We too have had this happen - customer didn't feel he had to wait for utility approval, turned on the system after we left. His next bill came & he tried to blame it on us... All the meters the utilities are replacing here are electronic AMR style units. It has been a long time since I saw a mechanical utility meter.
-Glenn -----Original Message----- From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Jason Szumlanski Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 12:09 PM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] mechanical vs. electronic kwh meter That is absolutely true. We have a customer who sent in his interconnection agreement and assumed the meter would be swapped. It never happened, the utility did not swap the meter, and energy sold to the utility actually showed up as purchased energy. The utility acknowledged the oversight in getting the meter swapped, and they are working with the customer on an equitable resolution. That is definitely a reason consider keeping the system off until the meter is swapped, but then you are relying on the customer to go flip the switch once installed. Jason Szumlanski -----Original Message----- From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Dave Click Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 11:15 AM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] mechanical vs. electronic kwh meter I just asked a guy I know in utility metering, and he confirms that there's no basis for the utility's concern. Their claim that backfeeding is a safety hazard could be an attempt to dissuade some non-PV folks from flipping their meters to steal power. Or that could be their justification to charge the customer for the new electronic meter (some utilities do this, apparently). As an anti-theft precaution, some mechanical meters don't actually spin backwards- so whether you're importing or exporting a 1kW, after an hour your counter has ticked up by one. So just because it's a mechanical meter doesn't mean that you should necessary leave it running until the utility installs that bidirectional electronic meter. On 2011/8/12 9:45, Kirk Herander wrote: > Hello, > > I am now in a debate with the metering dept. of a local utility. They > don't want a PV system to be energized and tested until a bidirectional > electronic meter is installed. They insist that an old plain Jane > mechanical meter can be damaged and is a safety concern if power is > pushed through it (its running backwards) to the grid. I have never > heard of, witnessed, or been told this by any utility or AHJ inspector > until now. Have any of you ever? > > I don't know the reason for their paranoia. I assume that many utility > districts don't to this day install bidirectional electronic meters. And > rely on the original mechanical meter to count backwards reliably and > safely. > > Kirk Herander > > VT Solar, LLC > > dba Vermont Solar Engineering > > NABCEP^TM Certified installer Charter Member > > NYSERDA-eligible Installer > > VT RE Incentive Program Partner > > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Options& settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules& etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
