Smart Meter Texas SSL Certificate Verification Error

[NateEaton]

The problem

Smart Meter Texas integration has been working (including with Energy Dashboard since 40348 was resolved but as of late yesterday, is now reporting Failed to Connect with an SSL Certificate Error.

What is version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?

core-2021.10.2 and core-2021.10.4

What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?

core-2021.10.2

What type of installation are you running?

Home Assistant OS

Integration causing the issue

Smart Meter Texas

Link to integration documentation on our website

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/smart_meter_texas/

Example YAML snippet

No response

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

Logger: homeassistant.config_entries
Source: components/smart_meter_texas/__init__.py:49
First occurred: 12:59:56 PM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: 12:59:56 PM

Error setting up entry NateEaton for smart_meter_texas
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/aiohttp/connector.py", line 969, in _wrap_create_connection
    return await self._loop.create_connection(*args, **kwargs)  # type: ignore  # noqa
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/asyncio/base_events.py", line 1081, in create_connection
    transport, protocol = await self._create_connection_transport(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/asyncio/base_events.py", line 1111, in _create_connection_transport
    await waiter
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/asyncio/sslproto.py", line 528, in data_received
    ssldata, appdata = self._sslpipe.feed_ssldata(data)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/asyncio/sslproto.py", line 188, in feed_ssldata
    self._sslobj.do_handshake()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/ssl.py", line 944, in do_handshake
    self._sslobj.do_handshake()
ssl.SSLCertVerificationError: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: Hostname mismatch, certificate is not valid for 'smartmetertexas.com'. (_ssl.c:1129)

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/config_entries.py", line 304, in async_setup
    result = await component.async_setup_entry(hass, self)  # type: ignore
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/smart_meter_texas/__init__.py", line 49, in async_setup_entry
    await smart_meter_texas_data.client.authenticate()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/__init__.py", line 196, in authenticate
    await self._init_websession()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/__init__.py", line 147, in _init_websession
    await self.websession.get(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/aiohttp/client.py", line 520, in _request
    conn = await self._connector.connect(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/aiohttp/connector.py", line 535, in connect
    proto = await self._create_connection(req, traces, timeout)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/aiohttp/connector.py", line 892, in _create_connection
    _, proto = await self._create_direct_connection(req, traces, timeout)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/aiohttp/connector.py", line 1051, in _create_direct_connection
    raise last_exc
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/aiohttp/connector.py", line 1020, in _create_direct_connection
    transp, proto = await self._wrap_create_connection(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/aiohttp/connector.py", line 971, in _wrap_create_connection
    raise ClientConnectorCertificateError(req.connection_key, exc) from exc
aiohttp.client_exceptions.ClientConnectorCertificateError: Cannot connect to host smartmetertexas.com:443 ssl:True [SSLCertVerificationError: (1, "[SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: Hostname mismatch, certificate is not valid for 'smartmetertexas.com'. (_ssl.c:1129)")]

Additional information

This integration has been working fine since July and stopped working last night (2021.10.11 about 9pm CT), still not working this afternoon even after updating Core from 2021.10.2 to 2021.10.4. I am able to log into my account on smartmetertexas.com.

July

Yesterday

[grahamwetzler]

No, this issue is not solved in the SMT package.

[chrisdfw]

Got an easier workaround for all that. Just change the "check_hostname" from True to False and keep the "BASE_HOSTNAME" as "smartmetertexas.com". To change those values without having to mess with the HASS container I just created a Custom Integration combining the Core integration and the API with the adjusted parameters; https://github.com/rfnovo/Smart_Meter_Texas

Thank you this is very helpful

[monkmad]

@mwjones1971 I get that too, i've yet to be able to explain it. However the general code for HA has a 30 minute limiter, so it only checks once every 30 minutes. If a check-in fails for whatever reason, it's a full hour before the value is updated. Plus, during a multi-hour missing dataset, i believe they're doing maintenance, so we WONT get that data, not until the maintenance is resolved.

@johnavich Is there any post-processing or "averaging" that can be done to smooth/flatten these spikes caused by gaps in SMT updates? Like y'all, I'm also observing spikes in hourly consumption when the integration fails to fetch data for any amount of time greater than 1 hour. Couldn't there be a logic to just compare the last timestamp when we received data, take the diff between current and last received value, and do a simple average across the intervening time period?

