When certified smart meters still give wildly inaccurate readings...

How can you trust a smart meter when you know that it gives wrong readings – even though it has passed the certification tests?

Some meters currently on the market containing the technology now known to fail.

Smart meters can provide electricity readings up to six times higher than actual levels, according to a new study. These meters have passed standards tests. However these tests have failed to identify faults because the meters contain components not designed to measure some of the latest devices in use, and the standards have not yet caught up with this.

A version of this article appeared in The Fifth Estate on April 18.

It’s often been a mantra of energy efficiency that “what gets measured gets saved”. But what if the meters used for measuring energy give faulty readings? Two recent market studies have found that such meters are relatively common.

One study by scientists at the Dutch University of Twente found that smart meters can provide electricity readings that are up to six times higher than actual levels.

This unreliability is especially prevalent when monitoring the outputs of LED lighting when they are combined with dimmers.

Tests found that 60 per cent of the meters tested frequently gave results as much as 582 per cent (almost six times) the actual energy use, while some of the meters under-recorded consumption by up to 30 per cent.

Many types of LEDs have not been designed to be used with dimmers, but even those that did generated false readings in some meters. The electricity being consumed has an erratic waveform and many of the meters tested were unable to process this, which caused the inaccurate results.

“Okay, these were laboratory tests, but we deliberately avoided using exceptional conditions,” University of Twente PhD student Cees Keyer said. “For example, a dimmer and 50 bulbs, while an average household has 47 bulbs.”

The researchers dismantled the energy meters tested and discovered the ones giving excessively high readings contained a Rogowski coil current sensor. The meters giving a lower than actual deviation were fitted with a Hall effect-based current sensor.

Frank Leferink, professor of electromagnetic compatibility at the University of Twente, said: “The energy meters we tested meet all the legal requirements and are certified. These requirements, however, have not made sufficient allowance for modern switching devices”.

The standardised test for meters does not make allowance for waveform-contaminating power-consuming appliances. As a result, according to the researchers, it is an unsuitable method for testing meters. Professor Leferink and Mr Keyer advise any consumers who doubt their meter readings to contact their supplier.

In Holland, 750,000 of these meters have been fitted. The network company responsible, Liander, commented that the problem centres on meters installed between 2012 and 2014, with large companies most likely to be affected.

However, households with solar panels and electric cars are also likely to have been hit. The Dutch consumers association said that Liander “should be actively looking for the faulty meters and looking at eventual compensation”.

Millions of similar meters may be installed around the world. The only way for their owners to know if they contain the misleading current sensors would be to consult the manufacturer. They would then have to replace the meters at their own cost under present circumstances – an unacceptable case of testing standards failing the marketplace.

The study, Static Energy Meter Errors Caused by Conducted Electromagnetic Interference, was published in the scientific journal IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Magazine.

Industrial hot water meters

At the other end of the market, in industry, meters can also be inaccurate due to the temptation to cut costs by purchasing a cheap metering solution.

Water meters currently on the market.

Martin Wardell, managing director of data-logging software and meter company MWA Technology, says problems arise due to the use of low-quality products for metering hot water.

Wardell claims that the use of sub-par meters, whose life expectancy is extremely low, is “an indictment of the lack of care taken by consulting engineers” who fail to recommend or install heat meters using ultrasonic flow sensors. This type of meter will operate accurately for up to 20 years.

Leading manufacturers of energy meters, including Kamstrup, Diehl/Hydrometer and Itron, do not use mechanical flow parts/meters, instead opting for ultrasonic flow parts.

“What we are seeing more during our site visits is the combination of mechanical parts meters integrated alongside ultrasonic meters, resulting in the performance breakdown of the mechanical counterpart and the inevitable leaking,” he said. “Picking the right meter from the start saves money and complications.”

He puts the blame on estimators in building services and system integrators.

“They have been weaned on this low-cost solution and have the approach that as long as they perform for 12 months, they can wash their hands of any future issue.

