Thread: Understanding electricity digital meters...Hlp pls

Ok I feel like an idiot. I understood analog meters without a second thought but when it comes to digital meters with cycling displays I have no idea what the figures flashing up are relating to. Hope someone came help me out. I've included some pics of my meters/box setout.

The reason I'm interested is that the bills are higher than what my usage should be, especially given 3/4 of the household are overseas for the next year and have been for the last quarter. I would like to keep my own records to verify against official Energy Australia records.

Anyway hope someone can help me out...Apologies for the quality of some of the pics..

From the second pic, "nilsen 26frc" gives us...
https://www.energyaustralia.com.au/i...fs/CIA1228.pdf
Hope that helps somewhat

Check your bill mate I got "issued" a similar meter and now they charge
peak 2pm to 8pm weekdays at 25+ cents per KWH
Sholder weekdays 7am to 2 pm
8 pm to 10 pm
weekends 7 am to 10 pm at 8.9 cents per KWH

And any other time at 5.1 cents per KWH

Thank god for Morris & the labor government , but the questions remain "where does the money go" and " why sell off the power industry"

Originally Posted by ScottH

From the second pic, "nilsen 26frc" gives us...
https://www.energyaustralia.com.au/i...fs/CIA1228.pdf
Hope that helps somewhat

Thanks. I'll stand infront of the meter and see whether the readings make sense based on that document.

Any idea what the "white" meters are for?

I seem to have 3 different meters. The "nilson" seems to be taking care of the offpeak2 hotwater + something else while the other 2 meters are doing there own thing. Why we don't have one meter that measures peak/offpeak is beyond me. 3 different meters with one of them measuring offpeak and something else seems a little excessive. Might have to give them a call and see if they can decipher it unless there is a bright sparky who could give me some insight.

The Nilsen meter is a single phase meter that does normal and off peak tariffs for single phase only. They don't make a 3 phase meter that can do off peak (I don't know why).
The other 2 meters are single phase meters, one for each of the remaining phases.
Some supply authorities do it slightly differently. They have a 3 phase meter for normal tariff and a combined relay/meter for the off peak.

Originally Posted by NCArcher

The Nilsen meter is a single phase meter that does normal and off peak tariffs for single phase only. They don't make a 3 phase meter that can do off peak (I don't know why).
The other 2 meters are single phase meters, one for each of the remaining phases.
Some supply authorities do it slightly differently. They have a 3 phase meter for normal tariff and a combined relay/meter for the off peak.

Makes sense since the seller told me he put in 3 phase power. Thanks!

I pay for electricity at 3 different rates and have one of these meters plus a conventional analogue meter.

The rates are:

Off-peak (for the hot water).

Space heating (my utility charges a lower rate for hard wired heaters). This is a 24 hour rate and is not time of use or off-peak.

Light and power - everything that isn't the heater or hot water.

The old style analogue meter is for the light & power.

The electronic meter records consumption on the off-peak and space heating rates and also does the actual switching on and off of the off-peak (it's a timer not remote controlled switching).

The displays are as follows:

1. Today's date
2. The current time
3. (Not used)
4. Meter reading for the space heating rate
5. Meter reading for the off-peak rate
6. The on and off time settings for the off-peak switching

The meter constantly cycles through these displays without any buttons etc being pressed.