A smart choice?
October 1st 2007 While the UK gears up for the
inevitable conversion to
smart metering,brought on
by environmental concerns and the
need to rein back on our unrealistic
utilities use, it is becoming clear that
the biggest hurdle to the task is the
logistical nightmare of installing smart
meter technology and the expense of
such a massive undertaking.
With new developments there isn't
a problem.When new buildings,both
residential and commercial, are having
utilities installed, it is easy to build in
the smart metering before occupancy.
However, with existing building stock
– the majority of buildings - the
picture is dramatically different and
the problems considerable.
Decade old meters work fine.There
is nothing wrong with the millions of
existing meters hidden under stairs
and behind locked cupboard doors
in homes, offices and factories.All
they lack is the 'smart' technology to
enable occupiers to accurately
monitor utilities usage and to identify
where they can make savings. So
ripping out this huge installed base
of perfectly functioning meters is a
rather dramatic solution.There is the
expense of buying entirely new
smart meter stock and the time and
difficulty involved in the surgical
process of removing old meters and
installing new meters. In many cases
this will involve considerable
inconvenience to the owner/occupier
and even damage to the building
fabric to reach some meters.
And of course there is the
problem of what to do with the
millions of redundant meters.
Recycling will prove expensive and
there will certainly be a considerable
amount of material sent to landfill.
Fortunately, there are alternative
solutions to the replacement of the
existing meter stock. Existing meters
can be read remotely using new
technologies and it is here that many
utilities companies are focussing
their attentions.However, as with all
new technologies, some of these
solutions are better than others.
The government's proposal for
clip-on Current Transducers (CTs) are
basically an extension of the existing
meters, and while they are easy to
install, they are not a smart metering
technology and have proved to be
up to 10% less accurate than the
actual meter.There is also a degree
of concern within the industry that
expecting the householder to install
a power transducer on to the main
incoming electricity cable carries a
considerable risk. Furthermore CTs
cannot provide solutions for gas and
water metering because the
technology is unsuitable.
The easiest option is Automatic
Meter Reading (AMR), non-invasive
technology which is able to read all
types of utility meter and which
requires no alteration to the meter
or its surroundings, effectively adding
the 'smart' to the existing 'meter'.This
technology can be installed quickly
and easily and, if necessary, can also be
removed with the same ease. In this
respect alone,a 15 minute installation
without the need for structural
alteration is bound to prove more
popular than meter replacement with
both the owner/occupier and the
utilities supplier.
Another advantage of non-invasive
meter monitoring is that it can be
used for a variety of meter types and
utilities. In the case of a building
where there are three utilities to
monitor – gas, water and electricity –
an advanced meter monitoring
system, such as the Meter-Mimic
system, can be used on any meter
type.Also, if there are several meters
to monitor, for example on a large
industrial site with separate buildings,
Meter-Mimic units are able to
network with each other using the
Zigbee communications system over
a wide area.'Satellite' units monitor
their own meter and are able to
transmit data to a central unit for
upload to the server. In this case, the
savings against replacing the entire
meter network are considerable.
Smart metering is an inevitability.
But the biggest problem is the
existing building stock.AMR provides
the solution to this problem and the
only realistic option for introducing
new smart meter technology into old
metered buildings. More articles from C+G Management Ltd: | 
