TOU/Smart Meter and distributors not providing "previous" and "current" readings

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TOU/Smart Meter and distributors not providing "previous" and "current" readings

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Started 12 years ago by lillypilly
Latest reply from peter69_56

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lillypilly
Member

One of the unexpected (and undesirable) consequences of having a new meter installed at our house so we could benefit from the FIT is that now when we get our electricity bill there is no information in the "previous" and "current" reading columns on our bill. The only reading we get is "useage". I complained to the retailer saying that it was unreasonable to be charged for something that could not be verified and was told there was nothing they could do about it that was all the information that the meter provides. I think that is crazy because when I go outside and look at my meter it has a running sum of all the electricity we have used since it was first installed. Even if they didn't get these figures from the meter surely in their database they could generate the equivalent figures and put them on the bill.

Luckily for me I keep a record because when the meter reader estimated one of my bills because our gate was closed I called up the retailer to tell them that it was wrong and they told me it would be corrected in the next bill. But without any "previous" and "current" readings it would not have been possible to know if they had corrected it, except that I had kept my own records. In fact they didn't correct the error and so I had to contact them a second time when they said they would get "higher quality data" from the distributor and within two days I got a corrected bill. This time it was right.

The point is for the average customer who doesn't have a fascination with their electricity usage and doesn't keep a tally they would have no way of knowing what they should be charged or if their bill was incorrect (and it seems there is not shortage of stories of incorrect bills with the new meters).

Does anyone else find the lack of readings on their bill objectionable. Is it the same everywhere or is it just Jemena in Victoria? Is it just the EM1200 meter that is the problem? Will it always be like this or will this change once everyone gets the new TOU meters? Surely not everyone is going to just accept this without question?

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 6:36:09 am from IP #
munter
Member

I would have thought that a breakdown of your electricity usage is a fundamental part of the benefit of a smart meter. The idea, of course, is that by educating consumers about the different value of electricity provided in each of the bands, consumers will change their behaviour to shift peak usage to off peak usage. If your bill doesn't tell you this sort of information then the process doesn't really work!

I am in the Energy Australia area and have recently read that they have suspended their roll out of Time of Use metering. I thought that was a shame because I think the principle behind TOU is sound - its just a shame that low quality roll out of these changes means that their benefit can be reduced or even negated!

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 7:41:27 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Good quote from the recent book "The Sixth Wave" about this.

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 8:28:12 am from IP #
lillypilly
Member

Munter - I 'm confused by your post - perhaps I should clarify we are not on TOU metering, we had a new meter installed so that we could get the FIT, we are still getting the single rate for import. With the new meter the consumer still gets to see how much energy has been used (and exported) just not the meter readings from this quarter (current) and the previous quarter (previous) in these columns the bill says n/a and n/a. I know it is not just my retailer doing this because I have asked some friends with a different retailer but the same distributer.

I agree with your point about educating consumers and letting them know when they are using their electricity - this would be achieved however by providing more information, not less.

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 8:41:15 am from IP #
munter
Member

Ah - perhaps I misread your first post. Apologies.

If the issue is that previous billing period information is missing that seems like less of an issue though still an annoyance. Perhaps it is because the transition to a new meter reading procedure for your retailer didn't include an upload of previous billing data into their database?

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 10:05:31 am from IP #
lillypilly
Member

No, we've had four bills from them now, it isn't that just some information is missing, it is how they are presenting the bills from the new meters. They claim it is something to do with the information they obtain from the meter - it tells them the number of kWh used over the interval measured but not the current reading of the total energy used since the meter was installed.

Put it another way our bills have said:

Days, Previous Reading, Current Reading, Usage,
42, n/a, n/a, 267 kWh
87, n/a, n/a, 626 kWh
90, n/a, n/a, 425 kWh
93, n/a, n/a, 384 kWh

When they should also be able to tell use that the current meter reading is 1702 kWh and the previous reading was 1318 kWh so the current usage is 348 kWh etc but the don't. It is more than just an annoyance. How is the average customer supposed to check that the meter reading is correct if the only information presented is 384 kWh *17.6c = $67.58.

I take it that not all electricity companies are doing this otherwise there would be lots of complaints? Can someone with a smart meter who is not in the Jemena area please tell me if they get current and previous readings or just the difference?