I don't completely understand how SMT, utility_meter, and the HA Energy feature work together; so the above might not be relevant to the SMT integration itself, but rather how HA handles gaps in utility_meter data. Please advise if I should open a separate issue/thread to discuss this further.

[jes1417]

I've updated my patch automation since I would often upgrade HA, get distracted, forget to restart a second time and then miss out on a bunch of SMT data. I now update a binary sensor when, during upgrades, the const.py is updated by smt_host.sh. In a new automation, I then trigger the second restart based off of this binary sensor. I'm hoping others find this useful.

automation:
  - alias: Update hostname and hosts for Smart Meter Texas
    trigger:
    - platform: homeassistant
      event: start
    action:
    - service: shell_command.smt_host
    - service: shell_command.hosts
    mode: single
  - alias: Restart on SMT Host Update
    trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: binary_sensor.smt_host_updated
      to: 'on'
      for: "00:00:30"
    action:
    - service: homeassistant.restart
    mode: single

shell_command:
  hosts: bash /config/hosts.sh
  smt_host: bash /config/smt_host.sh

/config/hosts.sh

#!/bin/bash
if ! grep -q 12.153.148.59 '/etc/hosts'; 
then
    echo '12.153.148.59 www.smartmetertexas.com' >> /etc/hosts
fi

/config/smt_host.sh

#!/bin/bash
if ! grep -q www '/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/const.py'; 
then
    sed -i 's/"smartmetertexas.com"/"www.smartmetertexas.com"/' '/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/const.py'
    curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer LongLivedAccessTokenFromProfile" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"state": "on", "attributes": {"friendly_name": "SMT Host Updated"}}' http://127.0.0.1:8123/api/states/binary_sensor.smt_host_updated
fi

edit: while it worked out in testing and appears to have fired after an actual update the restart didn't happen, I've added that the trigger must be on for 30 seconds hoping that solves the issue

update: I've just updated to 2022.3.6 and the second restart happened, it looks like waiting a bit may have solved this

Running the new beta and getting this error in the logs now.

Logger: homeassistant.components.shell_command
Source: /usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/shell_command/__init__.py:115
Integration: Shell Command (documentation, issues)
First occurred: 4:45:54 PM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: 4:45:54 PM

Error running command: `bash /config/smt_host.sh`, return code: 1
NoneType: None

[mwjones1971]

Running the new beta and getting this error in the logs now.

Logger: homeassistant.components.shell_command
Source: /usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/shell_command/__init__.py:115
Integration: Shell Command (documentation, issues)
First occurred: 4:45:54 PM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: 4:45:54 PM

Error running command: `bash /config/smt_host.sh`, return code: 1
NoneType: None

To make it work in HA 2022.7.0 and later, change the calls in /config/smt_host.sh from python3.9 to python3.10:

/config/smt_host.sh

#!/bin/bash
if ! grep -q www '/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/const.py'; 
then
    sed -i 's/"smartmetertexas.com"/"www.smartmetertexas.com"/' '/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/const.py'
    curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer LongLivedAccessTokenFromProfile" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"state": "on", "attributes": {"friendly_name": "SMT Host Updated"}}' http://127.0.0.1:8123/api/states/binary_sensor.smt_host_updated
fi

[charkssmith]

I can get this to work using the scripts provided for set_host.sh and hosts.sh, however I have to do it manually after a reboot. I tried the automation method provided but it doesn't seem to want to actually run the shell_command. I get a error of 1. Maybe I am putting the code in the wrong place? I am placing all of the automation and shell_command codes in the configuration.yaml, is that correct?

[chrisdfw]

I can get this to work using the scripts provided for set_host.sh and hosts.sh, however I have to do it manually after a reboot. I tried the automation method provided but it doesn't seem to want to actually run the shell_command. I get a error of 1. Maybe I am putting the code in the wrong place? I am placing all of the automation and shell_command codes in the configuration.yaml, is that correct?

