Smart meter incorrect installation caused increased energy usage

[Deleted User]

Kateg28 said:

matt_drummer said:

Kateg28 said:

Qyburn said:

Something wired up wrong. I'll bet the app calculates house load by adding up Grid import/export and solar inverter output. So if the sensor for grid is round the wrong way it will think the house is drawing 3.044 plus 3.678.  Instead of 3.678 minus 3.044.

This makes sense to me, now I need to find out if it is the case and how to fix it?

for people saying about things being on, it really really is not.  We have a fairly new combi boiler so no immersion heater, hot water tank etc. The only permanent things on are two fridge freezers and two chest freezers and other things on standby. It is a standard 3 bed house. 

I have taken some photos as we have used 3kw on the meter since first posting. The red light was flashing around 30 times a minute. 

Just step back and think a minute.

If 3 kWh is being shown as imported by your electricity meter, then it really has been, plus you have generated  and drawn from your battery another 4 kWh. Your house must have consumed 7 kWh since you started your discussion.

Can you turn off your fridges and freezers and see what happens?

It's not impossible for a malfunctioning device to draw a lot of power.

Unfortunately husband has now put washing machine on which always pushes consumption up. Before smart meter it would go from 0.5 to 3 or 4 during the cycle. I can try turning fringes off on Sunday when we are home but how would we check when we don’t have an app for smart meter or IHD. 

It is a massive coincidence that we run at approx 11Kw average over Winter, install solar panels and then run about 2 or 3 kw, then install smart meter and the very same day our consumption rockets to 20/25kw. 

Would a standard electrician be able to check this or do I need a solar specialist?

Just send the photo of your smart meter with CT clamp to your solar installer and ask them for advice. They will know what they fitted and where.

Qyburn

Kateg28 said:

Qyburn said:

It should be easy to sanity check, look at the Smart Meter import reading and see if it's clocking up at a rate matching that displayed import.

How do I check the import reading?

You should be able to get the import displayed with a couple of button presses? Assuming you're not on economy 7 or similar there will only be one reading identified as import that is increasing.

Looking at your photo this might be the correct instruction ..
https://help.so.energy/support/solutions/articles/7000023265-how-do-i-read-my-smart-meter-#If-you-have-A-and-B-buttons

Kateg28

Gerry1 said:

Kateg28 said:

Qyburn said:

Something wired up wrong. I'll bet the app calculates house load by adding up Grid import/export and solar inverter output. So if the sensor for grid is round the wrong way it will think the house is drawing 3.044 plus 3.678.  Instead of 3.678 minus 3.044.

I have taken some photos as we have used 3kw on the meter since first posting. The red light was flashing around 30 times a minute. 

You still seem to be getting it wrong !

Do you mean that you have used 3 kiloWatt HOURS of energy since first posting?

A rate of 30 flashes per minute corresponds to an instantaneous power consumption of 1.8kW.  If constant for three hours you would have used 5.4kWh of energy.

I my be getting it wrong as I have no idea what you are saying. My meter said 148 and then 90 minutes later it said 151. So that is a difference of 3. And the red light was flashing, irregularly, for about 30 flashes a minute.  That is what I know. 

matt_drummer

Kateg28 said:

Unfortunately husband has now put washing machine on which always pushes consumption up. Before smart meter it would go from 0.5 to 3 or 4 during the cycle. I can try turning fringes off on Sunday when we are home but how would we check when we don’t have an app for smart meter or IHD. 

It is a massive coincidence that we run at approx 11Kw average over Winter, install solar panels and then run about 2 or 3 kw, then install smart meter and the very same day our consumption rockets to 20/25kw. 

Would a standard electrician be able to check this or do I need a solar specialist?

It looks like you are home now, you've just put the washing machine on.

All you need to do is turn stuff off whilst watching your app.

If something you turned off was using loads of power you will see a drop in the house load almost immediately.

If, after a few seconds, you notice no big change in house load on your app just turn the appliance back on and move onto the next one.

CSI_Yorkshire

Kateg28 said:

Gerry1 said:

Kateg28 said:

Qyburn said:

Something wired up wrong. I'll bet the app calculates house load by adding up Grid import/export and solar inverter output. So if the sensor for grid is round the wrong way it will think the house is drawing 3.044 plus 3.678.  Instead of 3.678 minus 3.044.

I have taken some photos as we have used 3kw on the meter since first posting. The red light was flashing around 30 times a minute. 

You still seem to be getting it wrong !