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 11:14:49 am from IP #
alfresco24
Member

Lillypilly, you're experience is very interesting. Hopefully just an unintended consequence of a sloppy bit of billing software because the alternative is to believe that smart metering is being used to introduce obfuscation of energy pricing by utilities.
The EM1200 and every smart meter I know much about, has a number of registers that store various numbers - including an accumulation register.
I suggest writing to your energy ombudsman and copying your local minister and newspaper about the obvious issue you've identified.

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 4:08:42 pm from IP #
lillypilly
Member

Thank you Alfresco I have written to the energy ombudsman and they were not particularly interested. I am keen to change this and I know there are various bodies I can send letters to - the, the Australian Energy Regulator, local MP, Consumer Utilities Advocacy Centre, Consumer Affairs (who look after Weights and Measures).

I need some encouragement from others here, perhaps instead of asking who else has this problem I should ask:

"If you have a smart or TOU meter, does your electricity company provide you with "current" and "previous" readings on your bill? Who are your retailer and distributor?"

Posted Friday 7 May 2010 @ 10:49:38 pm from IP #
olfella
Member

There is no time like the present to take matters up like the one have identified up with the people with the power to change the arrogant take it or leave it attitude of mobs like Energy Australia. I took up several matters with regard attitude to householders investing in solar systems for GFiT with both via my local federal member to the Federal Minister & to the Premier. The response from the actual NSW Minister & Premier was pathetic from some autocrat using the spin doctors approved one size fits all diatribe. However I did get a sensible & detailed response from the Feds & an undertaking to take particular points I'd made up with the state drongos. Interestingly, I found out there had been considerable concern expressed by a number of VOTERS in personal letters to members & minister. I emphasis VOTERS, because those pollies all seem to be particularly motivated by the desire to save their chestnuts, at the moment.
Among matters I took up then was the possibility of tax on GFiT reveues, EA's smart alec move to not pay out, just credit surplus to one's account, the implications of TOU meters on low income earners, retirees & single income families with children, insurance implications & the attitude of some house insuring companies,plus the fact Federal & State governments were so slow processing they had turned rebates into interest free lines of credit.
I don't know that my letter or forthright manner will have had much to do with several announcements, like the Robertson's one in NSW directing retailers to pay cash, but well argued, written correspondence in sufficient numbers of VOTERS does. Particularly when pollies are worried. Wait until after an election & you can be sure your letter will be round filed for sure.

A comment on TOU tariffs.
The theory from some smartarse committee who live in some paper world, is people have choice. But in reality there isn't much choice about it. Workhours, school & children dictate consumption patterns. For many elderly, there is no choice either, particularly if they're somewhat limited in movement. Their choice will be to freeze & likely get sick, or go broke paying the bill.
Let's be fairdunkum, TOU tariffs were introduced to increase revenue.
Any marketer will tell you people will start out doing somersaults to reduce peak usage, but as time goes on they increasingly decide it isn't really practical to be doing the washing at midnight, when they have to be up at 0530 to get to work & will get home completely knackered after 1800.

I've given the shiny arses at Energy Australia a bit of a serve above, but one has to also respect the fact they're getting bashed over the heads by politicians who dropped them right in it recently & years ago, by theiving all of their cashflows which were intended for system maintenance & long term upgrades, to pay for the damned Olympics in 2000. Now the same governemnt who stole the dough is demanding mobs like EA find the money themselves to paper over 2 decades of neglect. To that end, they probably don't appreciate people like us writing to newspapers, socalled industry appointed omsbudsmen, ministers, premiers & PMs. But my wallet belongs to me, not them & can be described as the most sensitive part of my being! I resent having the arbitary imposition of huge utility price increases inflicted by some supposedly 'independent' arbitrator, as an easy & quick fix for their problems.

Write people, before it becomes a completely lost art. The thing about letters is, they're on record & can't be simply ignored or erased, as verbal complaints & emails can.

Posted Monday 10 May 2010 @ 11:34:30 am from IP #
rsigmund
Member

Thanks olfella,

I am a young fella working on being a grumpy old man before my time...

