It seems really accurate. I can also see when the water heater comes on and shuts off. which is 4 times a day and stays on for about 10 minutes. Now I can see what my bill will look like even before I get it. Makes for better budgeting. If the bill starts to look a little too high I turn the thermostat up about 5 degrees. I try to keep the bill around the $130 to $150 price range while not sweating.
Our utility provides some details on how they come up with the comparison figure, but the term "neighbors" has to be taken loosely. In our case the service area of the utility is subdivided into climate zones that tend to have the same weather (average temperatures, humidity) and the comparison is done between consumers of the same account type in the same climate zone. Since account type is one of the comparison factors there will never be a mix between residential and commercial customers.
My utility's on-line tools have always shown me as having a much higher electricity usage rate than comparable neighbors, and now I may know why! My new, handy-dandy In-Home Display is consistently showing a steady usage rate of about 2 kilowatts, which jumps up closer to 5.5 kilowatts while the AC is running. Now, this number may or may not be trustworthy, but if it's true then I'm hard-pressed to see how it can be possible, given that I haven't had much going on today - no laundry, no dishwasher, no showering, nada. Just one TV and assorted electronics (PCs and such), plus some lights and so on. So either this display is wrong (not that I would be surprised), or these "small" loads really add up quickly, or perhaps I have a wiring or other problem that I need to track down. It looks like I may be spending part of tomorrow playing with the breakers one by one, to see how that changes the rate.
On a semi-related note (and since I don't remember it being mentioned already, but I'm too lazy to go back and check), what's everybody's take on the following? I can see both sides of the story, maybe, but the utility is passing this off as related to something that keeps them from suffering too much financially as their customers are encouraged to cut down on electricity use.
a pc is minimum about 50W, sometimes closer to 100. tv can be a bit more. some lighting can be very lossy - you could be up to 100W/light. phantom power for a household (wireless phones, phone chargers, etc) can be a lot larger than people think, but lets say less than 200W. hopefully your fridge isn't on all the time (some new ones are so quiet that it's hard to tell).
2kw is a bit high, as you say, to not be able to track down. especially if you have an lcd tc (plasma can get as high as 500W, probably closer to 200), but it all adds up. i'll be interested in what you find is the culprit. could be you have some outdoor lighting that's on all the time?
On a semi-related note (and since I don't remember it being mentioned already, but I'm too lazy to go back and check), what's everybody's take on the following? I can see both sides of the story, maybe, but the utility is passing this off as related to something that keeps them from suffering too much financially as their customers are encouraged to cut down on electricity use.
quote:Officials in the District and Virginia say the utilities can not charge customers for lost billings there - so this is unique to Maryland customers.
This is exactly why citizens demand their state have an effective regulatory agency keeping actions by POCO's like this under control. Our Virginia State Corporation Commission has been excellent in this regard over the years.
I have a TED 5000, and it shows my house having a steady draw of about 1 KW . heat pump brings it up to 5.5 KW, pool pump brings base up to 2.something, electric tank WH pulls 4.5 KW. So yes - all those "little loads" DO add up. a 2KW steady draw seems a bit high if the A/C is off.
I have a TED 5000, and it shows my house having a steady draw of about 1 KW . heat pump brings it up to 5.5 KW, pool pump brings base up to 2.something, electric tank WH pulls 4.5 KW. So yes - all those "little loads" DO add up. a 2KW steady draw seems a bit high if the A/C is off.
July 15 10:30 am
Normal: 0.697 kW = $0.073/hr
w/heat pump AC: 2.08 kW = $0.22/hr
AC (2.08 - .696 = 1.37 kW x 0.105 = $0.14/hr)
w/water heater no AC: 5.08 kW = $0.53/hr
WH (5.08 - .697 = 4.4 kW x 0.105 = $0.46/hr)
Don't need a Smart Meter to determine usage and cost. It can be determined very easily by just reading the meter.
On a semi-related note (and since I don't remember it being mentioned already, but I'm too lazy to go back and check), what's everybody's take on the following? I can see both sides of the story, maybe, but the utility is passing this off as related to something that keeps them from suffering too much financially as their customers are encouraged to cut down on electricity use.
quote:Officials in the District and Virginia say the utilities can not charge customers for lost billings there - so this is unique to Maryland customers.
This is exactly why citizens demand their state have an effective regulatory agency keeping actions by POCO's like this under control. Our Virginia State Corporation Commission has been excellent in this regard over the years.