“While many consulting engineers have realised that heat meters must be MIS Class II certified, when it comes to specifying water meters they specify WRAS approved and MID certified but they fail to specify the accuracy class. This should be R400 minimum, which are UK water utility grade meters.”

Standards for all energy meters can be found on this European Union website.

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David Thorpe is the author of a number of books on energy efficiency, sustainable building and renewable energy, including The Expert Guide To Energy Management In Buildings and The Expert Guide To Energy Management In Industry. Find out more and buy the books here.

New prize to stimulate dynamic demand innovation

Stewart Reid, Future Networks Project Manager for SSE’s NINES project, says dynamic demand response will make wind power more effective and efficient.

A Dynamic Demand Challenge Prize has been launched to help meet the challenge of satisfying ever-increasing demands on the UK’s power grid, as highlighted by last week’s Ofgem report on tightening electricity margins.

The prize is the initiative of Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation, and hopes to find new ways of managing demand to shift electricity consumption from peak to off-peak times, reducing carbon emissions and better responding to demands on UK energy supplies.

Solutions will depend upon the smart grid: new data-driven, demand side response-enabled products, technologies or services, that reduce carbon emissions by shifting energy use to off peak times or towards renewable generation.

Dynamic demand, or demand side response (DSR), is the exchange of information between electronic devices, responding to signals from the grid directly or indirectly.

It will be built into the capacity market, being created by the new Energy Bill, to can help shift electricity consumption away from peak hours where electricity consumption is high, or enable greater usage of excess electricity generation from renewables, as well as help maximise the use of the smart grid.

A number of trials are taking place at the moment through initiatives such as Low Carbon London, DECC/Ofgem’s Smart Grid Forum and the Low Carbon Network Fund.

Currently the UK’s biggest smart grid initiative is a £54 million scheme called the Customer-led network revolution in which 14,000 homes and businesses are finding ways to reduce both their energy spend and carbon emissions.

The project includes decentralised generation and demand reduction through efficient smart appliances and is trialling demand response through the combination of generation and flexibly operated appliances. It is supported by Low Carbon Network Fund, with partners UK Power Networks, Northern PowerGrid, British Gas, Durham University and EA Technology.

A new project called Smart Hooky is now trialling a range of new technologies to create a community–scale smart grid that will help Western Power Distribution understand how a rural community uses electricity at different times of the day in order to manage peak demands and let electricity networks accommodate more renewable energy.

The Dynamic Demand Challenge Prize will offer incentives, financial support and expert guidance for shortlisted projects, with a prize of £50,000 for the solution that demonstrates the most significant impact.

Constance Agyeman, development manager, Nesta’s Centre for Challenge Prizes, commented: “The Dynamic Demand Challenge Prize will support innovations that create a measurable shift in energy use. This is important because there is increasing demand on the UK’s electricity supplies and we therefore need to find new ways to manage this.”

Partners in the challenge include the Centre for Carbon Measurement, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and National Grid. Neil Hughes, NG's head of technology, explains, “Balancing the grid will become more complex as more renewable generation comes onto the system and our goal is to help new service providers understand those challenges and develop technologies to meet that growing need”.

Jane Burston, head of the Centre for Carbon Measurement at the National Physical Laboratory notes, “Climate change and a secure, clean energy supply are two of the biggest challenges of our time. Demand side response is a critical step in supporting the shift in supply towards renewable generation. This will only be successful with engaging tools and technologies we want to use in our homes and offices.”

The challenge is open to entries from anyone across the European Union, but the solution must be applied within a UK context.

Northern Isles New Energy Solutions (NINES)

NINES is another important dynamic demand response solution that is being developed by SSE in Scotland. It aims to support Shetland’s sustainable energy future by developing and managing the electricity distribution network more effectively.