Just about to get my very own TOU meter and for absolutely free a good reason to write a letter about electricity price gouging.

“Let's be fairdunkum, TOU tariffs were introduced to increase revenue” be careful the Ministry of truth might be listing….

I seems like the future answer to many questions about ‘Why did it go wrong’ will have an answer like ‘because the govt could not let that industry/business’ do to the wall.

And when it comes to wallets – I keep thinking about a movie about broadway “The first rule: don’t put your own money in the show, second rule: Don’t put your own money in the show, Third rule DON’T PUT YOUR OWN MONEY IN Show”

However I will probably have to pay either to the power company or a solar company or a company that makes clever timers etc…

Posted Wednesday 12 May 2010 @ 2:17:48 am from IP #
alfresco24
Member

There are a lot of bad issues in the utility industries associated with or as a result of crap politicians, unions and corporations, oh and consumers, those of you in business or at home who are inefficient and profligate wasters of energy.

I cant say for sure how far utilities are dragging the chain in OZ compared to other places around the world, and I feel it's not too bad. Sure we're 4-5 years behind Italy and parts of Europe but that's more to do with them meeting a unique mix of imperatives. Give or take a couple years and we're about level pegging.

What's obvious right now though is the massive near-future planned investment inbalance we have compared to USA, China and most compared economies. Australia is underspending in a major way because the way we allow cost recovery to work would increase electricity and distribution costs so much there'd be a severe social backlash.
As it stands Australia ranks among the top 10 sometimes top 5 highest energy priced places in the world because there's too much profit being made within the value chain, and we're not growing our infrastructure very well.

Posted Wednesday 12 May 2010 @ 7:25:22 am from IP #
jparrie
Member

I googled this and found this thread, very timely. I too noticed the lack of any readings on my latest bill. First I contacted AGL who told me that no data was available for that type of meter (smart), so then I rang the Electricity Ombudsman to be told that as it was written in legislation that companies did not have to provide any meter readings there was nothing they could do.

This is BS. Just imagine if you received a bill from Telstra that said, "you have made 200 phone calls of varying lengths, a few premium calls and some mobile calls, you owe us $300", there would be hell to pay. We are effectively being asked, no told, to trust the accuracy of data transferred to the little data machine that the reader carries. We now have no ability to accurately check our bills.

As I said, BS and not satisfactory.

John

Posted Monday 17 May 2010 @ 7:04:55 am from IP #
rsigmund
Member

I got my meter - amazing how quickly it was installed - mabey there IS a financial incentive for the power retailer?

You can see the power use from the front of the 'smart' meter - or should it be 'dumb' meter if it ultimatelly supplies less information to the user/consumer than the old meter?

Posted Tuesday 18 May 2010 @ 4:40:22 am from IP #
munter
Member

It took me a while to work it out (sometimes I'm a bit slow) but I think the problem is that while the meter might show the cumulative consumption to date, that this information is not replicated on the bill and so it is impossible to reconcile individual bills with the meter reading. I agree that this is really unacceptable and should be rectified. It defies common sense that a more advanced, remotely readable, hi-tech meter would not have this functionality.

Posted Tuesday 18 May 2010 @ 5:16:05 am from IP #
rsigmund
Member

Well it might not be impossible...

I have electricity bills going back for a number of years and have taken initial pictures of the the 'smart' meter with its various displays...

I will need to wait for a bill to know for sure, however, because I have a good idea what to expect I should be able to work out if I am getting ripped off won't I?????

Posted Tuesday 18 May 2010 @ 6:00:31 am from IP #
AnaylzeThis
Member

Hi All,

I googled this forum and found this to be quite interesting, i'm really intriuged by the interest the smart meters have generated. I don't believe the government or distributors have done a good job in educating consumers of the changes smart metering can make.

Hopefully, i might be able to clear some things up for us all.

I had a smart meter installed at my property by a metering company called Metropolis. They were able to install Smart Metering technology well before the roll out.

This was before derrogation rules came into effect, meaning only distribution businesses could roll out smart meters across their networks,3rd parties such as metropolis were banned from installing smart metering for all small (<160Mwh) consumers whilst the roll out completed.

I paid $275.00 for my smart meter upfront, the cost recovery method is to recover the smart meters installed by distributors via your service to property (STP) charges located on the back of your bills.

Two things to note at this time.

1. TOU (Time of use) tariffs have a moratorium (believed to be for a year) imposed by Energy Minister Peter Bachelor. This means no immediate tariff changes UNLESS you request the tariff change. i.e. Install Solar panels and request a Solar PV (IMPORT/EXPORT meter).

2. Smart Meters will continue to be rolled out, and the benefits will slowly come over time. A number of market rules and compliance requirements need to be altered or created to ensure market participants i.e. distributors/retailers play fairly.

Now, in terms of billing, the main things you will notice are;

1. No previous consumption history, this has been discussed before. This is because Smart meters work by Time of Use (TOU) and record in 30 minute intervals, collating 48 intervals of data per day.

Putting this much information on the back of your bill would be a little over the top.

The accumulation meter currently installed(like the odometer in your car which reads your KM's)will be replaced.

it should be noted a LARGE number of Smart Meters installed across thousands of Victorian homes are still being read as BASIC. (Accumulation - like the odometer in your car which reads your KM's). This is due to change in the next month or two, depending which network you are under.

2. You will continue to receive Actual Usage for a 3 month period. This data will be delivered to all retailers by the Distributors by no later than 6am daily.

So, if a product offered by your retailer was to change the frequency of your bills i.e. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, then it's possible.

The big shift now is how retailers provide additional services for consumers to review their data historically. When i had my smart meter, i could login to a portal and view my usage by Year, Month, Day, and Hour.

This kind of information was never available to retailers or consumers, this information, if used correctly can assist in reducing our consumption.

My familities consumption behaviour and habbits changed once we logged in, saw the times of day we used consumption most and worked out ways to minimise or cut the amount we consumed.

Well, i've written a fair bit, if anyone has any questions, i'm happy to answer them. I should mention these are opinions expressed by myself exclusively and i dont speak on behalf of any other retail entity. I'm happy to discuss or clarify anything i may have written which is not factual or incorrectly phrased.

Thanks

Posted Wednesday 19 May 2010 @ 2:16:37 am from IP #
jparrie
Member

Hi AT,

You say "no immediate tariff changes UNLESS you request the tariff change. i.e. Install Solar panels and request a Solar PV (IMPORT/EXPORT meter)."

Sure I've installed solar & of course have had a gross meter fitted and kept my smart meter. But I haven't actually requested a tariff change, or is that a default request as soon as I install solar?

As for the half hour increments, how hard would it be to simply add the start reading and end reading? I really can't see the difficulty?

I certainly haven't been given the ability to see any usage online either by AGL.

Posted Thursday 20 May 2010 @ 3:25:57 am from IP #
AnaylzeThis
Member

Hi jparrie,

Thanks for your reply.

When did you install your solar meter? Do you know who your distributor is?

i like to distinguish the different types of technology currently in the market as outlined below.

1. BASIC Metering - Accumulation - like the odometer in your car which reads your KM's.
2. INTERVAL Metering - Manual collection of 30 minute interval data, often retrieved by a meter reader every 3 months(quaterly).
3. SMART Metering - remote polling/collection of 30 minute interval data, currently collected as mentioned in point 2, but due to become REMOTE as soon as the 31/05/2010. No meter reader will attend properties, so access will not be a problem anymore. Data will soon be sent to the retailer every day by 6am.

By requesting for your Solar Meter to be installed, specific tariffs are available for Solar PV clients. I.e. PFIT.

This in turn means by requesting a solar meter, you are initiating a tariff change not the network itself.

I cant really speculate as to why retailers such as AGL dont put start and end dates.

What i can say is that given this data is 48 intervals per day, 336 intervals a week, 10416 a month and 124,992 per year, it's a little difficult to say whether that START and END reading will change or not.

I mean, we previously/currently receive 4 meter readings a year. Soon we will receive 124,992 30 minute intervals a year which gives a more of a 'profile' of your load than substractive readings i.e. THIS READ (2000) - LAST READ(1000) - = 1000.

In terms of ability, i think this is something the industry will look at very carefully. What information is useful.

For example; those 48 intervals of data you used yesterday aggregated to a total of 14.41 KWH's which equated to $5.51.

Then you could have a comparison of the day before, which you used $4.51, so an increase of $1.00 from the day before.

This helps with micromanagement and also devise ways to reduce consumption on a daily basis, and see the results the next day.

This is what i'm leaning towards anyway.

Thanks
AT

Posted Friday 21 May 2010 @ 1:31:03 am from IP #
living sustainably
Member

When with an old "dumb" meter, you have "previous" and "current" reading information, you have only 2 datapoint to report.

With a smart meter and data at 30 minute intervals, you have (my maths is a little different) 48 intervals per day, 336 intervals a week, 48*31=1489 (not 10416) a month and 48*365=17520 (not 124,992) per year. It is no problem to report the cumulative figure at the beginning and the end. Presenting the per-interval use as a graph is also not difficult.

This just aside. I'm missing a discussion about security issues of smart metering in Australia. Where the usage data are transmitted to the distributors and the distributors can switch off power remotely, the data connection better be very secure, or hackers could simply switch off the power in your house. Or play havoc with your power bill. http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-technology/ap-exclusive-smart-meters-have-security-holes-20100327-r3fh.html .

Posted Monday 24 May 2010 @ 2:35:32 am from IP #
lillypilly
Member

Thanks for all the replies. I have found that in the same area that I live in, some friends with the same meter and the same distributor but a different retailer (mine is AGL and theirs is Origin) have "previous" and "current" readings on their bill. I really don't care if that is actually the sum of the interval readings recreated afterwards by the retailer or distributor but I feel strongly this should be on everyone's bill. I was unimpressed to read about the response from the Energy and Water Ombudsman from Victoria.

The simplest answer is obvious - change retailers - however I am still waiting for them to sort out a stuff up with my PFiT which should have started on the 1 November but they didn't do it and now they think that I owe them $395 for the period between September and March when actually it is more like $15. I've told them I am not paying my bill till they sort it out.

And now, just to make me really happy with my retailer - they have decided to put me on a TOU tariff which is going to cost us a lot more during the winter and virtually wipe out any benefit from the PFiT. I've put quite a bit of thought into this and load shifting to the off-peak rate between 11 and 7 is not actually all that easy, Oldfella explained that quite well in his post above.

Posted Monday 24 May 2010 @ 1:02:35 pm from IP #
AnaylzeThis
Member

living sustainably, thanks for the correction in my maths, i did make an error, my mistake.

I agree, there are some concerns with the security around the data that travels remotely and has always been a risk registered and a solution, which may be required on all levels, distributor,retail and consumer. I'm not up to date on how they will manage this but similar to IE, there is always holes/exploits so i guess the distributors will need to work on security measures constantly to secure their data.

Lillypilly, I dont disagree, it just needs to be consistent and driven by the market. I know that the DPI (Department of Primary Industries) and ESC (Essential Services Commission)are looking at what should/should not be included on the invoices as standard now that Smart/Interval data will be the new standard in the coming years for Victorian consumers atleast.

As for your tariff, the moratorium sees tariff reassignments to most consumers blocked for the time being. However, if you look to install solar, you initiate the tariff change.

I know that most tariff models created by the Distributors are TOU based, they include PEAK,OFFPEAK and SHOULDER periods. We've not had SHOULDER as a period before in VIC. It's common in NSW but not here.

I've heard that Distributors will have a contactor which can assist HW services, however Slab Heating will remain unsupported. This also means afternoon boost (12pm-4pm) is also lost.

TOU has benefits, for example; all week-end at OFFPEAK, virtually all appliances consuming electricity will/should go on an OFFPEAK rate.

Previously, dedicated loads such as Hot Water received off-peak rates, not your appliances. That is unless of course you were on a TOU setup already.

Thanks
Paul

Posted Tuesday 25 May 2010 @ 2:01:12 am from IP #
lillypilly
Member

Yes, we've been given a shoulder rate - so instead of having an off peak rate of 8 c/kWh on the weekend we get the shoulder rate of 21c/kWh during the day on weekends and before 3 pm on weekdays and a peak rate of 29.8 c/kWh between 3 pm and 11 pm on weeknights. So now, all weekend when we have 9 loads of washing to do and a house full of kids to feed and wash their dishes we have a much higher rate than when we were paying a flat rate(17.6c/kWh) and it isn't very easy to wash all those dishes and clothes between 11 pm and 7 am without waking the whole house (it is a small house). Our hot water is gas and our gas central heating has a great big electric fan and of course we need to use it during peak times on a weeknight. There are very few things for us to load shift - maybe the pump on the vegie patch that consumes less than 100Wh/day. The only thing we have running at night is the fridge and the telephone, everything else gets switched off with our magic kill everything switch. And TOU is certainly not going to make any difference to our extravagant air conditioner use because we don't have one.

So the shoulder model offers us no advantage at all. We would be significantly better off with the simpler peak and offpeak rates. Actually the flat rate is much better for us but we no longer have that choice.

We were NOT told that by accepted the PFiT over the SFiT we have been on since last May we would be changed from a flat rate to TOU to compensate the electricity company for paying us a PFiT.

Posted Tuesday 25 May 2010 @ 6:03:59 am from IP #
Sojin_Muneshi
Member

.
There is some confusion above in relation to the different meter types, that may be worth clearing up to better understand this issue.

The "old" meters, the rotating disc meters and also the early electronic meters are known as type 6, these are register meters like the car trip meter, ie, they simply keep counting up on top of a cumulative total that is read manually each month or quarter, this is the "meter reading" that has been historically shown on the bill, relating to the date of the meter read, and allows the customer to see that the current reading is in a similar range by looking at the meter itself after the bill arrives.

This current reading has the previous reading taken away from it to give the usage which is then multiplied by the tariff ie cents/kWh to create the bill.

These old meters or type 6 meters were traditionally single rate meters leading to the 24/7 flat rate tariffs that many people know (and many enjoy?)

However some of these meters were time of use, particularly the electronic 2 element meters used for hotwater tariffs from the late 1980's onwards.

What we are now seeing on the bills are the results of "interval" meters being used, these meters record energy in 30 minute packets, or 48 times a day, and its that data that is processed by the retailer into the bill, it can be processed into any type of tariff, a 24/7 flat rate, a 5 day 2 rate Time of Use (as per winner in Victoria) or a 5 day 3 rate TOU (ie shoulder etc as used in NSW). These Interval meters are known as type 5 meters, and they have been in use in NSW and Victoria since @2000, although remotely read Interval meters of the types 1 to 4 have been used by large industrial / commercial customers since the late 1990s.

These Interval meters do have totalising registers on their displays, and any increase in those totals do equate to the interval data packets, but as the billing is based on interval data the register readings are not collected and provided to the retailers and so they cant put a "current" reading value on the bill that is based on that register or display.

There was an intention for the Victorian Smart Meter program to collect that register reading and provide it to retailers to put on the bill for customers, however that apparantly has not yet happened, as in reality that side of the billing of smart meters is not yet operational and they are typically being read as either type 6 or manual read type 5.

I noticed someone above referred to an EM1200 series meter being a "Smart Meter" although that meter is an interval meter and current range of meter in production, it is not a true Smart Meter in terms of the Victorian rollout as it does not have any of the other unique features now required on a Smart Meter. The Smart Meter term has been involving and being re-defined for years, in 1994 any Interval meter was considered "Smart".

As explained above manually read interval meters, (type 5) does not normally bring back the cumulative register reading, and that is why it has disappeared of the retailers bills.

I hope that clarifies the issue, of course customers should be calling on retailers to collect that cumulative register reading and present it on the bill so the customer can us it as a rudementry cross check, (and in fact it would be useful for data validation in the billing process in anycase).

regards

Sojin

Posted Thursday 27 May 2010 @ 2:26:18 pm from IP #
AnaylzeThis
Member

Hey Sojin, thanks for time to provide input in this thread. Cheers.

