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Re: [TCML] Smart Meters and TCs



On 5/26/11 8:53 AM, nickobert testein wrote:
Old PGE meters only metered half the field, the other is sent back to
distribution networks. The new meters don't actually meter watts any
longer but conservative coulombs forces, there are not time based
units. Not only are TCs more expensive to run, so are all energy start
compliant appliances and most cell phone/computer chargers.

Huh?

standard electrodynamic meters (with the spinning disk) measure active power by mechanically integrating instantaneous current*voltage. Even 30 years ago, the ones with electronic interfaces and for Time of Use metering just encoded the wheel turns and managed it digitally.

Today, the smart meters do the integration electronically, but they do it with measuring I and V and then digitizing and multiplying in software.

yes, there have been people with wildly fluctuating bills, but I'm pretty sure that's not from the underlying power measurement, but in the incorrect software that manages billing and reporting.

From KGO-TV
"However, under intense questioning from Sen. Dean Florez, D-Kern County, PG&E confirmed there have been other problems. For example, 9,000 of its SmartMeters have not communicated energy usage back to PG&E, more than 11,300 SmartMeters simply failed to work and another 23,000 SmartMeters were installed improperly."


---
from SF Chronicle

"The most common SmartMeter problem boils down to human error. Or rather, several different errors, most involving meters that measure natural gas usage.

PG&E SmartMeters that record electricity use are entirely new devices that replace old, analog predecessors. Gas SmartMeters, in contrast, are small modules that installers attach to existing gas meters to record and relay data.

PG&E found about 14,000 modules that weren't attached tightly enough to their meters. While that sounds like a minor issue, it caused a magnet inside each module to be jarred loose. Those modules registered no gas usage at all, Burt said."


On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 7:57 AM, Jim Lux<jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
On 5/25/11 10:21 PM, nickobert testein wrote:

They cost more to run with smart meters.
_

Why would that be?  smart meters measure active power, just like mechanical
meters.  They're pretty immune to odd current waveforms (given all the phase
control dimmers, etc.)

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