I would try this

https://github.com/rfnovo/Smart_Meter_Texas

[NateEaton]

Ok, so in the past 24 hours the SMT integration has stopped working again, even after a host reboot and then an HA restart, all repeated several times over several hours. When I checked the smt_host.sh shell script, it now reports that there is no file: /usr/loca/lib/python3.10/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/const.py

I don't see any python under /usr/local/lib and there is no smart_meter_texas under /usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages.

I could see that perhaps this changed with some update but all this was working yesterday (I have energy readings through yesterday evening) and yet the last update I did was core_2022.9.3 on the 14th.

Anyone else having this issue? Or have you all moved to one of the alternatives? I would really prefer sticking with the "native" integration (even with this kludge) over adding a custom component or going back to the Node-Red solution.

[WWE-Corey]

Mine quit working as well - when I installed that latest update this morning. I have not looked through the logs yet though.

On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 3:01 PM Nate Eaton @.***> wrote:

Ok, so in the past 24 hours the SMT integration has stopped working again, even after a host reboot and then an HA restart, all repeated several times over several hours. When I checked the smt_host.sh shell script, it now reports that there is no file: /usr/loca/lib/python3.10/site-packages/smart_meter_texas/const.py

I don't see any python under /usr/local/lib and there is no smart_meter_texas under /usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages.

I could see that perhaps this changed with some update but all this was working yesterday (I have energy readings through yesterday evening) and yet the last update I did was core_2022.9.3 on the 14th.

Anyone else having this issue? Or have you all moved to one of the alternatives? I would really prefer sticking with the "native" integration (even with this kludge) over adding a custom component or going back to the Node-Red solution.

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[Indianb0y016]

@NateEaton @WWE-Corey Im running the smart meter texas reading through NodeRed, and it worked really well as a replacement for the HA SMT integration. Readings were polled yesterday per usual, EXCEPT for today. So its not just you. I have a strong feeling they've made changes to the back-end and we are out of luck for now.

[loopy321]

The site: https://smartmetertexas.com/api/user/authenticate is down - was working yesterday. My last reading was 11:47pm on 9/16/22.

Looks like the whole site is down.

[zshahan]

Yea, noticed this too. If you check the main site, they have a maintenance message posted, which I assume is related. https://www.smartmetertexas.com/

[NateEaton]

@NateEaton @WWE-Corey Im running the smart meter texas reading through NodeRed, and it worked really well as a replacement for the HA SMT integration. Readings were polled yesterday per usual, EXCEPT for today. So its not just you. I have a strong feeling they've made changes to the back-end and we are out of luck for now.

Thanks. I usually check the SMT site but got sidetracked looking to see that the change to Python 3.10 was still working. As for NodeRed, I used to use that but my HA system seemed more stable not running NodeRed at all (it's a Pi 4B).

I'll keep an eye out for when SMT is back up and see if mine works again.

[WWE-Corey]

FYI - Mine started working again late last night. I did nothing.

On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 4:27 PM Nate Eaton @.***> wrote:

@NateEaton https://github.com/NateEaton @WWE-Corey https://github.com/WWE-Corey Im running the smart meter texas reading through NodeRed, and it worked really well as a replacement for the HA SMT integration. Readings were polled yesterday per usual, EXCEPT for today. So its not just you. I have a strong feeling they've made changes to the back-end and we are out of luck for now.

Thanks. I usually check the SMT site but got sidetracked looking to see that the change to Python 3.10 was still working. As for NodeRed, I used to use that but my HA system seemed more stable not running NodeRed at all (it's a Pi 4B).

I'll keep an eye out for when SMT is back up and see if mine works again.

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[NateEaton]

Mine did, too.

[ChrisTracy]

Just a notice that this cert is set to expire in ten days. I sent them an email with some screenshots in hopes that it will get to the right person by the time it is renewed. Here is the email if you want to help draw attention to this issue and hopefully get this fixed.

support@smartmetertexas.com

[cbarth3]

Just tried to add the integration just for giggles and it worked! It created 1 entity and it seems to be pulling in data.

[kckopp]

Just tried to add the integration just for giggles and it worked! It created 1 entity and it seems to be pulling in data.

Yep, they've included the SAN for "smartmetertexas.com" in their new cert.

[johnavich]

its about time! thank you for everyone keeping on them over the last year... its been a tough road for some folks, what with all the workarounds in place, but i'm glad this is working to our advantage!