Measures used here include replacing old inefficient storage and water heaters with modern 'smart' storage heaters, and adding a new electric boiler to the existing district heating system, both of which help to balance the electricity network.

This is crucial, says Tim Rotheray of the Combined Heat and Power Association, because currently wind turbines generating electricity that is not needed at that point in time are paid constraint payments per megawatt not to feed their power into the grid.

To combat this waste, often seized upon by opponents of wind power as a reason to oppose wind farms, the power can instead be stored in the form of hot water using the systems being installed here, even diverting the power for a few seconds, as when there are spikes of generation during blustery weather.

NINES is also deploying new technology that will allow more small-scale renewable generators to connect to the network and introducing new commercial arrangements to encourage businesses to change the times at which they use most energy, similar to ones that will be in the new capacity market.

Finally, it is also installing a 1MW battery, part-funded by the Department for Energy and Climate Change, at Lerwick Power Station.

The project will help SSE plan for the replacement of its existing Lerwick Power Station, which is nearing the end of its useful life, with a smaller station than would otherwise be required.

This type of demand side response solution is already used in Denmark, for example in the Skagen District Heating system, which utilises electric as well as gas-fired CHP boilers.

Silver Springs

Silver Springs is a company which already has 10 years' experience in this area in north America and Asia Pacific. With a customer-focussed attitude to smart meters, it works directly with end users and communities and has recently established an office in the UK.

Their Oklahoma Smart Hours Programme is a demand response initiative to encourage customers to shift their energy use to off-peak hours that works by establishing local communications infrastructure and installing programmable communicating thermostats to control air conditioning units at times of peak demand.

The programme has helped 44,000 users save an average of $191 each, and delivered more than 67 megawatts of load reduction in 2012.

In the UK, another pioneer is The Ouse Valley Energy Services Company Ltd, formed by members of the Transition Town Lewes Energy Group, which includes decentralised generation and demand reduction and is currently investigating local electricity and heat distribution networks for villages and towns within the District.

The community-owned MOZES (Meadows Ozone Energy Services Company) is also delivering decentralised generation and demand reduction, with the aim of helping the community to become self-sufficient in energy use, and then to become an energy generating community.

All of these initiatives are exploring and developing models that fit with the new paradigm of using available low carbon energy in real time more efficiently, one of the chief challenges of moving to a low carbon future, that is being supported by the NESTA challenge.

This is the way to eliminate fuel poverty

Thousands of lives could be saved by giving energy bill rebates to the fuel poor that are conditional on having smart meters, advice, energy audits and eco-refits.

A recent report by Professor John Hills of the London School of Economics for the Government estimated that at least 2,700 people die every winter because they can’t afford their soaring heating bills.

This is more than the number who die on the roads each year.

Save the Children UK estimates that low-income families may pay up to £250 a year more for energy.

This is often because they do not pay by direct debit and are on pre-payment meters (although not all PPM customers are fuel poor).

But successive governments have found it hard to deal with the problem, and increased fuel prices have only served to make it worse.

Government policies to create a low carbon future are also adding around 8% to average energy bills, although in the future this means the bills won't be so vulnerable to fossil fuel price rises.

The only real solution to the problem is to help low-income householders use less energy and to improve the energy performance of their housing.

There has been no shortage of support for this idea already. Schemes include:

• The Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC, 2002–2008), the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT, 2008–2012) and the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) due next year to replace it. Half of CERT's budget (£1.8 billion) was targeted at households in receipt of means-tested benefits or disability-related benefits or where the householder is aged 70 or over
• Publicly funded schemes like Warm Front in England, and related programmes in the devolved administrations, which cost £470 million in 2009/2010
• The Decent Homes refurbishment scheme for social housing in England (and similar schemes in the devolved administrations). According to the DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) £4 billion was spent on heating and insulation improvements between 2000-2008, plus £2 billion between 2008/2009 and 2010/11)
• The pilot Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), running until December 2012 and costing £350 million, which is targeted at deprived areas and the hardest to treat housing.

