Smart Meters and Electricity Bills

[Barnaby]

Originally Posted by castellan

A mate has the 10 solar panels feeding back into the grid.
SMART hey but when the flood knocked the power out in our area he did not have any power at all so you can not even help your neighbors out it's that smart.

He had to used his own generator and a neighbor his other gen.
If he could use his solar power he could of helped more people.

But the ALP in QLD calls it's self the smart state does it not.

I suspect he chose to go with the government subsidised system...you had little choice of hardware with this program and you had to sign over your RECs to the installation companies. I wouldn't blame any government for what happened here. So many people jumped on this scheme without looking into what they were actually getting.

Was the word smart mentioned here?

[shedcoupe]

Hey Castellan, 1.5 kW of solar isn't going to run the neighbourhood. The panels don't feed into the grid so that the linesmen / persons don't get zapped.
There is a way to get your panels pumping power when the grid is off but it ain't really legal and should only be done by the technically savvy.
Nothing to do with politics or the intelligence of people. Insert smiley face here.

[Spanrz]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

There is a way to get your panels pumping power when the grid is off but it ain't really legal and should only be done by the technically savvy.

Batteries work well with a PV system. Pity the politicians didn't think about this avenue.
But there again, lead is a contaminant, so what is the pay off, is the conjob.

[shedcoupe]

Batteries do work well with a Pv system, but cost a lot for any sort of endurance, need storage area, and fail after 5-8 years, so a better choice for grid-outs is to get a change-over switch, a power-inlet socket, and a generator.
But you must be able to control your loads so you don't cook the genny, ie. run the fridge, but ditch the hair-dryer and toaster, and anything else that sucks it down like a hot water system, a giant teev and so on.
Cheapy generators may cook microwaves and other electronic devices that need a pure-sine waveform.
Hot water and food can be gas-stoved.
If the manager requires it all laid on, then get the jobs guide out because you can get whatever you want for money .....

[castellan]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

Hey Castellan, 1.5 kW of solar isn't going to run the neighbourhood. The panels don't feed into the grid so that the linesmen / persons don't get zapped.
There is a way to get your panels pumping power when the grid is off but it ain't really legal and should only be done by the technically savvy.
Nothing to do with politics or the intelligence of people. Insert smiley face here.

Lines men zapped like
I was only thinking it's stupid to have that stuff and and it's of no benefit.( is it not )
I would think a switch would not be a bad thing for your own convenience.

Barnaby RECs that has nothing to do with what i was on about and maybe a smart state could of had a option like so regardless.

And old mate could help by shearing ( as in running a lead over to the neighbour as was the case) power just to help keep there fridge do it's job was the main purpose of the small generators and the rest of the power does not really matter does it in a flood .

[Barnaby]

Your probably right, RECs has nothing to do with your issue. My point was that your mate got what he payed for AND lost the benefit when a carbon trading scheme (scam?) comes out.

He could have got an inverter to do EXACTLY what he wanted but chose to spend less on a government subsidised system with no grid backup. Not the governments fault...he got a system that couldn't provide for a situation that he couldn't foresee anyway. I don't see how its the governments fault.

No one else to blame I guess.

[shedcoupe]

And re PV - heard a story that the firefighters in WA won't hose a roof with PV in case they get a belt from fire-damaged cabling ...... (transformerless inverters may give the array an earth reference etc. I'm guessing).
The CEC has issued a bulletin re floods - but getting on the roof to isolate the array is not easy for most people, and presumably there's a shock hazard around a flooded inverter as the PV array sees the short circuit (c/breakers under water) as a load and doesn't go open circuit. Maybe hydrogen and oxygen get generated by electrolysis.

[ebxr8240]

If there's an RCD on it ?? It'll trip ...

