The Agent Verification Portal gives a trusted Agent, working on behalf of an organisation, the authority and ability to take an energy consumer through the Glow onboarding process to complete the required verification and consent protocols to start retrieving smart meter data (and potentially join a CAD to the smart meter(s). The Agent Portal is available to Hildebrand's Data Service customers.This guide gives an overview of the Agent Verification Portal and walks an Agent through the two onboarding processes offered. We also outline the prerequisites to using the Portal and the information that the Agent needs to onboard an energy consumer.
An trusted, trained individual working on behalf of an organisation to onboard energy consumers, using the Agent Verification Portal
Consent
Specific to the Smart Energy Code: Mandatory process to obtain and record consent from the verified energy consumer to retrieve their energy consumption and related data (and potentially join a CAD to the smart meter(s)) from their smart meters under the Terms and Conditions in place at the time their consent is captured.
Energy consumer
Individual energy consumer at a property - they are who complete verification and consent (expected to have a valid smart meter).
Hildebrand
Hildebrand Techology Limited is the legal entity behind the Glow Data Service. The company is a SEC Party with the role of a DCC Other User.
Hybrid onboarding
An onboarding method supported by the Agent Portal that takes place over two steps - 1) remote verification upload and 2) on-site consent capture from an energy consumer.
MPxN
Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN for electricity), Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN for gas). Meter point identifier; every property has a unique MPxN for each energy source.
Onboarding
The process of creating an account, processing verification and capturing consent for an energy consumer in order to access smart meter data.
On-site onboarding
An onboarding method supported by the Agent Portal that is facilitated entirely at the property that consent is being granted for, by working with the relevant energy consumer to obtain verification evidence and consent.
SECAS
Smart Energy Code Administrator; administer The Smart Energy Code (SEC) which is a multi-Party agreement which defines the rights and obligations of energy suppliers, network operators and other relevant parties involved in the end to end management of smart metering in Great Britain. Hildebrand's ability to offer smart meter data service is regulated by the SEC.
Shared Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions outlining terms of service for an energy consumer who will be sharing data with an organisation signed up for Glow Data Service. Terms & Conditions are managed (including version control) by Hildebrand as part of the Glow Data Service and must comply with Hildebrand's SECAS obligations.
Verification
Specific to the Smart Energy Code : Mandatory process to verify that the energy consumer who is giving consent has the right to give consent to smart meter data access for the MPxNs at that property.
Organisations signed up to use the Glow Data Service select the verification methods intend to use, they can be amended over time. Access to the Agent Verification Portal needs to requested; that request should include a list of the email addresses of the Agents who will be using the portal. Agents must be trusted employees who are trained to understand the regulatory obligations they are meeting when signing energy consumers up via the portal; the Agent will also need to have signed an NDA.Access will be via a unique domain; unique login credentials will be provided per Agent and must not be shared. Hildebrand will conduct random audits of your process and if there are failures, the identified Agent will need to explain why the approved protocol was not followed.
Glow Data Service offers a variety of onboarding methods to enable organisations to capture the required verification and consent from an energy consumer in order to access their smart meter data. SEC obligations mandate that no data can be retrieved from the smart meter(s) at from a property without explicit consent from the verified energy consumer (see definitions above).Glow's Agent Verification portal offers a trusted Agent the ability to take an energy consumer through the onboarding process, verifying an energy consumer's identity in order to capture their consent for their data to be accessed.
There are two means of verifying energy consumers using this Portal: by uploading a photo of the meter or IHD at the property during a site visit, or by uploading a proof of address documents.Both options are further described in the below sections.
A meter or IHD photo can be used for verification during an On-site onboarding journey, providing the energy consumer has a SMETS2 meter.The photo must clearly show the 16-digit identifier on the front of the meter. This is commonly referred to as an EUI.You can also navigate to the screen on an IHD at the property that shows either the EUI. This is usually found from the setting page.
What is the difference between SMETS1 and SMETS2?
There are two variants of smart meters: SMETS1 and SMETS2. SMETS1 is an older generation of meter, while SMETS2 meters are the current, second-generation standard. Both are supported by our service, however, SMETS1 meters do not have the EUI we require for verification printed on the front of the meter.If you are onboarding a customer at a property with SMETS1 meters, we will not present you with the option to upload a meter or IHD photo.
Proof of address documents are used for verification in the following scenarios:
1.
When completing Hybrid onboarding journey
2.
A meter or IHD photo cannot be provided during a site visit
3.
There is a SMETS1 meter on site
For Scenario 3, the Glow system will detect if a meter is SMETS1 based on the MPAN provided. An Agent will automatically be presented with the Proof of document upload screen when onboarding an energy consumer with SMETS1 meters.The below table defines the document options and their requirements regarding what information they must convey and the validity period. Only these options are acceptable; the regulator mandates that evidence is UK government approved.The document uploaded must show all the information in the Evidence Requirements column, and follow the Date Requirements outlined.