[Indianb0y016]

Just tried to add the integration just for giggles and it worked! It created 1 entity and it seems to be pulling in data.

Yep, they've included the SAN for "smartmetertexas.com" in their new cert.

This is great news, but what does this ultimately mean? Does it mean HA can now poll the cloud reliably or is this just another band-aid to make workarounds work? Im curious. Thanks!

[ChrisTracy]

@Indianb0y016 this is an official fix from Smart Meter Texas. No workaround just a certificate that was renewed "correctly" (not the way I would do it) by Smart Meter Texas.

[Indianb0y016]

@Indianb0y016 this is an official fix from Smart Meter Texas. No workaround just a certificate that was renewed "correctly" (not the way I would do it) by Smart Meter Texas.

Ahh okay I see. So basically, they renewed their cert, which was done in such a way that allowed the HA Core integration to pull data from it. I see. Thank you for explaining!

[meyerrj]

About time they put their base domain in the certificate!

Assuming they don't route https://smartmetertexas.com through their Akamai Edge, the integration could be configured for just https://smartmetertexas.com instead of https://www.smartmetertexas.com, and this should resolve this issue.

I've submitted a PR for the library to change the domain: https://github.com/grahamwetzler/smart-meter-texas/pull/135

[kellcomnet2]

FYI broken all day for me appears to be a continuing ssl cert issue

[vcdx71]

And this issue is back :(

[cbarth3]

Yep I see no energy for the last 2 days. 😕

[miwagner1]

Base domain no longer has a certificate properly signed…

[jgedeon120]

It looks like smartmetertexas.com is no longer listening on 443. The only access seems to now be www.smartmetertexas.com as the www domain resolves to a different IP address than the base domain.

On Sun, Nov 13, 2022 at 11:40 PM Michael Wagner @.***> wrote:

Base domain no longer has a certificate properly signed…

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[glynweston]

Does anyone know if any of the unofficial integrations are still working?

[spraguej248]

I run the current version in HACS and it also stopped working a couple days ago.

On Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 7:41 AM glynweston @.***> wrote:

Does anyone know if any of the unofficial integrations are still working?

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[vcdx71]

I tried the one based on node red and it doesn't work either, it's because SMT closed access to smartmetertexas.com directly, looks like only akamai can access now and the API endpoint these integrations use isn't available via that route.

[meyerrj]

Their HTTPS port is still technically open, but it appears they've restricted it to Akamai traffic only. I was always afraid this might happen. 😣

[kellcomnet2]

My c# based scraper ran into the same issue, the akamai has a cookie check that has to pass to call the authenticate api now and it does both javascript and images for the cookies. I ended up using a browser automation to grab the cookies and send send them along with the api calls and that works. I do not know python but is there a headless browser automation that could be used to grab the cookies?

[somesmart]

you can use this to import cookies from a browser session into python: https://github.com/borisbabic/browser_cookie3

[chrisdfw]

Has anyone looked at this? Smart_Meter_Texas_Interface_Guid (https://www.smartmetertexas.com/Smart_Meter_Texas_Interface_Guide.pdf) `

[kellcomnet2]

Has anyone looked at this? Smart_Meter_Texas_Interface_Guid (https://www.smartmetertexas.com/Smart_Meter_Texas_Interface_Guide.pdf) `

I have, you have to have static ip, pay for a digital cert( not ssl) and several other hoops.

[mrand]

I have, you have to have static ip, pay for a digital cert( not ssl) and several other hoops.

It's bad, but not quite that bad.

From what I've seen, Dynamic IP addresses rarely change if you maintain your connection to your ISP, so that's probably the least of the concern.

If you subscribe to Nabu Casa, you can re-use that certificate, so you don't have to pay. The most annoying thing is that those cert's expire every three months, so you get the pleasure of having to email the new certificate 4 times a year and interacting with the overseas IBM sub-contractors to get that updated. I suppose you could use a cron job or otherwise automate this.

If anyone wants to go this route, I wrote up a few more details here: https://github.com/mrand/smart_meter_texas

[andrewchumchal]

@mrand If i use CloudlFlare Argo Tunnel with there SSL for homeassisant and all of my other services. How does that work as far SSL Cert and IP address?

