Help with meter data request

Energy providers, consultants and other third parties may request data on your behalf, but they will need to obtain your consent to do so. If you do engage a third party to request access to your data, they will need to submit a signed written consent from you when applying for your data. Once the information is verified the data will be given to your agent.

A charge may apply if:

 

• You request data more than four times in any twelve month period
• You request data in a different manner or form specified in the AEMO meter data provision procedures
• By a customer authorised third party as a part of a request for information about more than one customer.

 

You will be notified of any charges applicable before to the data is provided.

We will provide you the data within 10-20 business days of receipt of a valid request. This period may be longer where data for multiple NMIs is requested.

For a bulk request, you will need to prepare a csv file.

The format is: NMI, Postcode, Name, StartDate (dd/mm/yyyy), EndDate (dd/mm/yyyy). No record header is required.

 

Download an example template

 

Troubleshooting file submission errors

Before submitting your file, we suggest that you check the following to prevent errors:

• If you are a new customer, or using a new e-mail check your email for a validation e-mail from Ausgrid after submitting your request.
• The file format is as per the example and no request has more than 5 comma separated values.
• The number of requests in the file does not exceed 500.
• The NMIs are either 10 or 11 characters.
• The NMIs are valid Ausgrid NMIs (the range is from 41020000000 to 41049999999).
• The start date for a request is after the end date. Must not be more than 2 year period, or start date must be in the last two years.
• The post code is correct and no more than 4 characters.
• Customer name should be Surname only.
• Your customer or business name is not greater than 200 characters.
• Each row contains valid input data.

These definitions explain the meaning of each column of data provided for flat rate or accumulation meters.

NMI: The National Metering Identifier which identifies your metering installation. Your NMI should be located on your electricity bill.

Suffix: Identifies a particular data stream e.g. domestic, control load or solar.

Register: Identifier for a particular metering data source associated with a meter.

Meter: Physical unit that measures the flow of electricity. The meter number associated with the data is shown in this field.

Direction indicator: Shows the direction of the electricity flow. “IN” means the electricity is flowing from the grid into the premises and represents electricity consumption. “OUT” means the electricity is flowing from the premises into the grid and represents electricity generation.

Current read date: Date when the meter was last read or attempted to be read.

Current read: Reading taken from the latest actual meter read or the calculated value where a reading could not be obtained.

Current reading flag: Indicates how the latest read was obtained. “A” indicates an actual read was obtained. “Z” indicates the read was calculated e.g. estimated.

Previous read date: Date when a previous meter read was last attempted.

Previous read: Value of the previous reading where an actual read was obtained or calculated readings where a reading could not be obtained.

Previous reading flag: Indicates how the previous readings were obtained. A” indicates an actual read was obtained. “Z” indicates the read was calculated e.g. estimated.

Quantity: Calculated consumption or generation in kWh between Meter Reads.

NSRD: Proposed next schedule read date.

Update_Datetime: Date and time of when the metering data was last updated in our system

Interval data is in Eastern Standard Time (EST) and any adjustments due to Daylight Savings Time (DST) must be taken into consideration if you are being billed on a time based tariff such as Time of Use.

The below identifies the format of the interval data that will be provided to customers with interval metering. We have identified all the relevant fields that you can use to interpret the data.

 

 
Click image for larger view.

NOTE: The fields highlighted in the above table in red text are fields used by retailers to automate data processing and are for information purposes only. These fields may not help you interpret your data, but for completeness we have provided an explanation of the field.

 

What is a NMI Suffix?

In the second row of the data sent to you, there are some fields which we have identified as “NMI Suffix’s”. A NMI Suffix is a collection of interval data readings associated with each meter on site.

It is important to note that one meter could contain more than one NMI Suffix and more than one NMI Suffix may be needed to determine the total energy consumption at the premise.

 

For example:

 

• The below file has an E1 and an E2 NMI Suffix, in this case the E1 NMI Suffix is associated with the domestic load and the E2 NMI Suffix is associated with the off peak hot water system.
• In some cases where you have more than one meter onsite you will be required to add NMI Suffix’s together to determine the total consumption. 

 

If you have 3 interval meters measuring your electricity consumption you may have 3 NMI Suffix’s E1, E2 and E3, to determine the total consumption, you will need to add together each corresponding interval of data (i.e. align the date and time of each interval for each NMI Suffix).

If you have a generation system at your premises, you will also have a B1 NMI Suffix in the file we send you. The reading you get here will be vastly different depending on if you have a “Net” or “Gross” generation system. (Find out more in How Solar Power Generation Works).

The data associated with the B1 NMI Suffix is energy that your installation is generating back into our distribution network.

 

 

What will the interval data look like?

This is what the file will look like if opened in Microsoft Excel, for example:

 

Note

 

You need to contact your retailer if:

 

• Your enquiry is about the amount charged on your electricity bill or your retail tariff
• Your enquiry is about the reconciliation of the data Ausgrid has provided and a bill issued by your electricity retailer - Ausgrid cannot determine how the electricity retailer has calculated the energy data or the retail tariff on your bill
• Your enquiry is about your electricity bill.