Thank you I have written an update but it is still continuing
I agree, but the Ombusman told me that AGL is responsible for the metering company, they are just the agents. I found the people at AGL were very nice and wanting to help but I donāt think they know much about this issue, including the fact that AGL was fined $160,000 in South Australia in 2021. I donāt think this is just AGL, I bet it has happened with many other electric supply companies. Faulty Meters Cost AGL $160,000 in Penalties from Regulator
I have an update
The other action you should take is to get a listing of your usage data. Two years of data should be supplied by your retailer on request, and separately your distributor should also provide this on request. It should be able to be downloaded from both their websites or by request on the phone. You have the right to request this data. Then you can compare the actual data supplied with your usage on the app and invoices and they should all align. If they align then the actual meters are supplying faulty data (assuming the meter identification matches your invoice). If they donāt align then there is a processing error somewhere, most likely with AGL. Keep querying the system until you get an answer that makes sense. I am now 10 months into my queries and still going.
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Thank you don, I have asked them for my prior bills because I used to have them but back in April (of course), I could not access them due to the e mail upgrade they were having. I now have them going back for two years but they were all under the old meter which AGL installed in April leading to this problem. They do not line up at all, this time last year, we used very little electricity, our solar was obviously functioning, because we paid nothing to them. AGL said maybe my old meter was faulty because of that bill, but no, as I pointed out to them, that would mean the bills after that time would be much less too and they werenāt. But I appreciate you reminding me of that data, I had forgotten I could use that.
I chased up information for my smart meter and found the details of the various data fields that can be read, and I can extract the cumulative readings of consumption and solar feed-in. Note the meters record in standard time (no adjustment for summer time), and your retailer bills to the end of the day. If I want to compare data I will take photos at midnight, or in summer-time at 1am!
Also, I was provided with details for the company which supplies the inverter, and have a browser login and a smart phone app for getting data on the total generation - which differs to the solar feed-in. I even get a monthly email which provides daily totals.
Herein lies some of the problem, As discussed previously, the accumulation registers exist in the smart meters BUT the accumulation does not appear to be used (or checked in the billing). The meter readings appear to be the change in accumulation each recording period BUT THIS IS NEVER CHECKED AGAINST THE TOTAL. This means that you can only check the usage against the bill if you record the accumulation registers for every read (i.e. in my case every 15mins which is obviously impractical) as the accumulation is never checked over the billing period unlike an āold styleā analogue meters. The billed total of the intervals might not equal the total accumulated and the consumer will never know or be able to check. My dispute, first discussed with my retailer last November, is still not resolved. I am not holding my breath. If you take note of the registers every midnight (or 1am) they may not equal the billed intervals and there is no practical way of disputing this with your retailer
ITS HAPPENNED AGAIN !
My āSMARTā (#@##$$) meter has again registered that I have been using electricity. Once again it is demonstratable that during the period in question, yesterday after a storm, when we had no power due to storm damage, our āSMARTā meter has registered usage according to our app and according to the downloaded raw data. Last time this happened it took the ombusdman and 9 months to resolve. I would love any thoughts on how to get reliable smart meter readings.
thanks
Two obvious possibilities, one being a rogue meter. Has it been checked to see what it does with power out? One way to check is if you have a monitor like a Powerpal (not a recommendation but a device the Victoria state distributes for free) so you can watch it in real time using your mobile phone. Got one, they are very informative. There are other similar monitoring devices.
The other less likely possibility is your grid operator has a corrupted database system and you are paying someone elseās bills. My experience was with Amex decades ago, posted here just to demonstrate how it can go. Iāll add this would be less probable today than it was then, and even then it was improbable yet happened.
If your Powerpal device shows use and the power is out you have hard evidence. If the Powerpal shows no use but your account shows use, you once again have hard evidence.
That approach is almost certainly cheaper and less stress than getting a sparky involved, although that might be necessary depending on how your subsequent interactions go with AGL.
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As I understand it the way smart meters work is to use instrumentation to measure the power used which is stored internally for a while. At specified intervals it sends a burst of data home to the collection point wirelessly using the mobile phone network. The data in local memory may be non volatile and so available later if the power is off. I canāt see how it either records anything or transmits it until the power comes back on.
So it looks to me that either it sent rubbish data back home (maybe the memory was corrupted in the outage) when the power was restored or it sent nothing at all and the problem is further up the chain from you. The first is a problem with the meter but the second is not.
If you have solid evidence that the was usage reported somehow during the period of outage I donāt see how the supplier can say nothing is wrong and fail to act. I guess that information combined with history that you are prepared to take it further would be sufficient motive to take action but with large organisations it is hard to tell.
Have you complained? What did they say?