I'm going to have to keep an eye on this. As unlikely as it seems, it may be that what they're doing here is quite reasonable (separating out fixed costs vs. variable costs), and it might be even be favorable to their customer base overall in the long term. Plus, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find that the reporter really DOESN'T understand what's going on here (as the article implies), and so maybe is needlessly stirring up trouble. This is something that I have witnessed before myself, firsthand, and the only way to really nip it in the bud is just to stop talking to them, which is what most people end up doing.
I have a TED 5000, and it shows my house having a steady draw of about 1 KW . heat pump brings it up to 5.5 KW, pool pump brings base up to 2.something, electric tank WH pulls 4.5 KW. So yes - all those "little loads" DO add up. a 2KW steady draw seems a bit high if the A/C is off.
Things are looking quite a bit better today. I've turned off the TV (constant use) and the small window AC unit upstairs (intermittent use), and now the meter is hovering at 1 KW or less. But it stayed this way even after I fired up my dryer (it did rise just a touch), which is unexpected behavior, so at this point I don't have any real reason to believe these numbers. Which is sad because these are the only numbers that are "working" right now; everything else is still zero, but I was told that different things might magically start working over the next few days or weeks. Except maybe for the cost figures, which even the printed documentation says can't really be trusted. Some other things don't appear to work, either (the automatic screen dimming function, for example), but at this point I am not at all surprised by this.
Since account type is one of the comparison factors there will never be a mix between residential and commercial customers.
How about an apartment building with electric resistive PTAC heat and 1960s construction that is individually metered?
There are two reasons why those would not be mixed together in average consumption comparison. The first is that a multi-unit dwellings (without individual metering) have a different account type from individually metered and directly billed apartments. In addition a baseline modifier is applied to the electric rates depending on whether the customer receives gas and electric (code B) or all-electric without gas (code H). There is no baseline modifier for the gas consumption since all-electric customers don't use any gas.
My utility bill shows:
Electric Rate: E1 XB Gas Rate: G1 X
Where E1 and G1 are the standard electric/gas rate for single family residential customers. B is the baseline modifier for Gas & Electric customers and X is the baseline modifier for the climate zone (assumes moderate temperatures in summer and winter and therefore not much allowance for heating and cooling).
Yes, but then that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a portable In-Home Display in the first place, now doesn't it? Not to mention the fact that basic power usage data is just one of the many features that it is supposed to have!
Yes, but then that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a portable In-Home Display in the first place, now doesn't it? Not to mention the fact that basic power usage data is just one of the many features that it is supposed to have!
That's true for those who absolutely have to know every detail of their usage. I believe there is only really one meaningful data point. The one the POCO uses for my bill.
I ran my own manual tests yesterday on normal load, heat pump load and Water Heater Load. The Heat Pump and Water Heater represents the real high cost usage. I'm already operating both the way my wife and I want so there's not going to be any changes. The other small loads less than 1kW really are of little consequence to me. Yesterday my normal load was 0.7kW or about 7 cents/hr.
That's true for those who absolutely have to know every detail of their usage. I believe there is only really one meaningful data point. The one the POCO uses for my bill.
I have beliefs but when they are contradicted by data, I can change what I think, or I can say, "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."
In other words, if every appliance, light switch, and other electrical device had a digital display counting up the amount that thing was costing every second it was on, wouldn't you be more likely to turn it off?
I know I would. Measuring things often causes behavior to change.
For example, I have no trouble spending thousands a month on this and that. I don't carry credit card balances. But if I had to shell out thousands in cash every month instead of using plastic and bank transfers, I am certain I would spend less. So why don't I do that? I don't want to get thousands in cash from the bank and carry it around. I give up some knowledge of my spending patterns for the added security of shifting risk to the credit card company. I choose to be somewhat ignorant, because I know I could put it all in some money program that would tell me what I'm spending in certain categories.
Likewise, if I value the comfort my heating or cooling are currently providing, I might find it tiresome to be constantly reminded that it is costing me money. Why would I want that? Only if I considered my comfort a commodity with a value that could be put in terms of dollars and cents, or at least BTUs and kWh. We all have different things that are important. Some people like sweaters in the winter and some like to run around the house in bare feet and underwear.
Yes, but then that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a portable In-Home Display in the first place, now doesn't it? Not to mention the fact that basic power usage data is just one of the many features that it is supposed to have!
