Energy IQ - Usage is not based on actual meter readings
We were away from home for about one week and wanted to try an experiment with usage data. Our heating was in away mode throughout and did not switch on.
I submitted regular meter readings within Energy IQ at the start of April, then on the day we left, and as soon as we returned, and on the following day. The meter readings clearly show zero gas usage for a 6 day period, and then only 4 m3 used on the next day, when we returned. Usage is now back to normal levels (around 4 - 6 m3 daily).
Despite this, the Energy IQ graph shows gas usage for the time we were away. Even though the gas meter readings show zero usage.
I queried this with Tado Support and was told:
"Please note that we are estimating the total energy consumed and not only energy consumed by heating. We do this by assuming a constant consumption of energy outside the usage for heating. This means we might show that energy was consumed even though you were not home during a certain period, or if your heating was completely turned off."
Surely this is wrong. It means the estimate takes no account of actual meter readings. If the readings show zero usage, where does the gas come from to supply this additional usage they speak about?
The methodology used for consumption in Energy IQ needs to be improved, to take better account of actual gas usage, from meter readings, as well as boiler performance via Tado.
Comments
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I agree, IMO if we are using OpenTherm then they should be NO need for meter readings at all (assuming you don't have GAS Hob etc). There should be config option's to tell Tado what GAS appliances you have in your home so it can better work out the algorithm.
Energy IQ needs a lot more work to be of any meaningful use.
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tbh, my gas usage from Energy IQ is within 15 - 20 m3 at the end of the month, compared with actual meter readings.
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@GrayDav4276 I only have a GAS hob other than the boiler, not sure how much that's uses. My smart meter does not work as I live in an area that has no signal, so it just acting as a dumb meter. Not sure I would use 15 units on the GAS Hob a month as that is quite a bit for a Hob.
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@GrayDav4276 TBH I do not expect it too, This is why I keep asking WHY Tado˚ is not using the data from OpenTherm as that knows exactly how much GAS the heating and hot water uses. There is just NO NEED for meter readings.
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@GrayDav4276 I am lucky I got my Tado when Auto Assist was included in the purchase price.
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Last month my actual metered TOTAL gas consumption was 995 kWh. Somehow, with daily meter readings provided to Tado, they managed to estimate my HEATING consumption to be 1,061 kWh. Say what?
At least in April the Tado estimate for HEATING is running below my TOTAL so far and is flat-lining the graph when heating has been off for a few days. March was just a mess.
But why does the tile explicitly say that the figures are an estimate for HEATING when Tado support says it's an estimate for TOTAL use? And if it's an "estimate" for total use then it doesn't need to be an estimate at all, because that's exactly what the meter readings include. It's just nonsense. My supplier gives me all this and more. I don't need to pay extra for Tado to guess at the numbers I already know.
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I wondered about the data as my energy forecast had dropped by 10% at the supplier end and I'd also had a week away with no consumption. As of today from Octopus, I've used 92.17 cu m3 but Tado's energy monitor says 167 cu m3 😱. I've even given them meter readings which show that it's 92 cu m3.
It thinks I'm using more gas although it's 4 deg warmer as well. They don't have any idea.
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It's a real shame that Tado does not use the actual meter readings in its estimates of heating usage.
If, as in my case and @mindstorm, there was a period of zero usage, and the meter readings support this, the usage graph should be flat.
I do not see any reason or justification for it to be otherwise, or for Tado to assume there has been other gas usage for non-heating purposes. If this were so, where is the gas coming from?
The meter readings, if supplied regularly, are the absolute proof of usage, and Energy IQ should be set up to take this data, refine it, compare it with heating data from Tado and present it in a user friendly format. Then Energy IQ would be a useful tool.
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I have found the energy IQ forecast feature useless. I’ve given the auto assist subscription 3 months, providing meter readings each month, and just when you think it’s getting close to providing a reasonable forecast for each month, the feature does some sort of monthly reset that changes all previous month’s forecasts to a wildly inaccurate usage.
I’ve cancelled the subscription now.1 -
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Yep. I know it's it testing phase but it's well out of context. I provided meters everyday and some 90% of my gas consumption is actually heating. This isn't taken in consideration as you can't set ratio heating/cooking. I know some places that use 100% gas for heating. No hot water or cooking so those estates are not valid and may show massive savings whilst using tado which will not be true.
I do not use tado to save more money. I use it to have warm room at the correct time without hassle of running up and down and turning on and off valves and hearing controlls.1 -
Grrrr, my I'm fast falling out of love with tado - I've had so many issues with heating being on all night (waking me up because it's too hot!) when the timings on the app clearly show that it's set to frost between 10pm and 7am yet it's "heating to 20°" etc etc etc But the Energy IQ really grinds my gears- despite providing meter readings (which should therefore mean their calcs are precise and NOT estimated) it says I used 95.67£ of gas in January, but my consumption (from my Bulb app) is actually £280. How can they get it so very, very wrong? 🤷♀️
I appreciate that it doesn't include the standing charge, but that's less than £10 per month.
Am I doing something wrong, or is this the general experience? My gas rate is 10.43p per kWh so I've set it to 0.11£/kWh and provided a monthly meter reading going back a year....and I've double checked that the meter readings are set in m3......it (like many other tado features) doesn't make much sense0 -
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and the IQ does not take into account for Cooking or hot water, so if you have baths etc, that will be another reason it is way off.
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It’s frankly a bit embarrassing that Tado cannot make something which they consider a premium feature, work better.
As long as you add regular usage data to the app it should be very straightforward forward. TADO knows when your heating has, or has not been active, which means it should be perfectly capable of building an average baseline non-heating use from the several months when there are no calls for heat. Yes it would need a number of data points from zero heat months to do this, but once it has that it just needs to deduct that from the total usage when you start to use your heating.
Our original gas smart meter was rubbish, but after Octopus replaced it back in May we have had reliable 30min data points ever since and it’s been easy to calculate our cooking and HW average use, which is basically the same all year round, so very easy to plot the amount which is directly related to the heating alone.
The fact that a tech company doesn’t seem to be able to have their app do some basic calculations (provided with a reasonable amount of data) is rather disappointing.1
