Smart Meters?

Your original question was looking for negative info.

Anyway, most of your questions are probably answered here:
http://www.bchydro.com/energy_in_bc/projects/smart_metering_infrastructure_program/faqs/general_program_faqs.html

Or on other pages linked from the left menu.

For your high bill questions, check out the 2 links in the post above.

https://www.bchydro.com/youraccount/content/high_bill.jsp
Not one thing on this list applies. I've done everything this year to lower the cost of
heating and running my home. Maybe I had a faulty old meter before?

https://www.bchydro.com/youraccount/content/high_bill.jsp
Not one thing on this list applies. I've done everything this year to lower the cost of
heating and running my home. Maybe I had a faulty old meter before?

Call customer service and ask.

Call customer service and ask.

My wife did, and she said they really didn't give her an answer. A lot of um's and idk's
and is there anything else I can do? I know there's not a lot CS can do for us since it
can't be our meter is bad…it's new right?…it's just upsetting when you read that it'll
save us money and from the first bill it's higher than ever.

The way the current electric reading/billing process works is that people have no idea how much power they consume, (although they might have a ballpark idea of how much they spend).

They get a bill in the mail every two months that may be based on an estimated reading.

What's wrong with paying for an estimate of consumption under the current non-smart meter system? they are always pretty close :rolleyes:

1st bill we received at our house after we moved showed 1225 kWh for nov-dec. I thought this seemed high since in our apartment, the usage was 1/4 of that with the main house extras being washer use and some intermittent power tools for renos. I expected a higher electrical bill but not 4X as much.

2nd bill arrives: turns out the total for jan-feb was 560kW.h and the revised total for nov-dec was 596 KwH (total nov-feb was 1156 kW.h).

BC hydro's so-called "reading" in december was more than TWICE what the real consumption was :rolleyes: .

our oct-nov was 6 times the dec-jan amount. I think there was something goofy going on there. The average has worked out to what it was last winter though.

For the high bill, check out this page:
https://www.bchydro.com/youraccount/content/high_bill.jsp

That doesn't tell you anything that's blatantly obvious. Of course the bill will go up if you turn heaters on more frequently during colder months, or leave lights on.

When you have the same daily routine, a new meter is installed, and your bill goes up 50% to 100%, then I doubt it's the kids spending additional time on the XBox. It's more likely because of the meter. Perhaps the new meter is faulty. Perhaps it is not faulty and the old meter wasn't measuring accurately. With the numerous reported cases here and in other areas that have adopted the smart meters (like California), I doubt it's a coincidence. My money is on meter problems, either with the old or with the new.

That doesn't tell you anything that's blatantly obvious. Of course the bill will go up if you turn heaters on more frequently during colder months, or leave lights on.

When you have the same daily routine, a new meter is installed, and your bill goes up 50% to 100%, then I doubt it's the kids spending additional time on the XBox. It's more likely because of the meter. Perhaps the new meter is faulty. Perhaps it is not faulty and the old meter wasn't measuring accurately. With the numerous reported cases here and in other areas that have adopted the smart meters (like California), I doubt it's a coincidence. My money is on meter problems, either with the old or with the new.

This for sure. I haven't changed anything in my routine and my last bill was 2.5 higher than the one before. I don't have electric heat, so it has nothing to do with weather.

Is that with a new smart meter? 2.5 times higher is a huge jump.

It isn't hard to figure out if your meter is reading correctly.

Unplug everything in the house. Furnace, fridge, freezer too. Observe the meter. Wait an hour. Has the reading gone up? No? Then we know that the meter is correctly calibrated for zero usage.

Next, turn on something with a known draw, something big. Like a 1500 watt heater or hair dryer. Wait an hour. The meter should increase by the consumption of the device. For a 1500 watt heater on for one hour, you should see the meter go up by 1.5 kWh. It is not rocket science, although every newspaper article I have read on electric power consumption totally messes up the calculation.

A killowatt-hour is the amount of power consumed with a 1 killowatt (or 1000 watt) device for one hour. Easy!

BCH often skips readings and "estimates" a bill, then trues up to actual consumption on the next physical reading. Currently, the smart meters are dumb meters, still being read manually as I understand it. So, you need to let a few billing cycles go by before getting your panties in a knot.

BCH often skips readings and "estimates" a bill, then trues up to actual consumption on the next physical reading. Currently, the smart meters are dumb meters, still being read manually as I understand it. So, you need to let a few billing cycles go by before getting your panties in a knot.

I just got a bill last month that was about 50% higher than last year too. I understand they do "estimates" and the meter is only actually read maybe a couple of times a year, if that. I had a workmate who went to Australia for 8 months and turned everything off in his house. It didn't make a dent in his hydro bills after he left and even after he came back.

I just got a bill last month that was about 50% higher than last year too. I understand they do "estimates" and the meter is only actually read maybe a couple of times a year, if that. I had a workmate who went to Australia for 8 months and turned everything off in his house. It didn't make a dent in his hydro bills after he left and even after he came back.

Yeah, I don't understand that at all. On Kauai, a guy came by every single month and checked
out meter. Mind you he just drove by slowly while the machine collected the information.
I never got any "corrections" on those bills. What I did get was a beginning kilowatt hour
reading and ending kilowatt hour reading, which of course gave me the total usage for the
month. Not really rocket science. That said, our price per kilowatt went up and down
depending on the price of #2 diesel (Kauai is 99% diesel generators).

I though smart meters were supposed to transmit usage in near realtime. Can't you go onto a website and see usage that is at most a day old?

I though smart meters were supposed to transmit usage in near realtime. Can't you go onto a website and see usage that is at most a day old?

I heard smart meters are still being read manually … it will probably take some time before all that infrastructure is in place.

I heard smart meters are still being read manually … it will probably take some time before all that infrastructure is in place.

This is correct. And once the meters are being read remotely, they won't be reporting in realtime or near realtime. I believe it will be several times per day though.