Sejauh mana Kita meyakini Meter kWh TNB?

Dielectric strength (Ujian Minyak Transformer)

Beberapa kali saya mendapati bahawa bacaan meter kWh TNB tidak merekodkan penggunaan elektrik pengguna dengan tepat. Yang terakhir, di Kajang Height iaitu di rumah seorang kaya berbangsa Cina. Masalah beliau selesai setelah TNB menggantikan meter rumah beliau. Suka untuk saya berkongsi suatu artikel yang menceritakan perihal yang agak serupa di Amerika. Mungkin model dan pemegang lesennya berbeza namun ia adalah bukti bahawa masalah yang kita rasakan "jarang berlaku" adalah "biasa berlaku". Penyelesaian mudah, kenalilah orang kompeten di sekeliling anda. ;).

Low-wattage rebate(http://www.electricalcontractor.com/)

Posted By PAUL SCHLIESMANN, THE WHIG-STANDARD

The Kingston family feuding with Hydro One over high electricity bills -- including one that reached a whopping $985.15 for a single month -- has received a rebate of $63.93.

A letter from the publicly owned utility referred to the payment as a "gesture of good will."

"It's also kind of insulting," said Heather Wilkins. "I think if they were buying me off, it would be more than $63.93."

Wilkins and her husband, Dave, still suspect the smart meter that was installed on their house last spring gave inaccurate readings that led to their exorbitant bills.

The Wilkins say a recent energy audit performed at their home only confirms their suspicions.

On Nov. 16, two technicians arrived at the Wilkins' west-end home -- one an independent electrician, the other from Hydro One. They were there for nearly five hours, testing appliances and looking for potential sources of high energy consumption.

They apparently found none, though the Wilkins have yet to see the final reports.

Heather Wilkins said the Hydro technician kept asking her, "Are you sure you don't have electric heaters?"

They don't.

The men told Wilkins that the base load for their home is just under three kilowatt hours, mainly due to the refrigerator, freezer, furnace fan and, in summer, the pool pump.

Prior to the follow-up testing, Hydro One took a close look at the household consumption during August that led to the high bill.

They found several days when mysterious, large spikes in consumption were recorded at odd hours.

On Aug. 6, for example, from 11 a. m. to midnight, consumption was recorded at 44.5 kilowatt hours. During one hour, from 11 p. m. to midnight, the draw was nine kilowatt hours -- three times the base load -- even though no one was in the house at the time because the family was at their cottage.

Wilkins said the jump is remarkable.

"They haven't been able to figure anything out. They're not admitting there's a problem with their smart meter, but they're also aware something is fishy," she said.

"Something is not quite right. I still think there's something wrong with that smart meter."

About two weeks ago, Hydro One customer relations called the family to say that testing was going to continue at the house.

Hydro One spokeswoman Daniele Gauvin confirmed Friday that a data logger will be installed to monitor hour-by-hour energy use at the Wilkins' home, as well as a power cost monitor to show minute-by-minute wat -tage use.

"We want to work with the family," said Gauvin. "The meter's been tested. The investigation looked at some of the equipment in the home."

It remains the belief at Hydro One, she said, that "the current equipment in the home could have created the usage the Wilkins saw."

Heather Wilkins said she is grateful for Hydro One's efforts after months of getting nowhere with telephone customer service staff.

Yesterday, she received another surprise on her latest bill -- this one more pleasant.

"Our consumption is way down," she said. "We've gone from 82 kilowatt hours a day down to 40 kilowatt hours -- half of what we were consuming when we were not in the house. My bill is $172.

"Consumption is half of what it was in the summer. It doesn't make any sense. We haven't done anything different."

To date, Hydro One has installed more than one million smart meters around the pro - vince. Every home in Ontario is to be retrofitted in 2010 with the new digital meters that will send readings automatically to a centralized data repository.

The Wilkins live in the city's west end where Hydro One distributes electricity. The rest of Kingston's smart meters will be installed throughout 2010 by Utilities Kingston.

In California, customers with Pacific Gas and Electric have filed a class-action suit to find out why they have suddenly been receiving much higher bills than normal.

With four million smart meters installed across the state, last week the California Public Utility Commission put out a call for electrical contractors to conduct independent testing of the suspect appliances.

In California, consumers are already moving to time-of-use billing, which Ontarians will see sometime next year. Customers will be charged higher rates for electricity during peak use periods, mainly daytime on weekdays, which smart meters will be able to record.

Many consumers fear time-of-use billing alone will result in higher electricity bills because they won't be able to adapt their households to take advantage of off-peak times.