This is about £1.77bn a year. But they have yet to prove that they provide effective value for money.

In fact the UK is further from eliminating fuel poverty in vulnerable households than ever.

For example, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, when it examined the Warm Front in 2009, found it to be poorly targeted despite using means-tested benefits, since nearly 75% of households entitled to a grant are unlikely to be in fuel poverty, yet only 35% of all those households likely to be in fuel poverty are eligible for it, partly because it only applied to private housing.

The scheme did not prioritise those with the most energy-inefficient accommodation, especially in rural areas.

How to eliminate fuel poverty

The first problem is targeting the appropriate households.

The Government is hoping to use two new ‘data frameworks’ – the Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED) run by the Energy Saving Trust, and the National Energy Efficiency Data (NEED) framework, which is being developed by DECC.

But there are severe problems with this: HEED does not include EPC ratings from England and Wales, and anyway EPC ratings will be available only for properties that have been put up for sale, missing out most people, especially pensioners, who do not move.

Therefore much greater attention needs to be paid to gathering and matching information.

It should not be beyond the bounds of the technically possible that much of this work can be done automatically, cross-checking with data from Local Authorities, energy utilities and charities.

After all, it's the sort of thing which the marketing departments of companies like Tesco do all the time.

But why not actually harness the power of crowd sourcing and encourage the fuel poor themselves to come forward by rewarding them to do so with a reduction and a rebate on their bills?

They should be able to volunteer through a central helpline run by the Energy Saving Trust and publicised by the energy companies themselves, as part of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), as well through local authorities and charities.

A condition for the receipt of rebates should then be that households are given, through the ECO, an energy audit, and a complete whole house eco-refit based on this audit, followed by training on how to use any equipment that has been installed.

The refurbishment should be done on a whole-home basis to achieve the maximum benefit.

Immediately on coming forward, all these households should also be automatically given smart meters.

When these are installed, the occupants should be visited and show how to use them, and given personal advice on how to achieve even greater reductions in energy bills through broader energy-saving behaviours.

This would get them off pre-payment tariffs straight away, which would reduce their costs.

It would encourage them to set and aim at specific energy usage or bill totals within a week or a month, so that they gain greater awareness and control over their energy use and budgets.

This could reduce their bills by at least 10%.

But this won't reach every home. Far more fuel poor households are in the private rented sector than are owner-occupiers.

These homes are more likely to be in a poor state.

The 2011 Energy Act will force landlords to improve the energy efficiency performance of their stock from the year 2015, using measures for which there is funding available through the Green Deal or the ECO, if a review, to be held in 2014, reveals that they have not already made voluntary improvements using the Green Deal.

In theory this approach should eradicate the worst performance (F and G SAP-rated), but it doesn’t guarantee a minimum standard, and this needs to be set in absolute terms - say the number of kWh used per square meter per year.

The Warm Home Discount is a step towards such an approach using energy bill rebates.

However, it is currently confined to a single subset of target groups and is not linked at all to any characteristic of the dwelling.

It should therefore be reformed and made conditional on a combination of the above interventions.

This approach is argued for by Paul Ekins, of the UCL Energy Institute, University College London, and Matthew Lockwood, Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Institute of Development Studies, at the University of Sussex in a new report on Tackling fuel poverty during the transition to a low-carbon economy.

They propose that any energy bill rebates would be paid to eligible recipients, from the moment they are given their smart meters, while their energy efficiency upgrading is being done, and through the follow-up advisory stage.

The cost of this could partly be paid for, they say, through a reform of the Winter Fuel Payments, which is currently also not targeted well enough.

The cost of eliminating fuel poverty

The IPPR and National Energy Action recently tried to estimate the cost of doing this through energy efficiency measures and came up with around £20–30 billion for England, or up to £64 billion for the whole of the UK.

