[RE-wrenches] mechanical vs. electronic kwh meter

Dana dana at solarwork.com
Fri Aug 12 09:06:26 PDT 2011


Another issue is with our local mechanical meters is no
matter which way they run they are adding KWHR so to leave
it running you are costing your customer $ not saving them
$. We test to see that is does back feed for 5 minutes and
then turn it off till the net meter is installed.

Dana Orzel
Great Solar Works, Inc
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-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf
Of Dave Click
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 9:15 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] mechanical vs. electronic kwh
meter

I just asked a guy I know in utility metering, and he
confirms that 
there's no basis for the utility's concern. Their claim that
backfeeding 
is a safety hazard could be an attempt to dissuade some
non-PV folks 
from flipping their meters to steal power. Or that could be
their 
justification to charge the customer for the new electronic
meter (some 
utilities do this, apparently).

As an anti-theft precaution, some mechanical meters don't
actually spin 
backwards- so whether you're importing or exporting a 1kW,
after an hour 
your counter has ticked up by one. So just because it's a
mechanical 
meter doesn't mean that you should necessary leave it
running until the 
utility installs that bidirectional electronic meter.

On 2011/8/12 9:45, Kirk Herander wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am now in a debate with the metering dept. of a local
utility. They
> don't want a PV system to be energized and tested until a
bidirectional
> electronic meter is installed. They insist that an old
plain Jane
> mechanical meter can be damaged and is a safety concern if
power is
> pushed through it (its running backwards) to the grid. I
have never
> heard of, witnessed, or been told this by any utility or
AHJ inspector
> until now. Have any of you ever?
>
> I don't know the reason for their paranoia. I assume that
many utility
> districts don't to this day install bidirectional
electronic meters. And
> rely on the original mechanical meter to count backwards
reliably and
> safely.
>
> Kirk Herander
>
> VT Solar, LLC
>
> dba Vermont Solar Engineering
>
> NABCEP^TM Certified installer Charter Member
>
> NYSERDA-eligible Installer
>
> VT RE Incentive Program Partner
>
>
>
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