[RE-wrenches] smart meters/bidirectional

[August Goers]

Hi All -

We run into smart meters before we install PV here in CA all the time. The
smart meter hardware is typically bidirectional in that the arrow on the
display will indicate which direction power is flowing. I say "typically"
because there seems to be several meter brands that the utility is using
and I haven't necessarily verified all of them.

However, in PG&E territory some stage of the software processing doesn't
seem to register negative kWh readings properly. In other words, if the PV
system produces more power than used in the billing period then the bills
get wonky. We've seen bills skyrocket because the negative reading is read
as a complete reset of the meter which would indicate that nearly 100,000
kWh were used. That's one reason why it is best to keep the system off
until official interconnection occurs.

Lastly, I've verified with PG&E that the bidirectional solar meters
currently used for net metering are the same as the standard smart meters
but just have different programming. Smart meter programming is not
currently active for net metered solar clients in the PG&E territory.
That's a mouthful!

Best,

August

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Mark Frye
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 8:14 PM
To: 'RE-wrenches'
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] smart meters/bidirectional

Jay,

I recently ran a smartmeter prior to changing out to a NEMS meter here in
California (PG&E). <for test purposes only of course>

I saw the energy flow indicator reverese direction and after a period of
time, the kWH reading also decreased so I was pretty confident that the
smartmeter was behaving the same as to old dics meters.

Mark Frye
Berkeley Solar Electric Systems
303 Redbud Way
Nevada City,  CA 95959
(530) 401-8024
www.berkeleysolar.com

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of jay peltz
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 8:10 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] smart meters/bidirectional

HI All,

Say are the new California smart meters bi-directional?

A recent install "test" showed the meter resister a negative watt
indication, but I couldn't run it long enough to see if the KWH went
backwards.

thanks,

jay

peltz power

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