Oldchap
New member
SMART METER – ECONOMY 7 CIRCUIT FAULT
I had a Smart Meter fitted in March 2022. It was a condition of the tariff I had negotiated with the power supplier so I had no choice. My Economy 7 hours are between 0030 and 0730.
Similar to many other economy 7 customers there is a separate circuit for my electric storage heaters and immersion water heater which switches on automatically between these hours.
After the installation in March everything seemed ok until the 16th. December when I awoke to find the house really cold and no hot water. This happened to be the coldest night of the year so far with temps. down to -6C. I investigated to find out why the storage heaters had not charged during the night. I checked the consumer unit to see if any circuits had tripped and was able to confirm that everything was in order. It was only some time later I wondered if this could be some kind of meter fault.
I already knew that the readout on the smart meter would change to show R2 when the Economy 7 circuit was live, so I checked to see if the meter switched correctly to Economy 7 mode at 0030 the next morning. Yes, at the correct time, the meter switched to R2 showing it was in Economy 7 mode. What amazed me though was that my Economy 7 circuit for the storage heaters and immersion heater was still dead. I knew this because there is a neon light on one of my heater sockets showing when it is on or off. That morning I stayed up until 0140 checking periodically to see if the circuit would become live and eventually at 0140 it suddenly became live.
Clearly, something was not right and being confident my household wiring was all in order I contacted the power company to see if they could help. My questions – why did the Economy circuit remain off completely on 16th. Dec.22 and why did it not switch on at the correct time the following night? Well, they had no answer but said they would look into it.
I decided I would monitor the Economy 7 circuit myself to what time it was becoming live. I have a video camera with a light sensitive recording feature on it which I set up focussed on the neon light socket which would record the time when the circuit was live. Over the next few nights I was astounded to find that the Economy 7 circuit was becoming live some 45 to 75 minutes later than it should and on a few occasions actually switched off and on again during the early hours.
After 4 weeks I was still having problems getting an answer and from the power company and getting them to take some action. During this time, because my Economy 7 hours were being cut short, having lost some 51 hours of economy 7 rates. I was using electricity at the daytime rates to supplement my heating and hot water requirements. This was becoming expensive so I escalated the issue to the CEO.
Eventually, 2 months after the problem first appeared an engineer from the power company arrived. The engineer hadn’t heard of the problem before and suggested rebooting the smart meter. After discussing that the meter readout seemed to be switching correctly between rates 1 and 2, I focussed the attention on what appeared to be some sort of relay switch fitted below the smart meter that was part of the smart meter installation. This was the Proteus unit shown in the photograph. At my suggestion the engineer changed this part saying that if it didn’t solve the problem, I would be better off having a 5-port meter fitted which would be more compatible with Economy 7.
The good news is that this action seems to have worked and the circuit now switches on at the correct time each morning delivering a full 7 hours of Economy 7. There was never a problem with the circuit switching off at 0730 in the morning by the way.
My advice would be that if you have a smart meter set up that looks like mine and particularly if you have one of these Proteus relay switch type boxes then , then if you can, check to see if it switches your Economy rate on and off at the right time. On reflection, I remember my wife saying in the past that some of the storage heaters didn’t get as hot as they used to and it has set me wondering if this Proteus switching unit had been faulty from the very beginning. Anyway, I will continue to monitor it from time to time to make sure it works as it should.
I had a Smart Meter fitted in March 2022. It was a condition of the tariff I had negotiated with the power supplier so I had no choice. My Economy 7 hours are between 0030 and 0730.
Similar to many other economy 7 customers there is a separate circuit for my electric storage heaters and immersion water heater which switches on automatically between these hours.
After the installation in March everything seemed ok until the 16th. December when I awoke to find the house really cold and no hot water. This happened to be the coldest night of the year so far with temps. down to -6C. I investigated to find out why the storage heaters had not charged during the night. I checked the consumer unit to see if any circuits had tripped and was able to confirm that everything was in order. It was only some time later I wondered if this could be some kind of meter fault.
I already knew that the readout on the smart meter would change to show R2 when the Economy 7 circuit was live, so I checked to see if the meter switched correctly to Economy 7 mode at 0030 the next morning. Yes, at the correct time, the meter switched to R2 showing it was in Economy 7 mode. What amazed me though was that my Economy 7 circuit for the storage heaters and immersion heater was still dead. I knew this because there is a neon light on one of my heater sockets showing when it is on or off. That morning I stayed up until 0140 checking periodically to see if the circuit would become live and eventually at 0140 it suddenly became live.
Clearly, something was not right and being confident my household wiring was all in order I contacted the power company to see if they could help. My questions – why did the Economy circuit remain off completely on 16th. Dec.22 and why did it not switch on at the correct time the following night? Well, they had no answer but said they would look into it.
I decided I would monitor the Economy 7 circuit myself to what time it was becoming live. I have a video camera with a light sensitive recording feature on it which I set up focussed on the neon light socket which would record the time when the circuit was live. Over the next few nights I was astounded to find that the Economy 7 circuit was becoming live some 45 to 75 minutes later than it should and on a few occasions actually switched off and on again during the early hours.
After 4 weeks I was still having problems getting an answer and from the power company and getting them to take some action. During this time, because my Economy 7 hours were being cut short, having lost some 51 hours of economy 7 rates. I was using electricity at the daytime rates to supplement my heating and hot water requirements. This was becoming expensive so I escalated the issue to the CEO.
Eventually, 2 months after the problem first appeared an engineer from the power company arrived. The engineer hadn’t heard of the problem before and suggested rebooting the smart meter. After discussing that the meter readout seemed to be switching correctly between rates 1 and 2, I focussed the attention on what appeared to be some sort of relay switch fitted below the smart meter that was part of the smart meter installation. This was the Proteus unit shown in the photograph. At my suggestion the engineer changed this part saying that if it didn’t solve the problem, I would be better off having a 5-port meter fitted which would be more compatible with Economy 7.
The good news is that this action seems to have worked and the circuit now switches on at the correct time each morning delivering a full 7 hours of Economy 7. There was never a problem with the circuit switching off at 0730 in the morning by the way.
My advice would be that if you have a smart meter set up that looks like mine and particularly if you have one of these Proteus relay switch type boxes then , then if you can, check to see if it switches your Economy rate on and off at the right time. On reflection, I remember my wife saying in the past that some of the storage heaters didn’t get as hot as they used to and it has set me wondering if this Proteus switching unit had been faulty from the very beginning. Anyway, I will continue to monitor it from time to time to make sure it works as it should.
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