Anyone know anything about EON smart meters?

[coopersim]

I've got one/two being fitted on Friday, but I don't know if it's just Electric or gas as well, and do I get a special jobby to look at inside that tells me consumption?

I've not got any information on the trial I'm part of, so I thought you guys might know a bit!

 

[Taylortwocities]

Try THIS

Basically

How Smart metering works

They install Smart meters for both the electricity and gas supplies and pair them together
The electricity meter acts as a hub and pulls consumption data from the gas meter
The electricity meter then sends Eon consumption data and remote readings for both Smart meters every month, using SMS technology
Both meters can still be read manually if required

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And, basically, that's the mundane initial phase of what smart meters are for.

What they are really for, longer term, is real-time measurement of energy use, and the provision of bi-directional communication which will allow external control of energy use, not just measurement.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=smart+grid

Also see this trial: http://www.pnwsmartgrid.org/

 

[veto]

Just had gas and electric smart meters fitted yesterday by EON. Not happy as they (EON) do not tell you the full story when they sell these products to you. I was told that as well as the meter readings going direct to EON via SIM card technology,the free monitor that feeds of the meters will also give accurate k/w usage and up todate costs as you use the gas and electricity. Not true ! the only accurate data it tells you is the K/W usage as you use it. The cost data bears no resemblence to the tariff you are actually on,i.e. it gives average standard costs as if you were on a day rate and economy 7 after 12.30am. So it gives you costs which will not bear any resemblence to your bill when it comes in. Also the time on the meter and monitor is wrong as it is on GMT time and cannot cope with daylight saving time changes,so it will only be accurate in October until March next.In other words "it does not do what it says on the tin" as told by EON.

 

[Wontdothatagain]

The meter will only record the KWhr usage and display this as R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6 & Total, depending on what tariff you are on. Most domestic propertys will either have a Total reading or R1, R2 which is your day/night rate's and a total (R1 & R2 added together).

It is not feasible to programme the meter with the rates that you are charged for your electric as there are so many different rates and tariffs around and customers have the ability to change all the time. It requires human intervention to change the programme of a smart meter, so that extra cost would be passed on by the meter operator to the energy provider and then to you.

Some of the monitors that come with the smart meters do allow you to programme the rates from your bill into them so you can see what you will be charged at the end of the month/quarter.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It requires human intervention to change the programme of a smart meter.

Then they aren't that smart, are they, and they'll all need changing again in order to provide 2-way communication.

 

[Wontdothatagain]

It requires human intervention to change the programme of a smart meter.

Then they aren't that smart, are they, and they'll all need changing again in order to provide 2-way communication.

Communication and the core programme are two separate issues. The ones we fit, as standard, can communicate 2 ways out of the box.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

So how are you going to use them for demand-based pricing, changing in real time and/or real-time price based demand management?

 

[AdrianUK]

So how are you going to use them for demand-based pricing, changing in real time and/or real-time price based demand management?

This is the problem. All the current suppliers of smart meters have jumped the gun! The full goverment specs of what a smart meter should do & how it will communicate havent been settled yet! The system should work on a central common communications supplier that ALL meters use hence changing between metering compnaies would be easy. It hasnt been decided if the meters should include a remote switch or not - so do, some dont. It hasnt been decided if a smart gas meter should include a valve or not.

Once again, we've screwed it up because certain suppliers have jumped the gun & installed their best guess instead of waiting until the design was complete & ready to roll out.

A

 

[Wontdothatagain]

So how are you going to use them for demand-based pricing, changing in real time and/or real-time price based demand management?

The easiest way to describe how a smart meter works is to say it "takes a picture" every half hour. It records a vast array of data in that "picture" from the meter reading to the power factor. As it is, out of the box, the meter can also be used for Half Hourly Billing but all domestic supplys are Non Half Hourly anyway. The end user has to pay to gain access to this information and many do. I have been on a project for wessex Water for the last 6 months changing there meters and we still have about 2600 to do. They pay the meter operator for the information recorded and they have a staff of 6 people who analyze it and try to make savings in there energy costs.

Demand based pricing is a non starter really as the vast majority of end users consumption varys by a small amount so when they decide to change suppliers , they will be asked what there last years consumption was and there next billing tariff will be adjusted. They also have the chance to change there SSC (Standard settlement Charge). This is what tariff's you are on. Many larger customers do this as they have account managers looking after there accounts so they can negotiate there next bill's based on there previous consumption.

 

[AdrianUK]

Wontdothatagain......

What you describre isnt really what a smart meter was intended to do, its really just a fancy AMR (automated meter reading).

A true smart meter must be capable of so much more, including multiple tarriffs, control of circuits via outputs modules & communicating with a home display amongst others.

We, the comsumer, are being short changed. What we are being sold isnt a 'smart meter' as i sbeing installed in other Countries. Its just an automatic system to save the meter operators the expense of employing a meter reader.

A

 

[Wontdothatagain]

The system should work on a central common communications supplier that ALL meters use hence changing between metering compnaies would be easy.

How would that work, are you saying that all the data would have to go through 1 company. I am sure the mergers and monoplys commision would have something to say about it.

One of the reasons that customers change between MOP's is because the old company could not supply the data that the new company can, but that is the fault of the old company for fitting an inferior product.

 

[AdrianUK]

How would that work, are you saying that all the data would have to go through 1 company.
.

That was the idea in the original spec. This system needs to be secure & reliable - various different & non-compatible systems set up by the various meter operators isn't going to work. How would I change from, say EON to Npower if Npower meters used GSM by EON used carrier line coms? The meter would have to be changed for the new supplier.

Having a common coms systems solves this & allows ecconomies of scale - image how many meters there are in the UK, all trying to communicate with their base ..... could GSM cope if EVERY home & business had a GSM based meter?

A

 

[Wontdothatagain]

A true smart meter must be capable of so much more, including multiple tarriffs, control of circuits via outputs modules & communicating with a home display amongst others.

The meters that i fit can support upto 6 tariff's, have 4 output modules and can control a seperate contactor to switch a load.

Please also remember that when the white paper was introduced several years ago, until the end of this year, only commercial meters were included. The domestic market has not been released yet and the meters that are being fitted right now are in effect testers.

 

[AdrianUK]

The domestic market has not been released yet and the meters that are being fitted right now are in effect testers.

But this is exactly my point! However, the meter operators are "selling" this as the finished, all singing all dancing system which it clearly isnt.

A