Hi,
I live in the UK.
My gas supply is currently from Scottish Power & I have an Elster Themis BK-G4 E smart-meter.
I would like to integrate the gas readings into Home Assistant.
Is it possible to add an external sensor to the actual meter to capture the usage?
If not what, if any, other options are available to obtain regular readings of my household gas consumption?
In case it’s of use I’ve attached a photograph of the actual meter.
I would really appreciate any pointers / assistance.
I’ve been doing some further research into methods of accessing the gas usage data. I think my meter will be SMETS1 but would appreciate any guidance to confirm this.
If so then could this be used to provide consumer access device (CAD)?
CAD for SMETS1 Smart Meters
I’d be interested in this as well, i have the same type of meter.
Following my original posting I have been in contact with the company (Hildebrand Technology Limited) who supply the CAD for SMETS1 Smart Meters.
They have produced a free app ( “Bright App” ) which is available from either the appropriate Google or Apple store. After installing this I was able to confirm that both my electricity & gas meters were indeed SMETS1 but they had enrolled in the DCC – therefore providing access to the data to both Hildebrand and myself 
After following this excellent Hildebrand Glow (DCC) Integration for Home Assistant (Link: Hildebrand Glow (DCC) Integration) I now automatically get both my electricity & gas meter readings automatically into my Home Assistant every 30 mins without needing the CAD hardware although I am patiently waiting to order one of their SMETS1 HID/CAD devices Display and CAD - Smart meters so that I’ll get readings in ‘real time’.
I hope this makes sense / helps?
Hi @JohnWH,
Thanks!
So i install the bright app, and install the integration and i should get the data? That would be great.
Do i need any information to put in the app ? Did you use smart meter or ‘setup a new device’ ?
I’m currently using a Frient for the electricity one and was going to use that for the gas as well, as that also has a optical interface. But maybe your way is a better way.
No just to find a way to monitor my water…
Hi @atv ,
You are most welcome.
The first step will be to check if your meters have been enrolled into the DCC infrastructure. You should be able to do this after installing the app. It should guide you through what is needed. If necessary Hildebrand’s support folks are excellent and they have helped me to get all the previous readings over the last 12 months also ported across and visible within the Bright App.
Assuming that your meters have been ported then the Home Assistant integration should then provide a link every 30 mins to the new data from the meters as it ‘hits’ the DCC.
Since getting the data this way involves no additional hardware (or costs!) plus it is providing the actual data (hopefully accurate!) that is used for billing it really solves the problem of logging both electricity & gas usage.
Like you I’m now looking for ways to log my water supply. When I approached my utilities company (United Utilities) about options available to replace my current (non-smart) meter they were most unhelpful.
One potential solution that I’m considering is the AI-on-the-edge project using an ESP32-Cam to read the existing water meter AI on the Edge.
My main problem looks like it could be producing a suitable holder to fit around the meter and hold the ESP32-Cam board as I don’t have ready access to a 3-D printer.
@JohnWH I saw that AI on the edge project as well. OCR to the rescue.
I’m assuming for getting the bright app to work, you also have this little PDA that came with the smart meter? I’m trying to find out where to get the GUID/EUID as they ask when setting up a smart meter. I found the EUID in the software on the PDA in the about section, but it doesn’t seem to take in the app. Might give them a call.
If your display unit is similar to mine then you should find the necessary numbers on a small label near to where the stand clips onto the back of the unit.
@JohnWH Well i tried but it doesn’t seem to recognise my meter. Even though i have a display i guess something is not setup yet. I suppose i’ll try the alternative setup method.
The gas meter does have an optical port but because it runs on battery, i’m sure they have locked it and it doesn’t work. I don’t really want to buy another CAD if i can help it but if that enables realtime usage, i would consider it.
2 questions:
Many thanks John, appreciate your help.
I’ve just checked my IHD (a rather unimpressive monochrome one supplied by Scottish Power) which I think is this model: SMETS1 Smart Meter In Home Display - User Guide The label at the base of the unit includes 2 numbers: OCA2 (12 digits long) plus the serial number (10 digits long).
Are the details on your IHD similar?
I agree that, in order to conserver battery power, it’s most likely that the optical port on the gas meter is inactive.
In answer to your questions:
Hildebrand are currently only rolling out SMETS2 displays. They will notify me once the SMETS1 are available. The conversion process involves opening up the units and changing the certs to work with the SMETS1 meters. Fortunately their (excellent) support team have reassured me they have plenty of stock and the delay is simply they have decided to despatch the SMETS2 configured units first.
If you are unable to determine if your SMETS1 meters have been ported using the Bright app then this website will also allow you to check the status: Check your smart meter’s working in smart mode
I guess that, if they haven’t then you could ‘push’ your supplier (Scottish Power?) to ugrade the meter firmware & arrange the DCC porting.
From my experience it really is worth getting the Hildebrand integration working as it provides a great solution to logging both meters automatically.
Hope this helps. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you get everything sorted 
I have the same gas meter which was installed with my new build house by E.On. I then moved to Octopus and I’m not seeing readings in my account.
Here is reply I got from Octopus:
" I have been chatting to a metering specialist a bit more about this and we have worked out the issue.
We are awaiting your gas meter to be enrolled by the DCC as part of their adoption and enrolment project, the aim of this is to have all first generation meters communicating with suppliers in a big to avoid meter exchanges.
You can read more about this here: https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/our-smart-network/current-programmes/smets1-enrolment-and-adoption/
At the moment, we would need to wait to see if the DCC enrolment works with your meter and if not, at this point we could request a meter exchange but for the time being we will need manual meter readings for your gas."
I have the Elster Themis meter but the screen is blank.
Does anyone know what I need to do to get the meter readings ?
Thank you
