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Millions of Smart Meters May Over-Inflate Readings by up to 600% (bleepingcomputer.com)
"Lab tests carried out by Dutch scientists have shown that some of today's 'smart' electrical meters may give out false readings that in some cases can be 582% higher than actual energy consumption," reports BleepingComputer. An anonymous reader quotes their report:
The study involved several tests conducted on nine different brands of "smart" meters, also referred to in the industry as "static energy meters." Researchers also used one electromechanical meter for reference... Experiments went on for six months, with individual tests lasting at least one week, and sometimes several weeks. Test results varied wildly, with some meters reporting errors way above their disclosed range, going from -32% to +582%...
The results of the study also matched numbers posted on an online forum by a disgruntled Dutchman complaining about high energy bills... Researchers blamed all the issues on the design of some smart meters, and, ironically, electrical devices with energy-saving features. The latter devices, researchers say, introduced a large amount of noise in electrical current waveforms, which disrupt the smart meter sensors tasked with recording power consumption...
Long-time Slashdot reader ClarkMills points out the researchers estimate that "potentially inaccurate meters have been installed in the meter cabinets of at least 750,000 Dutch households," while the article suggests that worldwide, "the numbers of possibly faulty smart meters could be in the millions,especially after some governments, especially in the EU, have pushed for smart meters to replace classic electromechanical (rotating disk) meters."
The results of the study also matched numbers posted on an online forum by a disgruntled Dutchman complaining about high energy bills... Researchers blamed all the issues on the design of some smart meters, and, ironically, electrical devices with energy-saving features. The latter devices, researchers say, introduced a large amount of noise in electrical current waveforms, which disrupt the smart meter sensors tasked with recording power consumption...
Long-time Slashdot reader ClarkMills points out the researchers estimate that "potentially inaccurate meters have been installed in the meter cabinets of at least 750,000 Dutch households," while the article suggests that worldwide, "the numbers of possibly faulty smart meters could be in the millions,especially after some governments, especially in the EU, have pushed for smart meters to replace classic electromechanical (rotating disk) meters."
There is no discernible reason to invest scarce resources in "smart meters" (which are looking more like "dumb meters"). Ordinary old-style meters do an adequate job, and give employment to a lot of meter-readers. (That's a good thing, by the way). They are sufficiently accurate.
The arguments in favour of "smart meters" are ridiculous. Putting meter-readers out of work to save the company a small amount of money is a bad idea. Besides, most customers would be happy to read their own meters and send in the results by Web or phone. I do.
Transmitting people's energy consumption by wireless is completely insane. This is private information that does not need to be broadcast insecurely to anyone with the right black box.
Most normal people already have an excellent idea of how much energy they are using (often this is "too much", as in "I told you to turn off those lights!" or "Do you have any idea how much it costs to leave that running for so long?") If they really want to know in more detail, there are a lot of very nice cheap little meters you can install and read yourself.
Controlling people's energy supply by wireless is beyond insane - it is literally criminal. It's bad enough that energy suppliers would be able to switch off the supply on a whim (or a computer error). But those guys with the black box could do it too.
The only logical motive for installing "smart meters" is for the manufacturers to make loads of money. And that isn't a proper motive at all.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
That's what they told one woman who complained about a 5 fold increase of her electric bill after the smart meter was installed: "Your smart meter is working fine. Possibly your old meter was faulty and we have been under-charging you all these years". Which might even be true, sadly the reporter didn't mention what the woman was paying (which should have made it instantly clear whether or not something was out of whack). But it does point out that they make it very hard to dispute these bills. The company told her she could have an electrician check out all of the wiring and appliances for any problems that would cause an increased power draw, or she could have the meter recalibrated, but she would have to bear the cost of around €900 (which seems unnecessarily high by the way).
I think we're seeing deplorable but wholly expected behaviour in a typical case where there could well be a problem with a company's equipment, which could turn out very embarrassing and expensive for them if they admitted it. So instead they deny everything and chalk any complaints up to isolated defects or fraud.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
And what if the error is not in the instantaneous reading, but the figures that get accumulated and sent to the power company?
