Energy Matters Forums

[helios]

I'm still without connection.Have checked again with EA - yes I'm on the list for installation of gross meter - no they can't give me a day week or month of fitting. How can such an organisation not have a clue when someone can be connected.It's ludicrous. Would have been better off if they had installed a net meter. I wasn't even given the option.So much for Trackers "Good news" at the start of this thread.I'm thinking of recommending people don't bother with solar - not in Newcastle anyway. Have EA got any electricians connecting in Newcastle?

[Inspector]

Helios, see my post in this thread:

post5809.html#p5809

Sounds like the same information is relevant to yourself...

[squash]

Inspector its out of my hands, Solar Newcastle are organising the meter install. Looks like it could be a long wait if EA have to get through 5000 net customers first.

I've decided to switch mine on. 4 weeks to the day and all I've received is a letter from EA telling me about my new digital meter and new time of use billing. Which I don't have...

I'll also be writing to my local state member to raise my concerns, I suggest others do the same.

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/V3ListCurrentLAMembers?open&vwCurr=CurrLAByElectorate

Thanks for your input Inspector in both threads, it is appreciated.

[Inspector]

EA doesn't have to get through 5000 customers before they do yours. It is a first-in-first-served basis, so the sooner you or your meter installer gets the job number after submitting the AFC form, the sooner you get your meter. It usually takes maximum of 10 days to get the job number, then it's just a matter of finding an ASP (at a good price) to install the meter...

Technically you're not permitted to turn it on without the correct meter being installed first. But in saying that, probably hundreds of installers have turned them on prior to the metering being installed. It's easy to work out if this has been done by looking at the run-hours on the inverter, and the dates on the installer's form and the metering form I've occasionally added it as a advisory comment on defect notices. Sometimes the metering installer doesn't turn on the system either, and it's usually about a month between the meter being installed before the Inspector gets there!

[eclipse]

Inspector,
I've been told by one of the EA metering people that my name is on the list for gross meter installation and they are just waiting for some techie( EA or sub contracted by them) to pick it up. Is it fair to assume that all the paperwork has been done and that if I can find my own ASP that he could pick up the job number (?from EA or Solar installer?) on Monday and fit the meter or is there more paperwork for him to do - does he have to fill in another AFC?
Then problem is that EA can't say when they will fit the meter so I don't know which is quicker, although one will give a firm date. Maybe you could suggest putting some sort of order into the gross meter fitting system so people can make these decisions and lighten EAs load! Why not alphabetical by suburb? That way if your suburb is z you might as well find your own ASP - at least you know where you stand!

[Inspector]

Inspector,
I've been told by one of the EA metering people that my name is on the list for gross meter installation and they are just waiting for some techie( EA or sub contracted by them) to pick it up. Is it fair to assume that all the paperwork has been done and that if I can find my own ASP that he could pick up the job number (?from EA or Solar installer?) on Monday and fit the meter or is there more paperwork for him to do - does he have to fill in another AFC?

AFAIK, the job number is issued to the electrician/ASP as included on the AFC form. If the AFC was submitted by EA metering people (which would be either TCA or Customer Connections) then they would have the job number issued to them within 10 days, and they would then install the meter depending on their current workload. If you know which department it is that is installing the meter (you should, as you would've rerquested them for a quote or for them to do the job) and they can't give you a firm date for them to install the meter, I'd be calling them up and asking for the job number or a copy of the reply letter (which has the job number on it) and ringing around a few ASP's stating you've got the job number and how soon can they install the meter...

Maybe you could suggest putting some sort of order into the gross meter fitting system so people can make these decisions and lighten EAs load! Why not alphabetical by suburb? That way if your suburb is z you might as well find your own ASP - at least you know where you stand!

The load is already lightened by the fact that ASP's can do the work. Initially when NET merering began a couple of years ago, TCA couldn't keep up with demand (several months to install meter after solar-pv was finished) that they made it contestable work so that ASP's could install the meters. The reason it was kept non-contestable to start with was because the powers-that-be thought it would be too complex for ASP's to install them properly, and there has been many defects issued to ASPs for installing them incorrectly too. IMHO the Gross metering is even more complex to wire up than Net metering, which is confirmed by at least 2 ASP's that came into the office to ask how to wire them up (even with the wiring diagrams from the ES3 document right in front of them!). Unfortunately I expect there to be LOTS of incorrectly wired setups over the next few months...

[squash]

A work colleague of mine had his new meter installed this morning. His solar system was installed the day before mine and he lives 15 mins from me. Hopefully min isn't far off.

He pointed out to them that they should have notified him of the install prior to just turning up. Their excuse was they have 500 installs to do and no time to notify people. What a load of BS. EA the biggest supplier in Australia doesn't have the foresight and knowledge to notify people of a date they will do a 15 min meter swap. Incompetent or lazy?

[Sparrowgal]

Well I can't wait to have mine done. I can't even tell if my solar is reducing my energy consumption or not because my last electricity bill was the biggest bill I have ever had - it was almost 1.3 times last years bill at the same time (the energy consumption, not the cost). Though it has been a rather hot summer.

Maybe I"ll give my installers a call - they told me they'd come back and install my meter and I'm missing a component for my inverters anyway that they'd said they'lll fix up when they come out to do my meter.

Edit 23/3: I had it done on the weekend, they sortof gave me a 30 minute warning they were coming but I was just happy to get it done.

[squash]

Good news, I had my Gross meter installed yesterday morning.

I have a question which I hope Inspector can help me with. I had 2 old dial meters, one for normal electricity and one for my Off Peak 1 hot water. On the new system should I not be able to browse through the readings and see Peak, Off Peak, Shoulder and Off Peak 1 readings? When I browse through the different screens I can only see one total reading?

Also the time is off by 1 hour, does this affect the way the time of use works?

[Inspector]

The AMB meter is your combined TOU (general consumption) and off-peak hot water controller and meter built into one meter. Register 03 is cumulative TOU consumption (adds all three peak/shoulder/offpeak readings together) - there is no way to individually see on the screen each segment of the TOU register. Register 07 is your cumulative offpeak hot water reading.

More and more people have been wanting to be able to access the individual segments of the TOU register (via comms) so I will pass on the request to the relevant people in EA - it would be interesting to know their answer. I know one answer would be simply "no, because it would involve the customer gaining access to the unmetered terminals of the meter". I know some meters have an extra sealable cover over the power terminals, allowing access to the comms port without having to break the seal for the power terminals...


Is the solar buy-back meter only have registers 1, 2 and 3? I haven't seen a gross meter in the field yet...


Meter clock time/daylight saving has already been addressed in this thread: solar-wind-rebates/topic408.html?hilit=daylight saving