The energy consumer must consent to their data being accessed by an organisation and by Glow.Consent can be captured digitally at the end of the process, providing the energy consumer has an email address. Once verification has been completed, the Agent inputs the energy consumer's email address. They will receive a verification code, which is to be entered on the next screen in the process.After verifying the email address, the full terms and conditions appear on the next screen for the consumer to read.The Agent presents the energy consumer with the full terms and conditions to read and sign digitally. Once they have ticked the boxes and provided their signature, consent has been obtained.A copy of the terms and conditions will also be sent to their email; they should be encouraged to retain the document for their records. They should also be told that the document tells them how they can revoke / withdraw consent.
❓What if the energy consumer doesn't have an email address? In this case, onboarding cannot be completed via the Agent Portal, though functionality to support this case is coming soon.To onboard this energy consumer, you will need to securely share the verification evidence captured for that energy consumer and a copy of a signed physical consent form to the Glow team, alongside your chosen reference for this energy consumer's account.We will then manually create the account using the reference provided and process the verification documents.
The Agent Verification Portal can be used if the following criteria are met:
Consent can only be captured from the energy consumer during a site visit.
During site visits the Agent must use a mobile device (phone, tablet or laptop).
Mobile device must have the ability to capture images of the required evidence from the energy consumer and upload them to the Portal.
The Agent must carry printed copies of the Glow approved Consent Form and a full printed copy of our Shared Glow Terms and Conditions for customers who are not digitally enabled; the Terms & Conditions and a copy of the Consent Form must be left with the customer in this scenario.
The following descriptions assume that:
1.
the Agent is logged into the Portal, and
2.
the application the energy consumer is to be associated to is known (if the organisation has multiple projects in Glow or is managing different groups of users, it may have different applications configured. Select whichever is relevant. If not, proceed by onboarding all your energy consumers within the sole application.
Onboarding journeys supported by the Agent Verification Portal#
The Agent Verification Portal supports two onboarding journey and either can be used as appropriate to the scenario:
1.
On-site onboarding (at energy consumer's property)
2.
Hybrid onboarding (verification phase completed prior to site visit, requires organisation to have verification evidence collated - typically this will be Tenancy Agreements for the energy consumers).
Consent can only be captured on-site with the energy consumer. The following descriptions assume the Agent is logged into the Portal with their unique credentials.Optional: For organisations installing a Glow CAD at a property, while on-site the Agent can use the Portal to add a Glow device to the energy consumer’s account; full description later in this Guide.Later in this document we present full details behind the steps described below.
The Agent asks the energy consumer what evidence they have available to verify the energy consumer has the right to give consent to access the smart meter data at that property.
3.
Using the evidence provided, the Agent completes the onboarding process to create an account, upload verification evidence and capture consent from the energy consumer.
This two-step onboarding journey is appropriate where verification documents are available to the organisation (typically provided by the landlord in the form of Tenancy Agreements). The site visit is used to obtain the energy consumer's consent. The process is:
1.
An Agent obtains the required verification evidence for an energy consumer, which includes the energy consumer's name, address, MPxN and a document proving identity and proof of address. If the MPxN is not known, a lookup can be used during the onboarding journey.
2.
An Agent uses the Agent Verification Portal to create an account for an energy consumer and uploads the related verification evidence.
3.
If verification is passed, a record of the verification will be stored against the property's address as an indication that the account has verification in place.
4.
An Agent makes a site visit to the property to obtain consent from the energy consumer for their data to be accessed. Note: it does not need to be the same Agent who processed the verification evidence.
5.
While on-site the Agent selects 'Capture Consent' under Hybrid Onboarding in the Agent Portal. They then select the relevant verification submission for that property.
6.
To unlock the verification, the energy consumer will need to provide their first name and their postcode; this ensures that the person (energy consumer) is part of the process.
7.
The Agent captures consent from the energy consumer.
This journey is completed on site with the energy consumer who has verification evidence. Our set-up wizard splits the process into three stages (four, if optional Glow hardware is being added):
Start the onboarding process by creating an account for the energy consumer in your application. For an explanation on applications, see our guide to the Glow System here.
1.
Select 'On-site onboarding journey'
2.
Select the application in which you want to onboard the energy consumer if you have more than one. - if you have multiple projects or are managing different groups of users, you may have different applications configured within your organisation. Select whichever is relevant.
3.
Enter their MPxN (if you do not know the MPxN, select MPxN Look Up and proceed with either an EUI, postcode or UPRN for the property).
4.
Add a username or reference for the consumer; this creates an account for them in the application. It can be their email address or a unique reference you use to identify them in your systems. Alternatively, you can generate a random reference code for this user by selecting 'Generate reference'.
