Is my electric meter correct???

fcfcfc

Hi Again:

Just an FYI, these are two graphs that show the min/max volts and power factor, then the watts over the period.

.....Bill

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nap

how are you determining power factor?

Scuba_Dave

Have you called the POCO to report what you think is an error ?
They will usually test them...or replace

nap

I see where you are getting PF. The critter you are using to measure with provides that.

are you charged for reactive power? I don't know of any residential areas that do so but that doesn't mean much.

Gabriel24

I had a similar problem. The tenants in the house were complaining of paying too much money to DWP. I called the DWP because the meters were there for many years. The DWP changed the meters with new types.
These are the modern ones where the man does not have to be very close in order to read the meters. Anyway, To make a long story short,
every body was happy without doing any fancy watt test.

If you had the meter for eight years, why not change it ?

There was a metaphor about DAVEY and GOLIATH --a good metaphor.
I think the bottom line is You are hoping to get refund money from
DWP.

fcfcfc

Hi Nap:

That is a good question.... I don't know the answer to that...
When I did the controlled test, which was after I did testing of various devices/appliances around the house, I thought the two would pretty much "line up", within 1 or 2% at least... Frankly, I was surprised when they did not. I had always expected the testing to revel malfunctioning loads or just something "weird" in the infrastructure... Really was not looking for a faulty meter, but it was logical to at least run the test.

Gabriel24, you need to read the previous posts on this thread....

.....Bill

moondawg

I did some googling on the subject. I found a few things that said there are 2 classes of meters, .2 and .5 accuracy. (they didn't list units, so I assume kWh) I also found some info that says the meters are tested at 30A.

I also found many cases of people saying that they got an old meter replaced with a new one, and that their "consumption" dropped considerably. It was enough of a trend for me to conclude that the meters do "drift" during their lifetime.

Proby

I'd really like to see this setup that you have.

Also, what is this backup power that you are using? You are comparing the PoCo meter usage with grid power to the "Watts Up" on a backup power source, is that correct?

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fcfcfc

typoHi Proby:

No, no... your getting confused here... The backup power has nothing to do with the test. I simply engage it to keep my house going during the test. After all, I do "live" here...LOL...
Moondawg... finally had two tech conversations over the past 24 here. One with the Watts Up eng and one with an Eng for the DCSi company that makes the comm module for the meter on my house. Both conversations were interesting.
To keep it short, there is a "feeling" that the difference could be "stacked" margin of errors, be it in mostly one direction, possible meter inaccuracy, etc.. Nothing that really is strong enough to point to a single overwhelming cause. My utility co is PPL. They do have a reputation of being CS responsive, so it was the one eng opinion to see if I can get them to test the meter. They are required by ANSI spec to randomly check meters in their customer base yearly to be able to show their reading accuracy is within certain ranges, etc.. So, given the info you found and the desire to eliminate one possible variable, it seems reasonable to approach them at this point....

.....Bill

Proby

So I am still completely confused. How are you metering the power with the Watt Up thingie?

Why do you need backup power when you are using the Watt Up thingie?

What is your backup power source?

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fcfcfc

Hi Proby:

Did you read my post #8??

.....Bill

Proby

I'm not going to ask a 3rd time. Nevermind...

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Anything fun is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

fcfcfc

Hi Proby:

I don't know where you are not clear. The backup power is used to run my house during the test because my main breaker is off. Selected loads are attached to the watts Up which is plugged into a Tripplite IBAR2-6 which goes directly to the main Aluminum 200 A service feed wire. That service wire is maybe 5' long and runs into the meter base.
I activate backup power to my main box through a 50A breaker which leads out to a sub panel where the 3000W inverter feeds the power... etc.. etc..
I don't know what else to say....

Sorry...

.....Bill

HVAC_NW

If you're talking about Watts Up? meter from EED, I can tell you I've had issues with them, several years ago. It is wildly inaccurate with non-resistive load and phase angle error is unacceptable to the point it is unable to properly measure inductive loads. I'm not sure if they've fixed the problem since, but if they haven't that thing can not be trusted