[Bostwickenator]

Hey all. Only the authentication endpoint is checking the cookies. You can call api/usage/interval etc with no cookies set and requests succeed as they previously did. So you don't need to clone all the cookies into your scrapers. You just need to pass in a valid token. Slightly easier problem (for now).

[NateEaton]

I have, you have to have static ip, pay for a digital cert( not ssl) and several other hoops.

It's bad, but not quite that bad.

From what I've seen, Dynamic IP addresses rarely change if you maintain your connection to your ISP, so that's probably the least of the concern.

If you subscribe to Nabu Casa, you can re-use that certificate, so you don't have to pay. The most annoying thing is that those cert's expire every three months, so you get the pleasure of having to email the new certificate 4 times a year and interacting with the overseas IBM sub-contractors to get that updated. I suppose you could use a cron job or otherwise automate this.

If anyone wants to go this route, I wrote up a few more details here: https://github.com/mrand/smart_meter_texas

Thanks, Marc. That's it for me... so long SMT in HA. This data is just not worth that much trouble and I've got too many other things that need my time and attention. I do appreciate the effort and info, though.

Best of luck to everyone here.

Cheers, Nate

[grahamwetzler]

It was nice for the few weeks when this started working again, but I don't see a way to fix this going forward. We should probably just consider pulling this integration from HA 😢

[atkjedi]

Really wish this worked, but have since moved on to a hardware solution that reports locally. Do appreciate all the folks here constantly troubleshooting and providing work-arounds!

[WWE-Corey]

What hardware solution did you go with?

On Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 2:23 PM atkjedi @.***> wrote:

Really wish this worked, but have since moved on to a hardware solution that reports locally. Do appreciate all the folks here constantly troubleshooting and providing work-arounds!

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[loopy321]

I am using the Emporia Vue 2. Works great and has an integration (although cloud based, but can flash custom firmware to make all local).

[Bostwickenator]

I know this will sound naive but has anyone talked to SMT about this?

I could understand why they would have security concerns from automated access to the superuser dashboards retail electric providers, ercot, and others have. Maybe they could be convinced to lower the controls for retail users.

Additionally I notice this integration is getting the live meter reads. That will cause actual load on their reporting infra. I've been using this data through my own integration where I just pull the last day's 15m interval data once each night. This doesn't cause their system to have to request additional reads.

Maybe they'd be willing to allow access (or drop requirements like a static IP) if the scope of access was lower.

[twmcelroy]

My c# based scraper ran into the same issue, the akamai has a cookie check that has to pass to call the authenticate api now and it does both javascript and images for the cookies. I ended up using a browser automation to grab the cookies and send send them along with the api calls and that works. I do not know python but is there a headless browser automation that could be used to grab the cookies?

How is your webscraper going? Has that been able to bring in the data?

[kellcomnet2]

I'll work on extending it to submit to mqtt this weekend, currently it writes to mssql if it works I'll look into posting the full code

On Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 5:25 PM Travis McElroy @.***> wrote:

My c# based scraper ran into the same issue, the akamai has a cookie check that has to pass to call the authenticate api now and it does both javascript and images for the cookies. I ended up using a browser automation to grab the cookies and send send them along with the api calls and that works. I do not know python but is there a headless browser automation that could be used to grab the cookies?

How is your webscraper going? Has that been able to bring in the data?

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[Bostwickenator]

I've been trying Selenium with Chrome just now but Akamai detecting that. Interested to know what your automation looks like.

[kellcomnet2]

I'm using eo.webbrowser

On Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 5:55 PM Alexander Gee @.***> wrote:

I've been trying Selenium with Chrome just now but Akamai detecting that. Interested to know what your automation looks like.

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[mwjones1971]

I, like @loopy321 and @atkjedi abandoned using SMT, mainly because now that I own a house, I could put a hardware solution in (in my case I went with Sense, which not only gives me overall usage, but it also has some AI device detection and will give you usage at a device level without a dedicated monitor for that device, and it can feed all of that back into HA). I also went down that road because where my house is, the electric provider (a co-op) does not participate in SMT.

That said, SMT is perfect for those that are renting since there's no on-premises hardware required (like I was before buying the house). It is sad that the SMT team really wants to be retail customer unfriendly with these integrations and prevent customers from really being able to use the data.