K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
My POCO is switching out to GE i210+C Smart Meters. I got mine the day before yesterday.
Yesterday I did a quick read and just got the feeling it was high. I keep pretty good tabs on my electric use. With the old mechanical meters I could time the rotation of the disc with a stop watch, do some math and get an 'instantaneous' value. I did that a few times, comparing the meter's value to a Kill-a-Watt connected to the only load on at the time and they were always identical.
Now, with no disc to time and no other value except accumulated KWh on the display, it's going to take more than a stopwatch and a calculator to determine accuracy.
Here is my dilema. As a learned electrician that has kept up on smart meters, I would consider such an observation (a gut reaction that the meter is reading high) from a customer to be a result of hype and not necessarily true. But also as a customer that has kept track of electrical use for over a year, I am now beginning to wonder. If I could do a quick test, which I no longer am able to, my fears could be laid to rest. This also means I cannot do a quick test for a customer at this point in time.
So, an Internet search led me to this product:
http://www.optimumstores.com/ted-5000-home-electricty-monitor-kits.html
Even with the above, since the Smart Meters only have a resolution of 1 KWh, a test would have to take a couple hours minimum to make a valid comparison.
So, back to my situation.
The last two October billing cycles (2011 and 2012) I used 310 and 336, respectively. Last December's billing was 389. So, let's take the 389 and divide by 30. I get 12.96, or let's say 13, per day.
Now, it's been less than 48 hours and my meter already reads 30, or 15 per day, and I am still short more than an hour to hit 48 hours.
What I am seeing is what any customer can see with no special equipment. The increase of 2KWh per day will certainly raise the price of the bill. Also, being 2 off out of 13 is a substantial percentage and worthy of further investigation.
For now, I am going to keep a log, as the meter is very easy to read. I have the usage history for a year on the Internet.
I also have a Kill-a-Watt to measure individual loads, just in case the meter is correct and something is using more energy than before. Right now it's on the fridge. It's been 18 hrs, and racked up 1.63 KWh. So there is 2.17. I still have over 12 to locate, and the fridge is the biggest load......except for maybe the computer?
The gist of the matter is, if I can't answer these questions for my own situation, how am I supposed to do it for a customer?
If all of a sudden their use increases by 15 percent and the only thing that has been changed is the meter, don't you think they will be looking for some answers?
Yesterday I did a quick read and just got the feeling it was high. I keep pretty good tabs on my electric use. With the old mechanical meters I could time the rotation of the disc with a stop watch, do some math and get an 'instantaneous' value. I did that a few times, comparing the meter's value to a Kill-a-Watt connected to the only load on at the time and they were always identical.
Now, with no disc to time and no other value except accumulated KWh on the display, it's going to take more than a stopwatch and a calculator to determine accuracy.
Here is my dilema. As a learned electrician that has kept up on smart meters, I would consider such an observation (a gut reaction that the meter is reading high) from a customer to be a result of hype and not necessarily true. But also as a customer that has kept track of electrical use for over a year, I am now beginning to wonder. If I could do a quick test, which I no longer am able to, my fears could be laid to rest. This also means I cannot do a quick test for a customer at this point in time.
So, an Internet search led me to this product:
http://www.optimumstores.com/ted-5000-home-electricty-monitor-kits.html
Even with the above, since the Smart Meters only have a resolution of 1 KWh, a test would have to take a couple hours minimum to make a valid comparison.
So, back to my situation.
The last two October billing cycles (2011 and 2012) I used 310 and 336, respectively. Last December's billing was 389. So, let's take the 389 and divide by 30. I get 12.96, or let's say 13, per day.
Now, it's been less than 48 hours and my meter already reads 30, or 15 per day, and I am still short more than an hour to hit 48 hours.
What I am seeing is what any customer can see with no special equipment. The increase of 2KWh per day will certainly raise the price of the bill. Also, being 2 off out of 13 is a substantial percentage and worthy of further investigation.
For now, I am going to keep a log, as the meter is very easy to read. I have the usage history for a year on the Internet.
I also have a Kill-a-Watt to measure individual loads, just in case the meter is correct and something is using more energy than before. Right now it's on the fridge. It's been 18 hrs, and racked up 1.63 KWh. So there is 2.17. I still have over 12 to locate, and the fridge is the biggest load......except for maybe the computer?
The gist of the matter is, if I can't answer these questions for my own situation, how am I supposed to do it for a customer?
If all of a sudden their use increases by 15 percent and the only thing that has been changed is the meter, don't you think they will be looking for some answers?
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