The combined annual average spend on Warm Front, the CERT priority group and CESP is just around £1 billion for 2008–2011.

At that rate it would take 20-30 years to get around to every household in England.

Doubling the annual spend to £2 billion would end fuel poverty in England within 10–15 years as well as creating jobs.

Quadrupling it would bring the end date even nearer.

Given the huge amounts being spent on bailing out the banking system this is a small consideration that would save thousands of lives and vastly improve the quality of life for millions of people in this country.

And it is about the same amount as that spent on the measures I list above anyway - so there wouldn't be much change, it would simply be better targeted. There would just be the cost of running the helpline and administering the process.

And this sum is not much more than the £1.77bn being spent per year already on the measures listed above.

So there would be just a slight step change financially; and the money would simply be better targeted, with an additional cost for running the helpline and administering the process.

If the cost of a £2bn spend were completely to be passed on to the consumer, it would add £80, or 6%, to an average annual energy bill of £1,200, and the fuel poor would automatically be protected from this by the rebate.

Surely this is worth it?

Smart meters are coming early and could save £7.3 billion

53 million smart meters are to be installed in 30 million homes and smaller businesses across Great Britain, and are estimated to have a net benefit to the nation of £7.3 billion over the next twenty years.

The revolutionary rollout is set for completion a year earlier than previously expected, in 2019.

This is the most revolutionary change in the way we use energy since the invention of the National Grid. Globally, it has been compared to the creation of the internet. The timetable is tight, but at least the financing of the operation is not dependent upon government funding.

The government's overall strategy and timetable for smart meters were outlined yesterday in a consultation document.

The programme, to be overseen by Ofgem and to be implemented by energy suppliers, will cost over £11 billion but is expected to save over £7 billion more.

Smart meters have been trialled for several years in this country, and will be a crucial part of delivering energy security and a low carbon future, by encouraging energy efficiency and awareness.

They will also lay the groundwork for the "smart grid" which is hoped to help lower peak demand, thereby reducing the number of required power stations.

“Smart meters are a key part of giving us all more control over how we use energy at home and at work, helping us to cut out waste and save money," said Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne, on his way to visit a technology expo at the SmartLIFE training centre in Cambridge, which includes companies specialising in smart meter technology.

“In combination with our plans to reform the electricity market and introduce the Green Deal for home and businesses, the rollout of smart meters will help us keep the lights on while reducing emissions and getting the best possible deal for the consumer,he added.

Smart meters are poised to deliver the following benefits:

• giving consumers real-time information on their energy consumption - eliminating estimated bills - to help them curb excess energy use, save money and reduce emissions. By 2020, the average consumer (with both electricity and gas) is expected to save around £23 per year on their energy bill as a result
• giving suppliers access to accurate data for billing, allowing them to improve their customer service and reduce costs, for example by reducing call centre traffic, ending visits by meter readers, and better debt management
• giving energy networks better information an assist the move towards smart grids.

The rollout of smart meters will occur in two phases. In the first stage, beginning now, the Government will work with industry, consumer groups and other stakeholders to lay the groundwork, including finalisation of standards, encouraging consumer engagement and piloting.

A Functional Requirements Catalogue, published alongside the consultation document, sets out the minimum requirements that the smart metering system must provide.

The Government will also establish the Data and Communications Company, under a competitive process, which will provide data and communications services for the nationwide system.

The second phase, the mass rollout, will begin in the second quarter of 2014 and be completed in 2019.

There will be a new code of practice for energy suppliers governing smart metering installations. To counter some consumer perceptions of "Big Brother" monitoring their energy use and concerns about security, consumers will have a choice over how their data is used except where it is required for regulated duties.

Worldwide, the cost of smart meter rollout has been put at £3.6 billion. A study by Datamonitor published last October, found the cost of meters in the UK would be around £57 each compared to France, where they will be around £28-£30. However, this is speculation since the exact specifications of each system have not been properly defined.