Electrical Engineering - Three Phase Meter Undereading

Author

Three Phase Meter Undereading

davidof

2006-06-23, 9:25 am

Hello,

I wonder if someone has any ideas about the following scenario. I bought
a house last year that had a three phase supply but was only using 1 of
the phases. This meant I only had 3KW available from my 9kw supply which
was inconvienient. I got the electric company to install a 6k monophase
meter and have noticed that I'm using, on an average month, 3 times as
much electricity as before.

I figure that the old meter was under reading but does anyone know
how/why this was?

The guy I bought the house from was a bit of a "dodgy geezer" so may
have done something himself with the supply. There was no obvious reason
for having 3 phase in the house.

regards,
David

TimPerry

2006-06-24, 3:25 am

davidof wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I wonder if someone has any ideas about the following scenario. I
> bought a house last year that had a three phase supply but was only
> using 1 of the phases. This meant I only had 3KW available from my
> 9kw supply which was inconvienient.

these numbers seem very small for typical home service

I got the electric company to
> install a 6k monophase meter and have noticed that I'm using, on an
> average month, 3 times as much electricity as before.
>

does your actual bill come to 3 times as much $ ?

> I figure that the old meter was under reading but does anyone know
> how/why this was?
>
> The guy I bought the house from was a bit of a "dodgy geezer" so may
> have done something himself with the supply. There was no obvious
> reason for having 3 phase in the house.
>
> regards,
> David

the calculation for consumed power of a 3 phase circuit is a bit tricky as
compared with single phase.

when reading the watt-hour meter make sure you know and use the correction
factor to obtain the true KWH used. the correction factor is usually on the
meter in some obscure location.

it is very strange to the point of improbable that you had 3 phase power to
a house and did NOT have a 3 phase panel. (or am i making a faulty
assumption?)

ehsjr

2006-06-24, 5:25 pm

davidof wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I wonder if someone has any ideas about the following scenario. I bought
> a house last year that had a three phase supply but was only using 1 of
> the phases. This meant I only had 3KW available from my 9kw supply which
> was inconvienient. I got the electric company to install a 6k monophase
> meter and have noticed that I'm using, on an average month, 3 times as
> much electricity as before.
>
> I figure that the old meter was under reading but does anyone know
> how/why this was?
>
> The guy I bought the house from was a bit of a "dodgy geezer" so may
> have done something himself with the supply. There was no obvious reason
> for having 3 phase in the house.
>
> regards,
> David

Your numbers do not make sense, at least here in the US.
Ed

davidof

2006-06-29, 9:26 am

ehsjr wrote:
> davidof wrote:
>
>
>
> Your numbers do not make sense, at least here in the US.
> Ed

Which ones? I live in France, here you get a certain supply level.
Before we had a 9KW 3 phase supply of which only one phase was in use
hence our 3KW total (we don't have stuff like Air-con in France). We now
have a 6KW monophase supply (the main circuit breaker trips if we go
over this). I noticed that for the same 6 month period the bill is about
3x as much but we have about the same consumption.

Hence I wondered if the previous owner had done something "clever" with
the meter.

Andrew Gabriel

2006-06-29, 9:26 am

In article <T6udnei6OdXuQgHZnZ2dnUVZ_v6dnZ2d@adelphia.com>,
"TimPerry" <timperry@noaspamadelphia.net> writes:
>
> it is very strange to the point of improbable that you had 3 phase power to
> a house and did NOT have a 3 phase panel. (or am i making a faulty
> assumption?)

It's quite common in UK small industrial units. You get 3 phases
to the meter board, but only one is connected up until you
actuallly need more than 24kVA or you need 3-phase for some
piece of machinary. In UK, 3-phase cabled to a house is less
common, unless it's large. You can ask for it though.

--
Andrew Gabriel

TimPerry

2006-06-29, 9:26 am

>
> Which ones? I live in France, here you get a certain supply level.
> Before we had a 9KW 3 phase supply of which only one phase was in use
> hence our 3KW total (we don't have stuff like Air-con in France). We
> now have a 6KW monophase supply (the main circuit breaker trips if we
> go over this). I noticed that for the same 6 month period the bill is
> about 3x as much but we have about the same consumption.
>
> Hence I wondered if the previous owner had done something "clever"
> with the meter.

perhaps you rates are different now? i.e. with 3 phase you were getting a
better commercial rate and now you pay residential.

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