Metering Insights

What is a Voltage Swell Event?

A voltage swell is a surge (increase) of voltage above 110% of the rms magnitude in your power grid. The duration can be between ½ cycle and one minute....

What is a Voltage Dip Event?

Sometimes it's also referred to voltage sag (IEEE term). The meaning is the same. This article explains the power quality event logging inside of smart meters.

The First Breath Notification

The First Breath Push notification is sent to the head end system (HES) as soon as the meter is powered up.

The DLMS Push Message

A electronic energy meter with communication via DLMS can be configured to send Push messages. Usually a meter acts as a server.

The Last Gasp Outage Notification

Smart meters can generate a Push message in case of power fail. This event is called Last Gasp.

Practical Use of Load Profiles

Electronic energy meters can save internally a lot of data. When this data are saved periodically with time stamp, we talk about a load profile.

The TOU Tariff Structure

TOU stands for time of use. It's getting popular together with smart energy meters and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).

Energy Meters and Tariffs

Electronic energy meters are recording the actual power over a certain time. The microprocessor inside of these meters allows all kind of additional calculations.

Sealing of Energy Meters

Electrical Energy meters are sealed to detect possible manipulations. The utility field workers check the meter installations regular.

Sealing of Optical Ports

The optical port is for local communication with energy meters. With suitable software and an optical reading head you can access to the meter for reading and writing certain parameters.

Principle for Accuracy Testing of Energy Meters

Now meter testing is much more comfortable. Actually you only need to put the meters on the rack. For testing big quantities of meters a robot can also do the...

Basics of Energy Meter Accuracy Tests

In the past without any electronics a accuracy test was really challenging. You needed a voltage/current source with a high stability, calibrated wattmeters and a calibrated stop-watch.