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by Spanrz

is of the new meter and the Wi-Fi access by the electrical supplier.
In other words, we do do pay for the meter and access via Wi-Fi (assuming 3G??),

You'd think they'd use broadband over power, since they are connected via grid anyway.

also found this interesting

Per the Vic Retailer Electricity Code there most certainly is – 12 months maximum or 9 months where it is an issue with the Retailers system (which, provided you had an account with them, will be the case).

6.2 Undercharging
(a) If a retailer has undercharged or not charged a customer, the retailer may recover
the amount undercharged from the customer, subject to the following limits:
• if the undercharging resulted from a failure of the retailer’s billing systems,
the retailer may recover no more than the amount undercharged in the 9
months prior to the date on which the retailer notifies the customer that
undercharging has occurred;
• otherwise, the retailer may recover no more than the amount undercharged
in the 12 months prior to that date.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by GK

They (Smart Meters) are a scam for sure. Great for the company. They can turn the power on and off remotely and know what you're using by computer, so they'll fire their meter readers.

Eye-Popping Electric Bills Spark Smart Meter Investigations
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/201...xas-california

[Spanrz]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

You'd think they'd use broadband over power, since they are connected via grid anyway.

I thought it was using the phone system, as there is 2 frequenices that it connects with.
Interesting concept, with broadband over power, but it still has not been tested fully. I think Tassie got a taste of it.
I'll have to recheck the specs of the frequencies. Maybe it's only powerful enough for a mobile unit driving in the streets with a wifi accessable meter reader? Drive by Meter Readers...LOL

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

also found this interesting
6.2 Undercharging
(a) If a retailer has undercharged or not charged a customer, the retailer may recover
the amount undercharged from the customer, subject to the following limits:
• if the undercharging resulted from a failure of the retailer’s billing systems,
the retailer may recover no more than the amount undercharged in the 9
months prior to the date on which the retailer notifies the customer that
undercharging has occurred;
• otherwise, the retailer may recover no more than the amount undercharged
in the 12 months prior to that date.

There maybe a bit more to the above. I'm only going off what you put above, so I'm commenting only the statements.

I'm not sure if it's SP AusNet or TRU, that has the issue with my bill.
The jury is out, if it's a software problem, or more of a "union" thing with the guys who take the readings. The latter is more of a hunch about the recent issues of electrocution of people. And it seems that the readers or part of the people system walked out until they fix it.

I have a hunch that it's SP Ausnet, that has the issue, as TRU gave the indication that it was more "upstream" than just them.
So even though, TRU is my retailer, the problem isn't with them (if that's the case) and the above can be misconstrued as wrong.
As TRU will just pass off "it's not our fault".
But in a law case, I deal directly and only with TRU, not SP Ausnet.
So it's real confusing.

The other part of it, is that they didn't call me about the issue, I called them. Unsure how it defines "9 months prior to the date on which the retailer notifies the customer".
I wonder if that can be the actual bill period (which was from 26th Sept to around 28th Dec)?
If it is taken as exactly as worded, that is a very open statement, because they may not contact you for 11 months and it still be a valid rule? WTF.

It doesn't clearly state in lamens terms (even from a stupidty POV), that what happens after 12 months. You have to guess in around about way that the monies owed are not recoverable after 12 months because of the words "subject to the following limits".

[shedcoupe]

If there's an RCD on it ?? It'll trip ...

umm ... there's no RCD on the DC side.

[Barnaby]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

If there's an RCD on it ?? It'll trip ...

umm ... there's no RCD on the DC side.

Im not 100% sure on this but I think an RCD is part of the Australian standard for inverters sold here. ie - if the inverter senses leakage current to ground, it will shut down the inverter and no AC is generated. This was the case with the stuff I have been involved in, Im not sure on the cheap, asian stuff. Of course any thing on the solar panel side (DC) wont effect this.

[Barnaby]

...as for smart meter communications, it looks like this mob has got the first contract in Sydney. Don't know whats happening in the rest of the country yet.

http://airspan.trimention.com/wp-con...mart_Grids.pdf