poco knows when you pull digital meter? remote signal?

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Asked one of the poco employees that was changing meters in the area (upgrading to digital meters so readers can just do the drive-by thing) if the poco would know if i ever pulled a meter out of the socket myself. He told me yes, they would know because of a special signal. how could this be, how would it ever work, what is the difference if i want to shut off all the breakers and kill all loads. Is there really a signal informs the poco if its disassembled from its socket?
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
It may just be a stored message, retrieved at the next meter scan, and not a real-time alert.
 

LEO2854

Esteemed Member
Location
Ma
Asked one of the poco employees that was changing meters in the area (upgrading to digital meters so readers can just do the drive-by thing) if the poco would know if i ever pulled a meter out of the socket myself. He told me yes, they would know because of a special signal. how could this be, how would it ever work, what is the difference if i want to shut off all the breakers and kill all loads. Is there really a signal informs the poco if its disassembled from its socket?

If you shut down all the breakers the meter still has power :)
if you pull the meter the meter will have no ac and take your picture and the guy in the power company truck down the street around the corner with a cup of hot coffee and the best news paper will find you and ''FIX'' YOU GOOD:grin:
JUST KIDDING But they have battery back up ,so look out!
 

hurk27

Senior Member
Some areas are using a IP over power lines to transmit real time data back to the POCO, I have heard that there are some power company's who have already installed the infrastructure to do this and its in operation in many areas, here we are just starting to get the digital meters installed, but I don't think the up-link is done yet. basically it will remove the need for meter readers, as well as inform them of possible energy theft, we have been required to notify the POCO when we need to pull a meter for sometime now, and I'm being told this new system will only require us to call first, instead of the call within 24 hours like it is now.

I got a feeling it is also going to target DYS work.

Also it can report outages automaticly, and show how wide spread it is by the number of non-reporting meters.
 

LEO2854

Esteemed Member
Location
Ma
Some areas are using a IP over power lines to transmit real time data back to the POCO, I have heard that there are some power company's who have already installed the infrastructure to do this and its in operation in many areas, here we are just starting to get the digital meters installed, but I don't think the up-link is done yet. basically it will remove the need for meter readers, as well as inform them of possible energy theft, we have been required to notify the POCO when we need to pull a meter for sometime now, and I'm being told this new system will only require us to call first, instead of the call within 24 hours like it is now.

I got a feeling it is also going to target DYS work.

Also it can report outages automaticly, and show how wide spread it is by the number of non-reporting meters.

its all about how they can get us to pay more money for using power at peek times ,, like when we need it!
 

Mgraw

Senior Member
Location
Opelousas, Louisiana
Occupation
Electrician
In an area not far from me they are installing 2000 "smart meters" with A/C controls as an experiment. At peak times they plan on shutting down A/C units for 20 minutes at a time. They will shut down as many as needed to bring consumption down.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
its all about how they can get us to pay more money for using power at peek times ,, like when we need it!

Would you rather they raise all our rates considerably to up size all the infrastructure so we can all be wasteful at the same time or would you rather they offer reduced rates for off peak time?
 

mcclary's electrical

Senior Member
Location
VA
Dominion does not use them, but Rappahannock does use them.
ANd they DO MONITOR in real time.

My buddy pulled a meter to do some work. The meter reader showed up 15 minutes later and offered to swiftly press charges if he ever pulled another meter again without a permit
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
Digital meters come in various flavors.

Some are just that, regular meters with digital displays.

Some are remote read meters, all they are able to do is send the meter reading via PLC or wireless. POCO can't tell if they are pulled unless they are queried and give no response.

Some are smart meters that monitor use in real time, can actually turn things off or on (like air conditioners) and also can sense and report voltage lost to the meter when it's pulled in real time. Lost voltage can be due to an outage and being able to see exactly which meters are down does wonders when trying to locate a fault.
 

danickstr

Senior Member
If you designed a cap or spade insert to go over the two sets of female stabs in the meter pan, you could rig a thin wire to supply the connection to the meter while you worked on the load side. Just saying....Keep it thin to burn out quickly and easily in case of a misstep. or put a fusible link on it.
 

djohns6

Senior Member
Location
Louisiana
If you designed a cap or spade insert to go over the two sets of female stabs in the meter pan, you could rig a thin wire to supply the connection to the meter while you worked on the load side. Just saying....Keep it thin to burn out quickly and easily in case of a misstep. or put a fusible link on it.
So now we can come here for advice on how to break the law ? :confused:
 

djohns6

Senior Member
Location
Louisiana
In an area not far from me they are installing 2000 "smart meters" with A/C controls as an experiment. At peak times they plan on shutting down A/C units for 20 minutes at a time. They will shut down as many as needed to bring consumption down.
The local Co Op here has had that technology for years . They call it Load Management , and it is to keep down peak demand . Saves them , and us , money . They even give you a monthly credit of $5 per A/C unit for allowing them to install the eqpt .
.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Most of the REAs in this area are changing to the digital. No meter reader is needed. I see one of the POCOs has a device that sits between the meter and socket that is used for problem clients. Remote disconnect & reconnect.

Metering for larger hp ag customers (irrigation wells) cycle thru several different displays of information.
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
I don't know how it actually works, but if I were to design a tamper function to the meter, I would have a internal factory microswitch with a plunger that is activated when the meter is pressed against the jaws, and open when the meter is removed. That would either log it for the next meter reading, or with the meters with constant monitoring, send an alarm.
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
Georgia Power was upgrading their meters in the neighborhood that I was rewiring the boss's daughters house, they were even changing the meter on my temporary pole. The meter installer said that the new meters could piggy back info between each other. If one could not communicate with the host, it would relay the info to the nearest meter that could. They were basically having him eliminate his own job, as he normally read the meters.
 
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