Smart power meters.

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richms

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#549292 24-Nov-2011 11:18

jonherries:

That being said, Powershop seem like pretty good chaps with great customer service. I am surprised more geekzoners aren't with them.

Figures dont stack up or I would switch to them based on their proactive customer service.

I would have to be under $250 a month to have powershop start to be approaching saving money, Not interested in playing games chasing specials on facebook etc for what ends up being a day or 2's worth of power at a 10-15% saving.

The problem with reading the flashing LED on them is that if you have 2 feeds like I do then you cant differentiate them.

I am quite p**ed with the smart meter install. I used to have 2 meters, one on a 63A breaker for the house and a second on a 30A fuse for the shed. Now I have both on the 63A with it then going thru the 30A fuse for the shed. Not an issue now as I have only 1 flatmate in the house. When I complained I was told that it was never supposed to have been installed the way that it was with the 2 separate meters with separate circuit protection.

Anyway, the reason for the seperate meters was that the shed is a business expense, so now to read it I have to open the meterbox up and push the button on the meter several times to get to the other register as all I get out of genesis online is a total for both of them, which is now split into day and night rate as they claim that is a better plan for me.

Richard rich.ms

gzt

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#549300 24-Nov-2011 11:29

richms: I am quite p**ed with the smart meter install. I used to have 2 meters, one on a 63A breaker for the house and a second on a 30A fuse for the shed. Now I have both on the 63A with it then going thru the 30A fuse for the shed. Not an issue now as I have only 1 flatmate in the house. When I complained I was told that it was never supposed to have been installed the way that it was with the 2 separate meters with separate circuit protection.

The explanation from your provider has the ring of untruth to me. Call Powershop and see if they want to get that sorted for you to get the shed business on their books.

keewee01

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#549306 24-Nov-2011 11:38

gzt:
richms: Accept that your free ride is over and that others are not subsidizing your usage anymore

The post you are responding to indicates there may be a simple billing error in this case. Many meters being replaced are not that old.

Yes, The meters had already been replaced about 3/4 years ago. Had happened completely out of the blue and with no warning by the power company that had previously serviced the property (up until 5 years ago).

So free ride should have finished back then...

keewee01

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#549317 24-Nov-2011 11:51

wongtop:
keewee01: OMG - just got my first bill on the new meter and it was over $400!!!!!!!!! WTF!?

I don't think I've ever had an Oct/Nov bill even remotely close to that. I am going to have to do some more digging as it looks like they have a huge amount of units on the old meter and a similar number on the new meter (but my previous bill was an actual, not an estimate) and we've been on the new meter for a 2-days short of a month now, so sometime isn't right.

If you are really concerned about your meter accuracy you could do a rough check;

1. Most smart meter displays roll through several readings (date, time, counter, etc). One of these is sometimes the instant power (kW) being consumed. See if you can find this.

2. Once you have found this switch everything in your house off at the wall (TVs, fridges, microwaves, computers, hot water cylinder). The instant kW reading should go down to almost zero (less than 0.1 kW) unless you have left something on.

3. The largest power consumption from a plug in appliance is 2.4 kW. Most fan heaters, large oil column heaters, and even some kettles are rated at this. Turn one of these on (everything else should still be switched off). If the instant power reading on the meter now reads more than 10% higher than this (2.6 kW or higher) then maybe there might be a problem with the setup of your meter. Maybe you could buy/borrow one of those plug in power monitors to see what your "test" appliance actually does consume and whether this agrees with your meter.

4. Have fun resetting all the clocks on your microwave, oven, etc

Resetting all the clocks might be well worth it if I can find the cause of the power drain!!! Usually by now my bill would only be around $250 (or maybe even lower)... I think they've stuffed up somewhere as the guy who installed the smart meter had to come back a week later to check something out as Genesis claimed he had got his numbers wrong or something... I wonder if they've picked figures out of thin air as the final readings on the old meters... must check the date of the previous reading as the units on the bill for 1.5 weeks of the old meters is a lot higher than the units used on the new meters for 3.5 weeks...

Something is definitely fishy...

richms

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#549330 24-Nov-2011 12:08

They photograph the old meter before removal so it should be quite clear what the value of that was.

Just do the usual thing of taking reading morning and night and see if you can see when it has the most usage. The readings that you get from the genesis website are delayed to a weekly basis so practically useless.

A friends business had issues with their smart meter install because they set the multiplier wrong for their transformers, but thats not an issue for domestic installs so it should be 100% accurate unless it has gone faulty.

Richard rich.ms

keewee01

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#549335 24-Nov-2011 12:14

richms: They photograph the old meter before removal so it should be quite clear what the value of that was.

Just do the usual thing of taking reading morning and night and see if you can see when it has the most usage. The readings that you get from the genesis website are delayed to a weekly basis so practically useless.

A friends business had issues with their smart meter install because they set the multiplier wrong for their transformers, but thats not an issue for domestic installs so it should be 100% accurate unless it has gone faulty.

Unfortunately the installer lost all the photos off his memory when he removed it from the camera. (Apparently his camera deletes them when he removes the memory card!? - at least that is what he told me...)

Will keep an eye on the usage...

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codyc1515

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#549336 24-Nov-2011 12:16

keewee01:
richms: They photograph the old meter before removal so it should be quite clear what the value of that was.

Just do the usual thing of taking reading morning and night and see if you can see when it has the most usage. The readings that you get from the genesis website are delayed to a weekly basis so practically useless.

A friends business had issues with their smart meter install because they set the multiplier wrong for their transformers, but thats not an issue for domestic installs so it should be 100% accurate unless it has gone faulty.

Unfortunately the installer lost all the photos off his memory when he removed it from the camera. (Apparently his camera deletes them when he removes the memory card!? - at least that is what he told me...)

Will keep an eye on the usage...

So he has no proof then?

keewee01

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#549338 24-Nov-2011 12:20

codyc1515:
keewee01:
richms: They photograph the old meter before removal so it should be quite clear what the value of that was.

Just do the usual thing of taking reading morning and night and see if you can see when it has the most usage. The readings that you get from the genesis website are delayed to a weekly basis so practically useless.

A friends business had issues with their smart meter install because they set the multiplier wrong for their transformers, but thats not an issue for domestic installs so it should be 100% accurate unless it has gone faulty.

Unfortunately the installer lost all the photos off his memory when he removed it from the camera. (Apparently his camera deletes them when he removes the memory card!? - at least that is what he told me...)

Will keep an eye on the usage...

So he has no proof then?

By my understanding, not any more

timmmay

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#549373 24-Nov-2011 12:53

If they can't prove significantly increased usage they should waive the bill.

vexxxboy

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#549452 24-Nov-2011 15:37

there is a device you can buy that will tell you what your power usage is and when it is been used, all recorded by an app that Google has developed , there is a forum about it but cant seem to find it, i know freitasm was using it and it seemed to work ok.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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