Do smart electric meters alert the power company when it's removed?

[tulenutn2o]

I was asked to take a look at a central air residential that was not working during a heat wave…

The new owners never used it but very much wanted to during the hot spell

I said nothing wrong with the unit except it has electric company interlock keeping it from running…

They said just make it work and I did.

Best we could figure is the previous owner had set it up…

As far as I know nothing ever came of me taking the interlock out of the circuit.

I remove the interlock off my units that tenants had installed. Not a big deal there. Removing the meter gets you in hot water unless you know the tech for the utility.

 

[grsthegreat]

My tenants got free electricity when I did a service upgrade from 120v 30 amp to 240v 100 amp.

Typically I just move the meter but with the 1922 meter it was not possible.

I did everything right and had confirmation of notification along with signed off permit…

Typically it takes up to 72 hours and in this case it was over 3 months.

Standard procedure is to hammer flat the ends of #8 wire to bridge the socket and to use split bolts to connect at the weather head.

PGE said it was their fault so no estimated bill sent…

they sell a blank meter cover plate with built in jumpers (Jumper Cover). safer than wires. electrical supply houses sell these.

 

[grsthegreat]

Around here, the utility installs a relay on the AC control that they can control over the power line. My guess your area is similar.

All the best,

Peter

yeiks...id hate that

 

[ultrarunner]

Incentive
Participant will receive a $50 enrollment incentive check approximately 4-6 weeks after installation of the Switch on their AC unit. At the installation, Participant will also receive a free AC checkup which will assess the AC capacitor, contactor, grounding, housing, and if it is pet proof.



Load Control Switch
The Switch will cycle Participant’s AC unit compressor at a 50% duty cycle. This means that for approximately 15 minutes of a 30-minute period the AC unit compressor will not produce cool air. However, during that 15-minute period the AC unit fan will continue to circulate air throughout the home. This may cause the temperature of the home to increase, but typically Participant’s do not notice. The Switch will start cycling within the first 30 minutes. The Switch will stop cycling within 30 minutes after the scheduled DR Event end time.



Switch Communication
The installed Switch uses a Smart Energy Protocol standard called Zigbee to connect and communicate to the SmartMeter at the premise to provide event dispatch

 

[LHF2019]

Was it actually free? Normally when a meter fails, or hasn’t recorded properly, the utility company will make an adjustment on your bill, the following month or 2, based on their statistics of your normal usage, to “ fill in” the missing data.

Bill went from actual to estimating. You see that the price dropped drastically When they had no usage to estimate. I'm surprised they didn't estimate it better. It is easy to see I should have paid more than $10.16 and $45.70. Jan, Feb, March, April 2024 Meter was down.

		KW	2025		KW	2023		KW	2024
January	A	1100	$ 222.50	A	778	$ 146.95	E	409	$ 87.22
February	A	1048	$ 214.59	A	691	$ 131.88	E	0	$ 97.38
March	A	760	$ 158.71	A	656	$ 124.19	E	0	$ 10.16
April	A	558	$ 119.60	A	435	$ 85.24	E	186	$ 45.70
May	A	541	$ 116.33	A	331	$ 67.18	A	464	$ 98.74
June	A	0	$ -	A	692	$ 131.28	A	535	$ 109.20
July	A	0	$ -	A	936	$ 175.79	A	918	$ 177.25

 

[homedad]

You bees have been busy. After reading this I decided to go the legal and expensive route and hire an electrician. And he's still here working after starting it what seems to be 3 weeks ago. Hopefully it'll be done tonight or by 4 tomorrow. It's beginning to feel like I'd been better off paying the fines and doing it myself.

 

[tulenutn2o]

You bees have been busy. After reading this I decided to go the legal and expensive route and hire an electrician. And he's still here working after starting it what seems to be 3 weeks ago. Hopefully it'll be done tonight or by 4 tomorrow. It's beginning to feel like I'd been better off paying the fines and doing it myself.

Yep, they definitely got us by the short hairs these days!

 

[Dftodd]

Nope, it must be on file over your signature. Most utilities will offer a lower rate if you give them this permission, and only applies during peak demand periods. Specifically this applies to whole house air conditioners/heat pumps, not lighting etc.
How do they do it? I haven't a clue.

Locally, entergy wanted to put a device on my air conditioner to shut off the compressor during peak usage.

I told them no and refused to sign for permission. I had an energy efficient model, high end windows, and added 10" of insulation in the attic.

When it was 110° outside, my ac would kick on and run once an hour for 20 minutes as long as the doors weren't opened.

The AC unit next door in the rental house was running constantly from about 10am until dark.

Same with the neighbors across the street.

 

[Dftodd]

I was asked to take a look at a central air residential that was not working during a heat wave…

The new owners never used it but very much wanted to during the hot spell

I said nothing wrong with the unit except it has electric company interlock keeping it from running…

They said just make it work and I did.

Best we could figure is the previous owner had set it up…

As far as I know nothing ever came of me taking the interlock out of the circuit.

New owners so no signed agreement with the power company.

 

[mrmikey]

Funny you mention smart meters. Our power corp (NS Power) got hacked back in April, it's still not back to normal. Luckily they never got to the actual generating and distribution part, just the billing. They got peoples SIN number, banking info, passwords and other personal info, over 250k last I heard. So far they're sending out estimated bills, not charging late fees.
The funniest thing is they can't remotely read the meters now so they have to send out meter readers like they used to. I would imagine a great majority of the meter readers were layed off so I can see the bills being screwed up big time. Gotta love technology....not.