Smart meters in New Zealand

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gzt

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#63314 24-Jun-2010 10:35

Some time ago I purchased one of those cheap appliance energy meters from the warehouse to get a handle on some appliance usage. I had some idea that utility smart meters with in home displays would eventually make this kind of thing obsolete. It turns out that no utility in NZ offers an in-home kwh display at present.

A wireless camera in your meter box might do the trick though. ; )

Anyway, I found I was accumulating a lot of weblinks during the research and now I maintain a small site aggregating smart meter and smart grid related news from New Zealand.

http://sites.google.com/site/smartmetersinnz

I would like to have a section on the site which lists models of smart meters being installed in NZ and the utility providing them. Feel free to contribute that information to the site and/or post in this thread.

As a sample, the latest bit of news posted is the Control4 home automation/HAN platform) signing a 5 year contract with an NZ distributor:

"The Control4® EMS 100 is built on an open platform that supports device interoperability and incorporates industry standards including Linux2.6, Adobe Flash Lite, ZigBee SE and HA profiles, WiFi, and H.264. The system is extensible for third party application development and can be upgraded to support new standards including RF4CE and ZigBee SE 2.0. It is secured through Open SSL, Open SSH standards, SEP, WPA, and WEP."

- Xan

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#344806 24-Jun-2010 10:43

There are smart meters and there are smart reading devices...

I have a smart meter here. The only thing it does is send a daily report to the meter reading company, which in turn aggregates it and sends a weekly report to my power company (in my case Powershop).

We do get some usage information from Powershop, but there is more you can do, here in New Zealand.

For example you could add one of those kits from SmartNow and have it connected to Google PowerMeter for example.

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#344808 24-Jun-2010 10:44

Also, I maintain a small site about that cheap power meter I purchased from the warehouse. The site also contains brief descriptions and links to other (mostly much better) power meters and related devices available in NZ. Also includes a list of standby killer/eliminator devices. All very web 1.0 i'm afraid, but there are some comments sections if you want to contribute or correct existing information.

http://sites.google.com/site/ema1powermeter

-Xan

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#344810 24-Jun-2010 10:46

Thanks for the edit Mauricio : )

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#344883 24-Jun-2010 13:54

Thanks
Been thinking about posting asking for the Elto manual....
http://sites.google.com/site/ema1powermeter/ema1_original_instructions

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#344946 24-Jun-2010 16:40

freitasm: There are smart meters and there are smart reading devices...

Ihave a smart meter here. The only thing it does is send a daily report to the meter reading company, which in turn aggregates it and sends a weekly report to my power company (in my case Powershop).

We do get some usage information from Powershop, but there is more you can do, here in New Zealand.

For example you could add one of those kits from SmartNow and have it connected to Google PowerMeter for example.

There are no power providers in NZ (in fact only 10 worldwide) that are in partnership with Google Powermeter so I don't think that'll work.

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#344948 24-Jun-2010 16:43

manta: There are no power providers in NZ (in fact only 10 worldwide) that are in partnership with Google Powermeter so I don't think that'll work.

No power providers (although I heard Powershop is looking at it), but if you get one of the SmartNow kits you can join Google Powermeter now:

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#391612 14-Oct-2010 00:42

Some interesting developments:

Mercury Energy (NZ) has appeared on the Google PowerMeter partners page:

http://www.google.com/powermeter/about/partners.html

At present the published Mercury Energy Google PowerMeter partner link:

http://www.mercury.co.nz/googlepowermeter

generates a redirect to an aspx form which in turn gives a 404:

http://www.mercury.co.nz/Error/404.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/forms/GooglePowermeters_register.aspx

In related news- Google.Org Partnership Development Manager Scott Coleman will be in NZ presenting at the 2nd NZ smart grids conference:

https://sites.google.com/site/ema1powermeter/smart-meter-smart-grid-news/googleorgpowermeter-partnershipdevelopment

- Xan

Follow NZ based smart grid and smart meter news at:

https://sites.google.com/site/ema1powermeter/smart-meter-smart-grid-news
https://sites.google.com/site/ema1powermeter/smart-meter-smart-grid-news/posts.xml

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#391623 14-Oct-2010 07:24

Interesting this thread came back to the surface. I was contacted by Smartnow last week and they have landed new models in New Zealand. Actually I am having one plugged today and connected to my Google account.

I will create another discussion once that is done.

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#391814 14-Oct-2010 14:17

Ok, not only I have a smart meter here, but now got a Smartnow device installed and linked to Google PowerMeter.

I have an EnviR device and the Bridge, an Internet-connected device that can provide data to Google PowerMeter:

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#391826 14-Oct-2010 15:13

freitasm: Ok, not only I have a smart meter here, but now got a Smartnow device installed and linked to Google PowerMeter.

Is the Smartnow device getting its feed from your smart meter? or do you still need to use the "clamp around the mains wire" approach in your meterbox?

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#391827 14-Oct-2010 15:15

You need the transmitter box clamped around the wire. The CurrentCost device (which is sold by SmartNow) receives the data every five seconds and show on display.

I also have the Bridge, which is plugged to my router and to my EnviR device. Every five minutes it gets aggregated data from the CurrentCost device and sends up to the cloud. And every ten minutes it's updated on Google PowerMeter

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#391837 14-Oct-2010 15:57

hmm they are not looking for anyone else to trial by chance? Would love to have a play with this tech.

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#391844 14-Oct-2010 16:16

New Zealand should be the perfect country to really pioneer smart metering. The electric companies are SOE's so the government could quickly get them to roll out smart meters, coupled with the small population should make it pretty feasible. Or am I being too idealistic?

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#391849 14-Oct-2010 16:22

Smart meters for what?

I have a smart meter, and as a tool it's useless. Its reading is sent out to the meter company every couple of days, and then sent out to Powershop every Thursday. Looking at my usage charts they numbers are all averages over seven days.

I wouldn't be able to find out why I have spikes or if anything is wrong here.

Now, the Google Powermeter tool is another story. These CurrentCost devices update in front of me every five seconds, and I have data available on the web up to ten minutes windows.

By just looking at this device I can see when a heater is turned on, and when the home office is going full steam ahead.

You don't get this information from the smart meter.

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#391870 14-Oct-2010 16:45

About how to source these CurrentCost devices...

The EnviR is available now through Advance Electrical Wholesalers in Wellington. The Brdge device (the one that links the reader to the Internet) is on trial (I have one).

If you want to source those you can contact an electrician who will source through Advance Electrical. I am told the CEO of ECANZ has received information and passed on to the group about where to get those from.

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