Do you mean that you have used 3 kiloWatt HOURS of energy since first posting?

A rate of 30 flashes per minute corresponds to an instantaneous power consumption of 1.8kW.  If constant for three hours you would have used 5.4kWh of energy.

I my be getting it wrong as I have no idea what you are saying. My meter said 148 and then 90 minutes later it said 151. So that is a difference of 3. And the red light was flashing, irregularly, for about 30 flashes a minute.  That is what I know. 

You're about right with that.  30 flashes is about 2kW, so in 90 minutes that's about 3kWh (3 units on your meter).

That agrees with the solar app, and if you're still using stuff from your PV at the same time, something is using a lot of energy.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the wiring.  I think something has been accidentally turned on (maybe when they were testing something?) and hasn't been turned off.

Kateg28

Ok, I am off to work now but will do some more investigations in the morning. I will leave one more photo of my solar app. The house is in the top right and the direction of the arrow shows it taking 8kw from house and giving it to the grid and the battery. That is impossible as the house is a taker of energy. I appreciate everyone taking time to help. I will update in morning. 

I still cannot believe there is a rogue appliance taking 7kw of energy. 

Gerry1

Kateg28 said:

Gerry1 said:

Kateg28 said:

Qyburn said:

Something wired up wrong. I'll bet the app calculates house load by adding up Grid import/export and solar inverter output. So if the sensor for grid is round the wrong way it will think the house is drawing 3.044 plus 3.678.  Instead of 3.678 minus 3.044.

I have taken some photos as we have used 3kw on the meter since first posting. The red light was flashing around 30 times a minute. 

You still seem to be getting it wrong !

Do you mean that you have used 3 kiloWatt HOURS of energy since first posting?

A rate of 30 flashes per minute corresponds to an instantaneous power consumption of 1.8kW.  If constant for three hours you would have used 5.4kWh of energy.

I my be getting it wrong as I have no idea what you are saying. My meter said 148 and then 90 minutes later it said 151. So that is a difference of 3. And the red light was flashing, irregularly, for about 30 flashes a minute.  That is what I know. 

Power (kW) is how much electricity you're using at any given moment.  It's a bit like speed.

Energy (kWh) is how much electricity you have consumed over a period of time.  It's a bit like distance.

An electric fire with a power of 2kW used at full blast for 3 hours will use 6kWh of energy.

Problems can arise when units get muddled.  It's a bit like me saying that my car's dashboard showed my speed as 30000mph yesterday but 30070mph today so I'm 70 miles faster than yesterday...

matt_drummer

CSI_Yorkshire said:

You're about right with that.  30 flashes is about 2kW, so in 90 minutes that's about 3kWh (3 units on your meter).

That agrees with the solar app, and if you're still using stuff from your PV at the same time, something is using a lot of energy.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the wiring.  I think something has been accidentally turned on (maybe when they were testing something?) and hasn't been turned off.

Again, I agree.

You are actually importing.

With that being the case, it is not going to your battery as that is discharging.

There is nowhere for the electricity that you are importing, discharging from your battery and generating from your panels to go.

It must be going to a load in your house, something is consuming that electricity.

CSI_Yorkshire

Kateg28 said:

Ok, I am off to work now but will do some more investigations in the morning. I will leave one more photo of my solar app. The house is in the top right and the direction of the arrow shows it taking 8kw from house and giving it to the grid and the battery. That is impossible as the house is a taker of energy. I appreciate everyone taking time to help. I will update in morning. 

I still cannot believe there is a rogue appliance taking 7kw of energy. 

Again, you're right.  That is exactly what the app shows, and cannot be what is happening.

That would suggest that the measurement of export could well be backwards - the white brick on the cable - but then if that is true you the smart meter readings wouldn't be going up as high as they are.

Unclip that white brick, turn it around so the arrow points the other way along the cable, and clip it back together.  Doesn't need an electrician to do that.  See what changes in all the numbers.  It could have got turned around when they installed the smart meter, so that would explain the timing.

I'm starting to wonder whether the control system is getting confused and you're charging your battery from the grid a lot.

Qyburn

I think removing some variables should help. Is the battery configure to ever charge from the grid? If so then I suggest disabling that while you're trying to get to the bottom of this issue.

That last photo would be consistent with grid metering being reversed, but only if the battery was charging. 

There are no arrowheads on the inverter to battery, or inverter to panel lines. Which way are those flows in the last picture?

I still think a sanity check on the meter is needed, to see if it actually registers what that app is suggesting, checking both import and export readings.