That's true for those who absolutely have to know every detail of their usage. I believe there is only really one meaningful data point. The one the POCO uses for my bill.
I ran my own manual tests yesterday on normal load, heat pump load and Water Heater Load. The Heat Pump and Water Heater represents the real high cost usage. I'm already operating both the way my wife and I want so there's not going to be any changes. The other small loads less than 1kW really are of little consequence to me. Yesterday my normal load was 0.7kW or about 7 cents/hr.
Well, don't forget that in my case this is a trial, and I am a tester, so I am going to be very cognizant of how the unit behaves or misbehaves. Yesterday I say my usage peak at around 16.5, which seems reasonable given that at the time the dryer was running, the washer was running (hot water), and the AC was running. One of the issues that I've run into is that the unit only updates its display every five minutes, which is a bit slow for monitoring what might be intermittent resistive loads, but does help explain why I thought I couldn't really trust it. It would be far better if it updated in something like near real-time, or at least had a much shorter update cycle, like maybe one minute. It also doesn't help that my Smart Meter itself could also display this usage, but for some reason they've chosen not to activate that feature.
But if the 2 Kw figure for an ongoing load is accurate, then that translates into something like an average of 20 cents an hour, or about five dollars a day - $150 a month - which would go a long way towards explaining my high electrical bills. The apparent good news is that my new AC system appears to be only costing me about 30 cents an hour (if that), while my old one probably cost more like 50 cents an hour. But if most of my bill cost is being generated elsewhere, anyway, then I may not have too much reason to celebrate right now.
That's true for those who absolutely have to know every detail of their usage. I believe there is only really one meaningful data point. The one the POCO uses for my bill.
I have beliefs but when they are contradicted by data, I can change what I think, or I can say, "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."
In other words, if every appliance, light switch, and other electrical device had a digital display counting up the amount that thing was costing every second it was on, wouldn't you be more likely to turn it off?
I know I would. Measuring things often causes behavior to change.
For example, I have no trouble spending thousands a month on this and that. I don't carry credit card balances. But if I had to shell out thousands in cash every month instead of using plastic and bank transfers, I am certain I would spend less. So why don't I do that? I don't want to get thousands in cash from the bank and carry it around. I give up some knowledge of my spending patterns for the added security of shifting risk to the credit card company. I choose to be somewhat ignorant, because I know I could put it all in some money program that would tell me what I'm spending in certain categories.
Likewise, if I value the comfort my heating or cooling are currently providing, I might find it tiresome to be constantly reminded that it is costing me money. Why would I want that? Only if I considered my comfort a commodity with a value that could be put in terms of dollars and cents, or at least BTUs and kWh. We all have different things that are important. Some people like sweaters in the winter and some like to run around the house in bare feet and underwear.
Along those same lines, 20 cents an hour doesn't sound like much; even five dollars a day doesn't sound like much. But $150 a month does sound like quite a bit, and knowing this plus knowing that it is much higher than my neighbors' average costs, I'm now highly motivated to get that 20 cents an hour figure reduced significantly!
To keep the snooping meter readers from walking onto your property.
Edit to add:
Once on the property who's to say that they aren't looking into windows, secretly taking pictures, writing down what they see, noting whether you've cleaned up the dog crap from your lawn? Big brother, yessiree, those snoops claiming they have the right to just walk onto YOUR property to supposedly read some data from meter dials!
To keep the snooping meter readers from walking onto your property.
Nope....meter reader does not have to come on to my property now. They drive by in a truck remotely reading all monthly usage by myself and my neighbors.
Yeah, after I posted that I thought I should've added "Except Jack"
Your case is quite unusual, I'm speaking to the 90% that otherwise would have meter readers. You can remain smug.
My case is not unusual. I just live in a state that has a progressive POCO. Dominion Virginia Power reads virtually all residential meters remotely. No need for having to access the property.
We got our smart meter a month and a half ago. Last bill energy usage: "Estimated". Uhm, yeah, estimated by at least 40% less than what we used this time last year...when it wasn't as hot.
Expecting a whopper of a bill next month....and no way to prove what the old meter was at when they replaced it.
Nope....meter reader does not have to come on to my property now. They drive by in a truck remotely reading all monthly usage by myself and my neighbors.
They won't be doing that too much longer, Dominion just announced they will be deploying a wide scale wireless network to operate their AMI/AMR system over allowing them to read monitor and control their smart meters on a real time basis.
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