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The issue has been investigated, I was told that the old meterās wires were mixed up with the solar (they were not connected to each other) then told that the solar and grid use were reversed and somehow we got all that free energy for over 12 years. And the faulty smart meter meter had nothing wrong with it even though they replaced it with 2 hours notice months after I got my new solar system. The technician told me it was a software problem, AGL said it was an extra meter they had. So as far as I am concerned, the issue is now over as the new smart meter works as it should, however the way we were treated was appalling. Constant delays, falsehoods and treated like we were fools. āIf you have solid evidence that the was usage reported somehow during the period of outageā, the irony of that is that on the day they finally installed the new smart meter which took two hours on a sunny day, we got an estimate for that day showing usage when there was no electricity and high grid usage at night when we have the batteries functioning, leading to $8 charge when now we average $1 per day. Amazing !!! I advise everyone to check everything every day.
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Thanks Don, I emphasize with you, see my comment above.
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I was not referring to your case but another, here you are talking about errors in an estimate, I did not think that @don2 was reporting an estimate problem but a supposed measured power use that could not have happened.
Iāve observed the same with AGL where there appears to be a loss of data connectivity. We have frequent storms and outages with indifferent mobile coverage. The consumption data has either been missing for several days or shown as a ghosted outline in the AGL App. It seems to update and correct itself a day or two latter. It looks like one part of the system is programmed to enter an estimated values/reading. Allowed where a reading on the due end of period date has not been possible. For those in between?
We are in QLD, so itās not evident if your smart meter is exactly the same as ours. We rely on the cumulative total displayed by the meter as a cross check. We have not had a billing problem over 5 years. Although based on our observations we rely on checking the meter cumulative totals on the morning after the end of the previous billing period. These dates are shown on the AGL App.
If we have concerns itās that AGL no longer provide the cumulative total readings for the previous and current on the quarterly bill as of 01 July. Assume this has been agreed to by the regulator. Hence it needs progressively adding up the subtotals to check! 
Noted also that the smart meters for our distributor (Energex) are installed and owned by a metering provider. The metering provider business provides the meter on a lease paid for by the retailer. Hence when one changes retailer (supplier) the meter remains. The new retailer chosen by the customer becomes responsible for paying the lease. It would be appropriate to know how this arrangement facilitates getting the data from the meter to the consumption data presented on the AGL bill.
AGL are responsible for the accuracy of the bill and for addressing any issues on behalf of the customer relating to the metering.
I donāt think AGL assure the absolute accuracy of the interval data shown by the App. Hence weāve looked at the two accumulation readings on the meter as absolute.
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The confusion is because I started the thread and have not updated what happened.
this is back to the futureā¦
Last time this happenned I disputed the accuracy of the smart meter data. I do not believe the meter is sending incorrect data, rather, it appears to me as a ādumb consumerā that the meter reading system (software) cannot accept a zero read so it appears to average out previous usage āand insert into this spaceā The figures are in the raw data that I have downloaded (not the retailer app which they admit isnt guaranteed to be accurate), The meter reading co. does not use the accumulation registers at all, only the data increments
How each state and in instances distribution region does this can vary. It may be important to reference your state/region when relating experiences.
The following is an AGL statement from last year.
Iāve highlighted the accumulation meter read and billed consumption. Itās the same number. It is from an AGL bill Energex the distributor. To 3 decimal places it is billing according to the change in the accumulated totals at start and end dates. Consistent as close as I can to reading the smart meter directly.
Iām not suggesting there is not an issue for customers. And note AGLās fine print the reported accumulation numbers may not reflect actual consumption. Although for the last two bills that note is absent. Replaced by.
Simply put if the accumulation numbers displayed on the meter are not reliable, how is any consumer able to trust they have been correctly billed?
I do miss seeing these on the bills issued since 01 July 23. Perhaps this is not unique to AGL or any one region of the NEM.
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If this is a repeat of the past experience, that was resolved in your favour, were the previous errors explained? How?
You now have evidence that manufactured data is being inserted into the data stream. Was this the problem last time something new?
Have you presented this information to the supplier? What did they say?
Possibly different by customer. One experience. Our most recent significant power outage lasted approx 10 hrs. 1-2nd Dec. The AGL App provided the following snapshot of consumption for the outage starting around 6:20pm in the evening. This graphic may only make sense to those familiar with the AGL App. Note the consumption recorded for the 30 minute interval to 6:30pm reports zero.
It continued to report zero consumption until power returned the next morning between 3:30 and 4:00am. The first interval reported minimal consumption.
Note:
We have also until recently had an electricity service provided through Origin. Its App displayed consumption in a similar way by day and intervals. It also showed zero consumption for periods when there was a power disruption.
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If my app and the raw data showed zero when I had no power then I would be happy. The question is and remains if my meter data shows usage when there is no electricity how can I trust ANY of the meter data that my billing is based on given some of the data is demonstartably wrong