💡You must keep a record of which reference you assign to each energy consumer, as this information is required to located this energy consumer in our systems later on. You cannot search for an energy consumer based on their address details in the Glow platform - the username will be required.
With an energy consumer account, the Agent now needs to complete verification by uploading evidence that the energy consumer is a resident at that property and can therefore grant consent later on.
1.
Enter the energy consumer’s name and address.
2.
Upload evidence to verify the consumer’s residency and identity, and to confirm that the provided details are correct.
If the customer has a SMETS1 meter, which we will identify based on their provided MPAN, you will be asked to upload one document serving as a proof of address.
If a customer has a SMETS2 meter, you will be asked to upload either a photo of their electricity meter or an installed IHD from their supplier, OR a proof of address document.
3.
The uploaded evidence will be automatically checked. If there is an error, you will be prompted to resubmit the evidence. If the check is successful, you will be prompted to move on to the next step.
A detailed description of the available verification methods via the Agent Portal are outlined in the earlier section.
The final stage of the onboarding process is capturing consent to retrieve the smart meter data from the energy consumer. A detailed description of consent capture via the Agent Portal are outlined in the earlier Consent capture section.Once consent is granted, there is an option to add Glow hardware to their account. Please see the Optional Hardware section.
The Hybrid onboarding journey splits the functionality of the On-site onboarding journey into two steps, blending a remote document upload with an on-site consent granting process. This is helpful in cases where verification documents are available for energy consumers ahead of time.The two steps in the journey are:
1.
Create account and Upload verification documents, remote
2.
Capture consent, on-site
Step 1: Create account and Upload verification documents#
The agent uploads verification documents for an energy consumer they will be onboarding, with the intention of later obtaining consent on site.
1.
Select the application to be associated to (if more than one).
2.
Enter their MPxN (if you do not know the MPxN, select MPxN Look Up and proceed with either an EUI, postcode or UPRN for the property).
3.
Enter the energy consumer’s name and address. IMPORTANT: the name given will be used to unlock this verification submission during the site visit, so make sure it is accurate to who will be granting consent later on.
4.
Add a username or reference for the consumer to create an account for them in the application selected. This can be their email address or a unique reference you use to identify them in your systems, if you have one. Alternatively, you can generate a random reference code for this user by selecting 'Generate reference'.
5.
Upload a proof of address document as evidence to verify the consumer’s residency and identity, and to confirm that the provided details are correct. Supported types and criteria for a proof of address document are outlined in the above section and found here.
6.
If the uploaded document is approved, the verification will be completed and the approved verification will be added to a vault, labelled with the energy consumer's generated reference and their address.
The second step of the Hybrid onboarding journey is to capture consent during a site visit.
1.
Once on site, select 'Capture consent' from the home screen of the portal.
2.
You will be presented with a list of approved verifications, labelled with their reference and address. Select the relevant verification for the property.
3.
Have the energy consumer provide their postcode and their first name to 'unlock' the verification.
4.
Obtain consent as described in the previous Consent capture section.
Once consent is granted, there is an option to add Glow hardware to their account. If you are installing hardware on site, please see the Optional Hardware section.
Once the consent step has been completed successfully, the option will be given to add Glow hardware to the newly created account. If you are adding hardware, select ‘Add Hardware’ to proceed.You will be prompted to enter the Hardware ID for the Glow CAD you are installing - this is the MAC address on the unit. The MAC address is a 12-digit code located either on the top of the device if it is a Glow Delta, or on top of the second barcode on the back of the unit if it is a Display / CAD.Note: You MUST fulfil a SMETS1 CAD to a SMETS1 meter, and a SMETS2 CAD to a SMETS2 meter. Otherwise, the association will fail.Inputting the Hardware ID will automatically fulfil the CAD to the account - but it will not automatically result in a join unless the below criteria are met:
The WiFi connection process depends on the type of Glow device being installed.
Glow Display / CAD: Input WiFi credentials directly on the Display CAD.
Glow Delta CAD, WiFi variant: Use the Connect app to set WiFi credentials for the device.
Glow Delta CAD, NBIoT variant: Use the Connect app to set WiFi credentials for the device OR connect the device over NBIoT and send a command to the device to set the WiFi credentials remotely.
2. The CAD is in range of the energy consumer’s meters#
Ensure the CAD isn't too far from the meters - if there are many floors between the unit and the meters, or large pieces of metal, the unit may not be able to join.
There is a page in the Agent Portal that allows you to check the status of a Glow CAD - this can be found by navigating the the Menu at the top left of the Portal and selecting the Glow CAD Status Check.Using this tool, you can search a CAD using its MAC address to verify if it is:
Associated to an account
Connected to the internet (Online / Offline)
Joined to the meter
This helps an Agent check if a device is fully set up at a property before they leave the site.
