Peter,
The fact that it’s come pre-configured suggests and proves that any authorised energy supplier can “log into” any SMETS2 smart meter in the country and add a new IHD or other device to the trusted/paired devices list in the meters config, and opens up a whole new world of possibilities for third party energy companies to offer new features like Glow are doing.
That is exactly their model, they have the authority to pair with the smart meter and export the data into their cloud service (which is a requirement you cannot provide direct local access). They took the details from my meter and my existing IHD and as a result they do not need permission from your supplier to pair to your meter.
Their MQTT service basically passes on the zigbee message they get from the meter(s) (the gas meter connects via the electricity meter and is battery powered) wrapped in JSON every 10s. Getting my head around decoding that as it is a lower level from than the Octopus API.
Their API however can access historical data by the minute/30 min/hour/day/week/month as they access the same data your energy supplier uses for billing and again access to this is independent of your energy supplier. I am planning a plugin that will pull the historical data, and map that to the Octopus Agile tariff so you get realtime cost, but that will work for any SMETS2 meter (the ones that remain smart when you swap suppliers and mandated for new installs) regardless of supplier if you sign up for a Glowmarkt/Bright account. This may not be necessary if the tariff info is pushed, but I suspect that Octopus map it on after the event combining usage with the then applicable rate.
Currently getting my head around the right approach to use with MQTT, SHIMS or my own plugin that takes the raw JSON payload and maps to device states for incoming messages and suspect I will be calling for help over the weekend on the Shims configuration. I have a feeling some post processing will be required to make sense of the raw Zigbee data.
The endpoint design for me would be :-
Octopus Plugin
1) As now published tariff data without needing to be an Octopus Customer to track pricing (current functionality)
2) Consumption data for those people with an account and API Key that will get "yesterdays data and earlier" for Gas and Electricity all in a single plugin
Glowmarkt Plugin (API based)
1) Regardless of energy supplier historical data if you have a GlowMarkt account
2) Mechanism to combine the octopus tariff data with the consumption data from Glowmarkt
Glowmarkt MQTT Configuration (Ideally using the existing MQTT Plugin and potentially Shims)
1) Publish and consolidate real time usage and tariff data to give you current actual cost (for fixed rate contracts, and will include the ability to deal with economy 7 or EV tariffs that vary rates for certain hours). Goal is an Indigo device that gives current actual consumption and cost (every 10s)
I would ideally like to leverage the existing tooling around MQTT, I already am able to collect the JSON payload from that and the configuration was straightforward as that is much cleaner solution.
With the approach I suggest I think we will end up with greater flexibility for people who have different suppliers, tariffs and configuration. The Hildebrand support people are incredibly responsive and supportive, as are Octopus. My talent may be a limiting factor but with the help and patience I think the progress is good.
Thanks,
Neil