[ale] Monitoring Total Household Electricity Consumption

Tue Feb 9 21:02:34 EST 2016

Greg,

The TED5000 is a measuring device that you connect to your panels and
measures your power consumption on each feed.  Depending on where you can
install the CTs, you might need at least two (one per breaker panel).  The
box is a linux device and measures your power in 1-second increments.  I
have a cron job that I use to pull off the statistics of the per-second,
per-minute, per-hour, and per-day calculations.

You can also program the TED with your energy rate(s) and it will compute
your monthly bill..  For me it's usually within a few dollars of my actual
bill from GP.

For a while I had a script that would insert the data into a mysql
database and I had a RoR app to allow me to generate graphs and stuff.. I
did this when I was contemplating converting from my current standard rate
to a ToD metering and wanted to know if I would win or lose.   But the
data quickly outgrew my mysql; so I've just been collecting the raw CSV
data and figure one of these years I'll look it over again.

Just my longer $0.02 (now that I'm actually at a keyboard).

-derek

On Tue, February 9, 2016 7:28 pm, Greg Clifton wrote:
> Thanks for the responses, I'll take a look at those links after dinner.
>
> My understanding is that GP has converted every customer in the state to a
> smart meter. Mine was upgraded some years ago.
>
> More data on my situation, I'm total electric with 200 amp service (main
> breaker external to the house beside the meter box with 4 breakers tied
> together with a bar through the toggles) and 2 circuit breaker panels,
> supporting 3 heat pumps, Water Heater, Range and Dryer each on its own
> 240v
> circuit. I have programmable thermostats, but don't use the emergency heat
> strips unless it's really an emergency (getting close tonight ;-). Since I
> am not always home I cannot slip out and take a reading and "catch" the
> peak. I'll need an automatic logger, first to see what my peak usage is
> (since GP says they can't tell me) and to keep GP honest.
>
> As an aside, I am very impressed with how well the heat pumps function.
> They are Goodman units and have been chugging along for a bit over 10
> years
> now with very few service calls. When external temps are above about 40
> degrees F, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a gas
> furnace and the heat pump by the temperature of the air at the registers.
> Anything above that and the heat output is way more than adequate.
> However,
> below about 37 degrees outside and there isn't much heat to scavenge and
> below 30 degrees, forget about it! So I set my thermostats to super heat
> the house while warm out during the day and coast through the night.
>
> Jim, the rate is $6.53/kw for peak usage for a 30 minute period each
> month.
> The rate is fixed, but the usage can vary, supposedly to encourage you to
> level your personal load on the grid.  Sort of a supplemental base rate in
> addition to the $10 monthly base charge and associated junk fees/taxes.
> The
> rest of your bill for the month is at only 0.9754 cents/Kw off peak and
> 9.6052 cents/Kw peak ( 2p-7p, June-Sept). So potentially, one COULD save
> money on this rate plan, it would seem, but you are married to the rate
> plan for 12 months once you say "I do..." So I figured I should try to
> determine my peak usage before I commit.
>
> On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 6:18 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> That s sounds like the minimum bill will be for 30 minutes at their peak
>> rate no mater your usage.
>> On Feb 9, 2016 4:23 PM, "Greg Clifton" <gccfof5 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> GA Power has several rate plans available these days. The newest they
>>> are
>>> promoting is the so called "Smart Usage" rate plan. The off peak rates
>>> are
>>> even cheaper than the plug in electric vehicle plan, but the gotcha is
>>> that
>>> they charge $6.53/kWh for the peak 30 minutes of consumption  each
>>> month,
>>> both peak (June-Sept) and off peak.
>>>
>>> The GA Power web site allows me to monitor daily usage, but does not
>>> provide the 30 minute granularity necessary to calculate if this rate
>>> would
>>> save or cost me $. Which prompted this email to see if anybody on the
>>> list
>>> has a suggestion of an affordable device or Rpi project that could log
>>> my
>>> power consumption on a minute by minute basis.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance,
>>> Greg Clifton
>>>
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-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant