Smart Meter

[mdsailor]

Good morning-
BGE our local electric utility here in Maryland installed a smart meter on the house last month and we got our first bill yesterday.  The bill said we consumed about 1200 kwh in the billing period, compared to about 400 kwh that month last year.  This is especially strange since we were out of town for two weeks with the water heater off, no appliances running, and the frig and freezer unopened.  We spent a bundle a while back on a new energy efficient roof, windows and extra insulation.
The third BGE person with whom I spoke, titled an "Energy Consultant"  acknowleged that this was inconsistent with our usage pattern.  She set up a "high bill" case file and next week an employee will test the meter.  Based on yesterday's reading, it is still running about three times as fast as what we were on the analog meter. 
She also said that BGE was having some problems with the new meters, and thought that it might be related to the installation.  Somehow they use the last analog reading to adjust the new meter, at least that's what I thought she said.
Anyone out there understand how these things work?  Any advice or guidance would be deeply appreciated.
Best regards,
Quent 

[Ronmar]

Old analog meters are not callibrated regularly and can vary widely in their readings.  What they probably did was to measure the reading on the old meter, or take a current reading to get a rough idea of it's callibration. Then they installed the new meter and set it's callibration based on the current reading/old meter's callibration. The tech probably did this incorrectly which is why you see the sudden change in usage.  I would guess that they do this specifically so you won't see a difference in your bill, at least not immediatly.  Since the meter is electronic, it can easilly be remotely callibrated to any standard they choose. I would imagine that over time they will gradually slip your cal standard to some preset number to bring your meter in line with all the others, but in such small steps that you won't really notice the change in your bill unless you analize long term usage.   I would hold onto your old records showing years of consistent usage... 

Since the question here is the overall KWH usage, I am assuming that the KW's are billed at a fixed rate per KW? Unfortunatly the electronic meters are the first step in a change to peak usage biling of electricity.  IE a KWH used at 7AM when everyone is getting up and getting ready for work(high demand) will cost you more than a KWH pulled from the line at 2AM when most people are asleep and demand is low. Welcome to the new world...   

[mobile_bob]

if it were me, i would google "austin international" and talk to them about the specific
meter the utility put in.

austin international is the countries leading rebuilder and calibrator of utility meters
and almost all the utilities across the country use their services.

i cannot imagine that any meter is field calibrated!

it takes some fairly sophisticated equipment to calibrate them correctly
yes they can set some dip switches for certain parameters, but something that is off that much is a real problem telling me that the utilities installers clearly have no clue what they are doing.

also i can't imagine the old analog meter being off that much either.  not without the utility flagging it long ago, they know about what the usage of a typical home in the area ought to be, and if your usage was about a third of other folks, they would have pulled that meter years ago.

something smells, and i am pretty sure it ain't my feet.

bob g
btw. did you receive the money order yet?

[SteveU.]

Hi Quent/Md
Had the exactly same thing happen to us.
Keep complaining loudly and often with each and every billing. Write and threaten to file a complaint with your state utilities  commission.
Our explanation was the old clockwork analogue meters wear and always  will "slow down" under-reading and we had been getting a lot of undercharged power previously. I (we) kept complaining and forced two different field service check and rechecks. IF the old previous meter was so whacked it was their responsibility to have replaced it. No change with the rechecks. So we paid to have the services off this single shunt reading meter feeding the freezer/wood shed & green house, barn, and one residence split back out three different ways through different now direct reading meters.
I actually think they were correct.
Barn user/leaser had 4 old freezers and 3 old give-a-way refrigerators hauled in running inside. Had reconnected back up the the old ,old dairy hot water heater using lots of hot water. Six months of paying his own power bill now, he left taking it all with him. One MONTH of paying his previous power usage payed the annual taxes on this and keep it unoccupied.
In our own freezer room  I was now able to show the actual split out consumption in the old but 30 year reliable chest beasts. I was able to put a stop to running four continuously for separation this years and last years meats; and fruits and vegetable down to just two packed freezers - disposed of the noisy one; kept the fourth as a spare. Junked out the two oldest of four family refrigerators for new energy efficient and cut back year round useage to just two, seasonally the third for apples Oct to April. Stopped the use of electric space heaters in the greenhouse.
Step by step, like you, ungraded the old house windows, furnace ducting and put in a new energy efficient soft start variable speed DC blower system in the furnace. Last step was with leakage swapping out the old house 93 gallon hot water heater with a new super insulated 51 gallon unit.
Of course CFL's (poor value) and now LED's selectively was done first.
NOW the total electric consumption is back down to what we used to be billed for. Ha! Ha! Higher base rates now approved by the state rate commission  though. They say needed due to revenue drops due to overall decreased demand due to system user energy upgrading.
Digital smart meters drove all of this investigation and changing. Refusing to just be a victim drove changing things for the better. Changes financed by the 2-3X power bills we were not then willing to pay. I still hate the new meters. They have since been swapped out by the power company for radio/telemetric meters. Hate these even more.

Keep up the good fight
Steve Unruh

[mdsailor]

Thanks, guys.  I appreciate the quick education.  The plot thickens a bit as now that I've looked at the bill and calendar together I've discovered I screwed up the dates.  We were gone during the August billing period, under the analog meter.  Typically, this would knock us down to about 11 kwh per day for the billing period.  However, this was an estimated meter number, not a real reading.  Historically, we burn about 15 kwh per day, just what the estimated reading worked out to be.  However, five days into the next period BGE replaced the meter and say the last reading was 277 kwh hours over the estimated reading.  This is a daily rate of over 55 kwh at a time when the weather is getting nice and the AC isn't running as much.  The smart meter since then is 37 kwh per day for the rest of the billing period.  It continues at about that rate.  We burned 32 kwh today and the AC, set at 80 degrees, didn't run at all.  If this continues, it will be a very expensive winter.
I figure unless electricity was leaking out all over while we gone, BGE must have misread the meter when they removed it. Then maybe jacked up the smart meter to match that rate, if that is possible.
Wife's Dad ran Cromby Power Station for old Philadelphia Electric Company.  When he retired, the engineers were gone at the top, replaced by lawyers and MBAs.  He was the last utility guy who I trusted.
Quent
PS- Bob G.- got the MO Monday, thanks much.  Hope the package arrived ok.  Still working on weighing the plates.   

[Carlb]

Here are a few links of problems with smart meters in Pa and Maryland. 

http://bowie.patch.com/articles/bge-defends-smart-meters-concerns-linger

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/morning_roundup/2012/09/peco-smart-meter-fire-in-bucks.html

http://stopsmartmeters.org/2012/08/27/maryland-hearing-to-consider-smart-meter-fires-after-pennsylvania-utility-peco-energy-calls-a-moratorium/

[Thob]

Sounds like it's time to invest in your own whole house electricity meter.  There was a thread here somewhere with suggestions, but I can't seem to find it.  Google search of "whole house electric meter" turned up a couple of interesting looking products in the $140 to $200 price range.  At least you should be able to determine if their meter is way off or you're being an energy hog.

Smart meters coming here in 1-2 months.  Oh joy!

[Tom Reed]

No smart meter coming here!

[Horsepoor]

This is just one more freedom being taken away. You see, you are using MORE than your fair share of electricity as defined by someone else, so how much is energy usage is fair? Well ,if you live in public housing with the government paying your cooling and heating bill, the amount of energy you use in your public housing unit is your fair share.  But if you are one of those selfish people who happen to have a house, now you are using more than your fair share, so the government must charge you more, and the new smart meter is one way to get more of your money. This is another method for redistribution of earned wealth. Those of you who live off the grid are the really free people?

[vdubnut62]

My shiny new "smart" meter is optically programed, I assume in the infrared, like a TV remote.
Mine had to be preset, the guy that installed it acted like he would have trouble programing a VCR.  Plus it took all of 30 seconds.
Strangely enough, my electric bill decreased.
Ron.

[LowGear]

Ron:  Always the trouble maker - Mannn.

Hey Horsepoor:  This is just dynamic market pricing come home.  Now you can decide when you want to buy the electricity.  Buy cheap in the middle of the night or buy at noon and help keep the planet green.  

Would you rather be paying 43 cents a KWH?  I'm suppose to look at this rate as helping me get to break even on my solar installation.  Attitude.  It's mostly Attitude!

Casey