 | 11.329 | 0 |
20200415 | B1 | Solar | 20.213 | 0 | 11.570 | 8.643 | 0 |
20200416 | B1 | Solar | 18.669 | 0 | 9.685 | 8.984 | 0 |
20200417 | B1 | Solar | 12.619 | 0 | 6.088 | 6.531 | 0 |
Total: | B1 | Solar | 148.447 | 0 | 78.771 | 69.676 | 0 |
DATE | NMI | TYPE | D/Total | 00:00>06:00 | 06:00>12:00 | 12:00>18:00 | 18:00>00:00 |
20200410 | E1 | General | 4.455 | 1.874 | 0.118 | 0.496 | 1.967 |
20200411 | E1 | General | 4.195 | 1.593 | 0.281 | 0.352 | 1.969 |
20200412 | E1 | General | 4.317 | 1.676 | 0.185 | 0.621 | 1.835 |
20200413 | E1 | General | 4.608 | 2.242 | 0.120 | 0.336 | 1.910 |
20200414 | E1 | General | 4.004 | 1.882 | 0.090 | 0.208 | 1.824 |
20200415 | E1 | General | 3.580 | 1.847 | 0.073 | 0.210 | 1.450 |
20200416 | E1 | General | 4.501 | 1.349 | 0.165 | 0.760 | 2.227 |
20200417 | E1 | General | 4.494 | 2.095 | 0.201 | 0.488 | 1.710 |
Total: | E1 | General | 34.154 | 14.558 | 1.233 | 3.471 | 14.892 |
DATE | TYPE | NMI | Last Data | Meter Read | Day Avg | ||
20200417 | Solar | B1 | 12.619 | 9223.643 | 18.556 | ||
20200417 | General | E1 | 4.494 | 2356.810 | 4.269 |
From logging onto to the AGL site to having this report took just under two minutes as I had to change the start date of the reports in the config file.
60 Seconds to logon and download the file.
15 seconds to change the the config file to start from 10 Apr
( was set at 28 Jan - Start of this billing period)
Run AGL2Nem
C:\MeterReadR\MeterNem.csv created
Converted to SA time
Converted by AGL2Nem.EXE 2.50 by Neil K Carter on 19/04/2020
Process Time was : 4.616924 seconds (51,403 lines processed)
Run MeterRead
Today is 20200419 Version number is 2.50
File Reported Data for Nem Interval Event Record 200 >> 2 times
File Reported Data for Nem Interval Event Record 300 >> 712 times
File Reported Data for Nem Interval Event Record 900 >> 1 times
Used all offset values listed in /ME* commands
Reporting from 20200410 for 8 Days
DATE TYPE NMI Last Data Meter Read Day Avg
20200417 Solar B1 12.619 9223.643 22.871
20200417 General E1 4.494 2356.810 5.604
Process Time was : 0.315612 seconds
Try doing that from your MyUsageData_19-04-2020.csv file in less than two minutes.
My programs also clean up themselves, if you desire, deleting all but the last file that you require from your download directory.