Smart meter incorrect installation caused increased energy usage

Kateg28

The EPS is not switched on. It is turned off and in the event of a significant power cut we would turn it on. It will power two sockets in the garage only so our freezers are protected and we can charge phones or boil kettle etc. 

I will turn solar system off in a bit but in the meantime the latest readings are really confusing me (now have tv and dishwasher on)  it seems the house is giving 4kw and the solar is giving just over 2kw and the grid is getting just over 2kw and 3.8kw to the  battery (the dots are moving in the directions described above).

matt_drummer

The EPS may not be switched `on' but it must be connected to something.

How do you know if it has any power in it when you come to need it?

I would assume it is continuously connected and topped up to ensure it has power when you need it?

CSI_Yorkshire

Kateg28 said:

The EPS is not switched on. It is turned off and in the event of a significant power cut we would turn it on. It will power two sockets in the garage only so our freezers are protected and we can charge phones or boil kettle etc. 

I will turn solar system off in a bit but in the meantime the latest readings are really confusing me (now have tv and dishwasher on)  it seems the house is giving 4kw and the solar is giving just over 2kw and the grid is getting just over 2kw and 3.8kw to the  battery (the dots are moving in the directions described above).

I think this system is measuring "grid" backwards (or something else, but grid seems most likely) and that's confusing the controls picture, and making it hard to work out where and what the real problem is.

matt_drummer

This is what I think.

The smart meter is not your problem.

The smart meter records your import and export separately, your old meter probably didn't.

The smart meter is now highlighting that you have an issue with the wiring and/or some appliances in your house.

Either something was disturbed during the meter change or the problem was masked by your old meter.

The electricity meter only records electricity flowing into and out of your house.

The larger import reading than you were expecting must be true, that electricity has been imported from the grid into your house.

This was probably going on before but the old meter was only recording the net difference between your import and export.


You need to get your solar installer or an electrician to investigate where the problem is if you can't identify it yourself.

chris_n

Is the grid not charging the battery because the system is now configured incorrectly. 97% full at 6am seems weird.

Kateg28

But our bills for 12 years always showed a pretty standard consumption, around 10-13kw per day. We only had the solar installed on 13th April and the solar app showed a massive drop in grid consumption which we would expect. It is only since the smart meter has been installed that our consumption has doubled from what it was before the solar panels were installed. 

The eps gets turned on with a switch when we want and then our panels and batteries are disconnected from the grid. 

25kw daily consumption for a pretty standard house is insane. I know we have three extra freezers but we have had them for 12 years. Our electricity bills are about to double and I am beyond stressed about this. 

Kateg28

Can a standard electrician check all this or does it need to be a solar specialist?

We have an electrician we trust. 

TheElectricCow

You may not have an IHD, but your smart meter itself can perform the same function and show you what the current power draw is at any given time (with a few extra steps). 

1. Press A twice - “Credit mode bal” should display on screen
2. Hold A for a few seconds - The current time will display
3. Keep pressing A to cycle through the various readings until “Power Active” shows, about 25 presses - this will be your current consumption that you would see on an IHD (watch for the decimal point)

You can also check your total export to the grid through the same method, this will show as Total Act Export after about 10 presses in step 3.

If possible, try to check this when your app is showing the house “giving” power, to see what is actually coming in from the grid through the meter at these times and how they correspond to what your seeing in the app.

TheElectricCow

Kateg28 said:

The EPS is not switched on. It is turned off and in the event of a significant power cut we would turn it on. It will power two sockets in the garage only so our freezers are protected and we can charge phones or boil kettle etc. 

I will turn solar system off in a bit but in the meantime the latest readings are really confusing me (now have tv and dishwasher on)  it seems the house is giving 4kw and the solar is giving just over 2kw and the grid is getting just over 2kw and 3.8kw to the  battery (the dots are moving in the directions described above).

It also occurs to me that from this image the battery appears to be charging with more energy than is coming from the solar, meaning it must be drawing energy from the grid. 

This could probably account for the increased usage you’re seeing, if somehow your configuration is causing the batteries to charge by some degree on imported power rather than the generation from solar. Perhaps something was reset or altered during the new meter installation, which would explain why the problems only began after it was fitted.

matt_drummer

Kateg28 said:

But our bills for 12 years always showed a pretty standard consumption, around 10-13kw per day. We only had the solar installed on 13th April and the solar app showed a massive drop in grid consumption which we would expect. It is only since the smart meter has been installed that our consumption has doubled from what it was before the solar panels were installed. 

The eps gets turned on with a switch when we want and then our panels and batteries are disconnected from the grid. 

25kw daily consumption for a pretty standard house is insane. I know we have three extra freezers but we have had them for 12 years. Our electricity bills are about to double and I am beyond stressed about this. 

I think we all get this, believe you and understand.

But, it isn't going to sort itself out, you will need to do something to find out what is going wrong. You can either do this yourself or find somebody who can.

Every suggestion that is made you dismiss, I guess you believe the smart meter is the cause of the problem as it all started after it was installed.

The smart meter does the same as your old meter, except it records import and export separately.

The smart meter has identified an issue, it cant have caused it.

If something was not put back how it was before the smart meter was fitted that could be contributing to the confusion.

The fact is, the smart meter only records electricity flowing into your house through the wires connected to it.

If it has recorded that level of import, then that is how much electricity has been imported.

There must be a reason for it, the electricity will have gone somewhere, either to appliances in your house or your new batteries.

When you see strange numbers and power flows in your solar app you need to go around and turn stuff off to see what is causing the power flows. It's easy to do and the results will be instant, you don't need to leave anything turned off for long, just 10 seconds or so to see if they have any effect.

With regards, to your eps, it's a battery, it must be charged up somehow. Although you are sure it is not turned on to power anything it must still be connected somewhere. The battery in the eps needs to be charged, otherwise it wouldn't have any power in the event that you needed it to keep appliances operating.