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smart meters: questions to ask?

DavidMartin
My electronics does not quite extend to domestic power systems so would appreciate advice: 


We have a 4kW PV installation (which works well), but I understand some smart meters are incompatible with PV installations.  Partly for that reason I have prevented installation, so far.

I also understand that smart meter standards are still settling and not all meters being installed are guaranteed to work for the forseeable future, through changes in suppliers, etc.

There also seem to be issues around safely and future maintenance of some smart meter systems.


So ... can the team suggest questions I should ask to reduce the risk of a 'bad' smart meter installation ?


Thanks.
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    John Peckham:

    . . . Has anyone on the forum seen a 5 hole smart meter?




    They do exist in manufacturers catalogues, but come at the expense of the internal contractor that switches the supply. As the contractor allows changes between credit and pre-payment meter, none of the UK suppliers want them (I believe there is insufficient space to be able to accommodate the tariff contractor as well).  The answer is in the HAN interfaces that Andy mentioned. There will be a HAN connected contractor which will switch with the tariff. At the moment, you will probably need to use a good quality time clock, as the HAN interfaces may not be immediately available. 


    Regards,


    Alan. 

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    Alan


    Thanks. I wonder why no low current switch output from a Smart meter to switch an external contactor just like my old dumb pre-payment meter? I already had the contactor.
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    John Peckham:

    Chris


    Thanks. I assume meter operators do not buy them for some reason so do not supply them. Any idea who supplied the the one you saw?




    John, I just Googled it. Alan seems to have answered the question - nobody wants to buy them!


    As I understand E7 originally, there were two meters and two CUs. The E7 part was energized during the appropriate hours and the storage heaters were filled up with cheap leccy.


    I don't think that you need that nowadays. If a smart meter will bill you half-hourly, all you need to do as a householder is to install a timer in the CU to ensure that your storage heater circuit(s) are connected only during the cheap hours.

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    Thanks folks, the discussion has been interesting, if a little esoteric and off-topic.  I'm little wiser as to "what questions to ask" but I thank you for your input.  I'm bowing out of this thread.

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    One of the things about having multiple suppliers is that it made manual meter reading extremely inefficient.


    Back in the days when there was only one supplier for electricity and one supplier for gas their meters readers started at one end of the road and worked along it calling at every home and business.


    Now a meter reader needs a vehicle and may have to travel for several miles or more between reading meters, doing the job on foot or riding a bike is no longer possible.


    Andy Betteridge
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    Sparkingchip:

    . . . Back in the days when there was only one supplier for electricity and one supplier for gas their meters readers started at one end of the road and worked along it calling at every home and business. . . 




    If there was only a single supplier in an area, the now obsolete SMETS1 meters would have worked perfectly well. 


    Regards,


    Alan. 

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    We don’t have a choice of water supplier, neither do we have a metered supply.


    Therefore no one ever comes to our house to read a meter to determine what our bill should be, how much does that save in administration costs?


    Andy Betteridge
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    We should be able to estimate that by comparing our water bills - in this housing estate all the meters are read by a mini-van that drives past at a little more than cycling speed, and a  radio transponder interrogates each meter in turn, (It is Southern Water who use Arad’s "Gladiator" water meters) with about the same human input as the barcode scanner in the supermarket. You only see employees do something on foot when they are looking for leaks, or the drive by scan has not beeped.
  • 0

    Sparkingchip:

    We don’t have a choice of water supplier, neither do we have a metered supply.


    Therefore no one ever comes to our house to read a meter to determine what our bill should be, how much does that save in administration costs?




    You could have a meter if you wanted one; and new supplies have to have one. Depending upon consumption, you may, in effect, be paying for water which you do not use.

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    John Peckham:

    Alan


    Thanks. I wonder why no low current switch output from a Smart meter to switch an external contactor just like my old dumb pre-payment meter? I already had the contactor. 




    cc1a459fffe849649a8fc07441c433f3-huge-20191125_130341.jpg

    The job I am just leaving. 


    Go on, figure the wiring out. 


    Andy B 

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