[time-nuts] Three Phase Power

[Will Matney]

Jason,

I've read some about the new meters, but AEP hasn't touched any of
ours...yet. They have demand monitoring here too, and you are correct, it
can really rack up a power bill. A good friend that owns a machine shop
watches his all the time. Once you get three phase power, the costs
skyrocket, as they bill you for all kinds of things. That was why I made
the decision of using a phase converter that time, and buying all of my
machinery with 230 Vac motors, though some were dual voltage.

Without really setting down and looking at the circuitry on the new meters,
its hard to say what might happen, as I was speculating earlier. The last
PDF I read, was about the circuits they added to stop folks from bypassing
them, or stealing the electricity. I think that it was Analog Devices who
were making the IC's for these, but I may be wrong. There was 2-3 app notes
I read, as I was interested in seeing how they did it.

You are also right, in that they will do away with the meter readers. If I
recall, I read that they use a radio link to send the info back to the
office, or something similar.

Best,

Will

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 6/27/2011 at 3:38 PM Jason Rabel wrote:

>Will & Bill,
>
>Our (commercial) three phase power is fed by only two high-voltage wires
(7,200v I think) which each pole has a pair of
>transformers. I can only assume one generates the 220v single phase lines
and the other is the high-leg delta. Around here 230v
>three phase delta seems to be more common than 208v Y style.
>
>I remember a couple years ago we had a transformer die (thankfully it was
a passive failure and not a massive fireball on the pole).
>People were wondering why their machines weren't working (but the lights
were on)... Sure enough hooking up a meter and the high leg
>was dead...
>
>I did read somewhere that this change might have an effect on demand
meters? There was no further explanation unfortunately, but
>that does kind of worry me as I know about 90% of the meters on our
property are that style. The power company just loves to tack on
>a "demand charge" to the bill, which can often double, or triple the cost
of your electric... Just because you want to have the
>lights on, A/C running, and an air-compressor... :(
>
>I've never seen or heard of anyone here in Houston with three phase
residential (except for farmers, but I guess they are
>commercial).
>
>Centerpoint Energy has reached the epitome of laziness and is converting
everyone over to "smart meters" so people can better
>monitor their usage... In reality it does nothing more than offer
real-time monitoring for the power company, and they no longer
>have a use for meter-readers...
>
>
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