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"To find the exact answers, one must first ask the exact questions"
- S. Tobin Webster    
 
          METERING SOLUTIONS
  1. Why should Utilities / Boards use GENUS Electronic Meters (particularly in Indian Context)?
  2. Electronic Meters are more expensive than Electromechanical Meters, whereas both serve the same purpose. What is the logic behind it?
  3. Will installation of the Electronic Meters improve the cash flow of the utilities boards?
  4. What is kWh Meter?
  5. Can we refer GENUS meters as Solid State Electricity Meters ? What about Induction Meter?
  6. What is the life span of an Electricity Meter?
  7. Differentiate Single Phase, Polyphase and Three Phase Meters?
  8. What is Meter Constant?
  9. Why do you write "Static" in your meters?
  10. What is meant by Phantom Loads?
  11. What is a DSP?
  12. What is MRI?
  13. What are the benefits of using MRI?
 
1.Why should Utilities / Boards use GENUS Electronic Meters (particularly in Indian Context)?
 
The State Utilities / Boards understands the criticality of energy recording devices i.e, Electricity Meters and their relationship with cash inflows. As per the estimates almost 40 percent of the electricity generated in India is not accounted for. Of this, not more than 10 to 15 percent can be attributed to technical losses, the balance being lost in theft and pilferage. GENUS meters being tamper free prevents doctoring of meters thus saving much-needed revenue lost, due to pilferage.
 
2. Electronic Meters are more expensive than Electromechanical Meters, whereas both serve the same purpose. What is the logic behind it?
 
True, an Electronic Meter costs more than a traditional meter. But the higher cost evens out in the long run as Electronic meters have a long service life with high accuracy levels besides being tamper free.
 
3. Will installation of the Electronic Meters improve the cash flow of the utilities boards ?
 
Definitely. But installing Electronic Meters is merely the beginning. There is a need for firm policies, continuous monitoring and strict vigilance from the part of State Electricity Board/ Utility/ Private Distribution Utilities.
 
4. What is kWh Meter?
 

Any electrical utility, which provides electrical power to its consumers, expects to be fairly reimbursed for this service. To do this a device called an Electric Meter is deployed, that measures customer usage in kilowatt hours. The kWh meter, i.e., killowatthour meter must accurately measure voltage, current and power factor continuously over a period of time to arrive at killowatthours.

Killowatthours = Watts x Hours / 1000
 
5. Can we refer GENUS meters as Solid State Electricity Meters ? What about Induction Meter?
 
The Solid State Meter is a meter with no mechanical parts and uses electronic circuits to measure power. Hence GENUS meters can be referred as Solid State Meters. For the same reason GENUS meters are also called Electronic Meters.

Induction Meter is a mechanical meter with a disk, sometimes also referred as "Ferrous Meter". These are not Electronic Meters. GENUS meters are not of induction type.
 
6. What is the life span of an Electricity Meter?
 
The lifespan of the meter is determined by the meter's design and component selection. An Electricity Meter has to operate in a very hostile environment varying from extreme hot to very cold, dust and humid conditions. GENUS design takes care of various adversaries, it will be subjected to during the intended operation lifetime of the meter. Also components from only reputed manufacturer's are being used. This ensures a life of more than twenty years for these meters.
 
7. Differentiate Single Phase, Polyphase and Three Phase Meters?
 
Single Phase Meter An Electricity Meter consisting of one metering element and used to eter Single Phase services such as a residential service is known as Single Phase Meter.
Polyphase Meter An electricity meter used for polyphase service power measurement. It may have 2, 2 ½ or 3 metering elements either self-contained or transformer rated type.
Three Phase Meter A polyphase meter having 3 metering elements are referred as Three Phase meters
 
8. What is Meter Constant?
 
The meter constant is a value expressing the relation between the energy registered by the meter and the corresponding value of the test output. In GENUS meters, this value is expressed in terms of impulses per kilowatt-hour (imp kWh). Some meter manufacturers may refer it as Watt-hours per pulse (Wh/ imp).
 
9. Why do you write "Static" in your meters?
 
Because in our Meters, current and voltage act on solid state (electronic) elements to produce an output pulse frequency proportional to watt-hours.
 
10. What is meant by Phantom Loads?
 
During meter testing, it is easy to obtain the desired test voltage from the power line. However it is difficult to generate desired test current because different current values are required, depending upon the current rating of the meter under test.

A phantom load is used for this purpose. It basically consists of a special loading transformer that steps the line voltage to a lower value, which is then applied through loading resistors (different values for different currents) to the meter under test to produce current. This concept is used by the Meter manufacturers for both portable phantom load set ups and test benches.
 
11. What is a DSP?
 
DSPs (Digital Signal Processors) are processors whose hardware, software and instruction sets are optimized for high-speed numeric processing applications-an essential for processing digital data representing analog signals in real time.
 
12. What is MRI?
 
MRI (Meter Reading Instrument) is a data collector (computer or more precisely a hand held computer), to retrieve energy consumption related datas from the Electronic Meters using optical sensors. Generally the meter reader takes MRI to the customer site and connects it to the meter. Data is transferred from the meter to the MRI. The meter reader brings the MRI to the billing station. The data is downloaded into the main billing computer of the utility board.
 
13. What are the benefits of using MRI?
 

The benefits are :

  • The process of meter reading is fast.
  • Moreover these are accurate and provide no scope to the meter reader to alter the reading.
  • No time lag between reading the meter and billing, as no paperwork involved.
  • Can generate statistics of various consumption parameters/ patterns.
 
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