Posted Monday 31 May 2010 @ 3:25:12 am from IP #
Michael L.
Member

I live in the Jemena area, and have Origin as my retailer, and also have only the "usage" rates on my A/C. No previous reading given. Yet with my previous 2 accounts, using the same meter, They hade previous readings, so it has nothing to do with what how the meter is configured. The really ridiculous thing is, they still managed to split it into Peak and Off Peak, but no real evidence that figure was correct, and as the bill was nearly 2 months late, it was hard to really check with my meter, either the mains usage or my Feed in. Now they have changed me from Peak/Off Peak to total useage rates, but how the hell can they tell what my reading was on the day of tariff change, 15 July, when the meter is not due to be read in August! When I rang Origin, saying I had got a better offer from another company, (I forget the name) they said they couldn't match it, (but that didn't really matter because the one giving me the cheap quote, when the salesman rang to connect me, said I couldn't join them because I had solar). AND, all this, Origin claims, is due to State Govt. regulations and out of their hands.

Posted Sunday 25 Jul 2010 @ 6:36:54 am from IP #
Anonymous
Unregistered

I am in the Jemena area, but have had a United Energy E3330 smart meter installed. After reading this thread I will have to start recording the few readings I can get from the meter in anticipation of trouble with the bill...but that is a problem for later, I have a bigger one now:

Amazingly, since the installation I have had no hot water! I did everything I was supposed to and not only did the installer forget to reconnect my off peak timer, he also left no instructions for how to read the meter!

There are buttons and lights which flash red on and off, but I daren't touch them for fear of mucking something up!

So all I can see is the date, time, total usage to date, and 'generation' which after 3 days is showing just 4kwh.

I can tell you I will be the first annoyed customer on the phone to the installer tomorrow morning.

Posted Sunday 25 Jul 2010 @ 7:51:11 am from IP #
Ant
Member

Michael L. We already had a PV system before the smart meter was installed. our retailer Red Energy put us on a 'smart solar' tariff which gives us off peak (8c/kwh) for the entire property every night from 11pm to 7 am and all weekend. the peak rate is about 21 c/kwh. they pay us 60c/kwh plus gst for the power we feed into the grid. its a pretty good deal.

unfortunately power companies often estimate readings for bills. i have had to keep my own readings to check up on them.

With the new smart meters POwercor advised me that the meter records usage every half hour. when it is downloaded by Powercor they put it in an excel spreadsheet and the retailer calculates the usage for the relevant periods of a customers usage depending on the tariff.

I have spoken to the energy ombudsman, POwercor and Red energy telling them that i want to see peak and off peak usage on the meter. POwercor have advised that this is not possible because of the range of tariffs used by retailers.

the smart meters are supposed to have an electronic connection to your computer in the future so that you can monitor usage that way. However it is not here yet. I think we need to keep up the pressure on all areas to get this situation improved.

hopefully the installers of the new meter read your old meter when they did the new meter installation. however you need to keep your own readings to keep them honest.

a lot of staff in the power companies have not caught up with all aspects of smart meters and PV systems so bills are coming out late etc.

Posted Saturday 18 Sep 2010 @ 11:44:01 pm from IP #
syn
Member

Ant said: the smart meters are supposed to have an electronic connection to your computer in the future so that you can monitor usage that way. However it is not here yet.

I have had several discussions with people at United Energy, they have no interest whatsover in providing the consumer with in-home energy monitors or displays and even internet access (about 5 years away) of delayed energy consumption is not their responsibility or concern - their only interest in smart meters is to provide them the ability to impliment TOU charges.

If you want real-time energy monitoring and logging of your electricity and solar genergation then take a look at some in-home energy monitors that provides much more than your smart meter will every achieve

Posted Sunday 19 Sep 2010 @ 6:31:10 am from IP #
Boyd
Member

Is a smart meter a gross meter?

Posted Wednesday 22 Sep 2010 @ 8:39:57 am from IP #
raanipura
Member

Had panels put on back in mid feb. Made note of meter reading at that time. The dial spun backwards after install and from the last reading prior to install of panels to the final reading this morning (EM 1200 installed via Jemena) the total "use" was 23kWh. Now the meter is set at zero. Installed at 9.00am this am. @ time of this post (12.21pm) reading 3(input) = 0kWh and reading 13(solar output to grid) = 12kWh. So far so good. Given all the posts above mine, I am hoping that I don't have the issues you guys have had. Do people still get issues with the actual bill. Naturally, haven't had one yet so will be curious to see...cheers

Posted Monday 28 Mar 2011 @ 1:24:54 am from IP #

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