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
The problem isn't just some 0.X% being over charged, it's being over charged and being unable to do anything about it. The power company's response is always "you used more this month", and there's literally nothing you can do about it. It's in the same problem category as cops shooting black people. Nobody is saying we can avoid all the accidents, but everyone wants justice system to stop shielding the cops from any and all liability.
Does an analog meter measure the amount of energy correctly? If yes: it's criminal to impose a mandatory change to the new meter.
Does it measure the incorrect amount of energy? Yes. Is it defective? Yes. Are the testing standard broken? Yes. Are people actually being charged 6 times their power usage in practice? No.
As I said, there is a certification failure here, but the headline and the statistic that all of these news sites are parrotting is pure clickbait.
There are other methods to verify if the meter is performing as expected.
A third party device that allows you to monitor your own electrical usage is available and dead simple to install. Ammeters clamp around your mains and track / log how much power you're using in real time. Will store said information locally as well as allow for export into something like Excel for long term analysis.
They can tell you how much power you're using as well as what the current and projected costs will be.
If the monitor and your meter are off by X margin, it would be a good time to get someone to check it out.
One such device ( and the one I've utilized for over a decade now ) is call T.E.D. ( The Energy Detective ) Google it.
You may doubt that there is an "extra metering" company, but that is exactly what happens in multiple countries with deregulated energy supply.
While I don't know in detail how the Dutch system works, the UK system seems to work in a similar way, and I describe that here:
An end user can choose their electricity supplier, who provides the retail service (i.e. billing, sourcing of bulk energy, customer service, etc.). The supplier sources the energy from generators via the wholesale market (ante hoc) and balancing market (post hoc). The electricity is delivered by a combination of the transmission operator, and the local distribution operator, who own and operate the transmission grid and distribution network respectively. Metering is provided by an independent metering operator.
The metering operator is responsible for collating meter readings and verifying the correct operation of the meters, as well as periodic recalibration. In the event that consumption data is unavailable or inaccurate, and the supplier and customer cannot agree on a reading (or if a customer is transferring to a new supplier, but the two suppliers disagree about the meter reading at changeover; it is, after all, common for customers to "adjust" readings when suppliers publish new tariffs or a customer changes to a cheaper supplier), the meter operator provides independent arbitration.
The independence of the meter operator is important, because the same meter readings that are used by the supplier to compute bills for customers, are the same readings that are used by the balancing market operators to reconcile bulk electricity accounts (including the post hoc accounting between generators and suppliers). Part of the job of the meter operator is to provide independent mathematical modelling of consumption patterns, to correct for incorrect or missing data, and which are legally binding on balancing market paticipants.
Another poster has mentioned an issue of energy theft elsewhere in the discussion, and the above system has an impact on the detection and prevention of energy theft. Because the same meter reading which the supplier uses to bill a customer, also determines the energy purchased by the supplier from the wholesale/balancing markets, there is little incentive for suppliers to investigate energy theft. If a meter reading is lower than it should be, then the supplier pays less to the generator. The discrepancy appears in the energy accounting of the distribution network operator, who must absorb the cost. However, if the energy theft is discovered, then the independent meter operator will compute a consumption measure which is legally binding on the supplier and customer. The supplier therefore has to pay for the stolen energy in the wholesale market. The customer, who is likely a deadbeat if they've been tampering with the meter, has no money with which to pay, and either disappears or goes bankrupt. Thus, having discovered an energy theft, the likely outcome for the supplier is that they take a loss equal to the value of the stolen energy.
I'm a UK smart meter 'refusenik'. They told me 2 years ago my current meter was 'obsolete'. I wouldn't give permission for a 'smart meter'. Eventually they installed a new non-smart meter (probably one of the last generation). Now they're bugging me again - I bin the letters. Hopefully by the time they force me to have a 'smart meter' or have my supply cut off, at least the worst of the bugs will have been fixed.
Given what I've read about the current generation of smart meters I suggest everyone reading this does the same. There's supposed to be a new generation of 'better' smart meters coming from about May 2018 - V2.0 of some standard name for smart meters I can't remember - apparently under test at present. So stall them to at least 2019 if you can and you might have a slightly better chance of avoiding problems.