Caving Cottage electricity supply question

[Bob Mehew]

Of topic but for what its worth, the Grampian hut has split its electrical supply so most power comes via a ?1 coin meter system but the trace heating for water pipes and lights bypasses the meter.  It does however use a large calor gas tank supply for cooking as the electrical supply is limited.

 

[darwen dave]

If you mount it inside the electricity supplier will require (legally binding requirement) to eyeball the meter every 2 years.

Curious about this. I haven't had my meters read for at least five years.
They send me an email asking for meter readings, which I submit on their website, and that's it.
BTW I'm with BG for both.

 

[McMole]

And the GSG fridges and freezers bypass the coin meter as well. Guess we'll have to get a new one when the 12 sided pound coin comes along, or keep a stock of the old ones to sell at a premium. And the meter is on the wall outside in a plastic box, but well sheltered from the worst of the weather. 

 

[Les W]

The government has required the energy companies to fit smart meters in all properties within the next few years so I would expect the supply company to fit a smart meter as a matter of course.

http://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/smart-meters-explained/

As far as I am concerned the main feature of relevance is the ability for the meters to communicate with the supplier directly, so there is no need to read the meter any more. This would sort out your inside/outside issues.
The other "features" of a smart meter (the ability to see your energy usage, etc) can be ignored if you want to.

Your supply is going to be fed from overhead lines in a mountainous rural location so under those conditions I would definitely keep the generator as a back up. You are certain to have bad weather induced power failures, possibly with the power off for some time. In those circumstances a generator is not a luxury.
You will need a change over switch to merge the two supplies to the property, and the Supply company's meter will need to be on their cables, before any change over switch so i think it likely that the meter will be best at the Generator shed.

 

[bograt]

We are at the end of a three mile line from the nearest substation, a year or so back the suppliers decided that installing a smart meter would be more economic than sending out a meter reader. The smart meter detects the power usage by means of load on the line, this is how we are charged, we can always check their readings against our own, so far no problems.---!

 

[sluka]

What to make an independent system?

LiIon/LiPol accus for electricity from wind energy are not so expensive now. Vertical axis wind turbine + generator (200-500 W) are available  from China, you need regulator and convertor. Probably an accumulator for hot water too.

http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=64&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=2220&cHash=b55932dfebd049ab01c1d968670afc1e
http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=116
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/07/vertical-axis-wind-turbines-great-1890-also-rans-2014/
http://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-vertical-axis-wind-generator.html
http://www.sfenvironment.org/article/urban-wind/buying-a-small-wind-turbine-a-consumer-guide-and-faq
http://www.leturbines.com/products/le-v50-wind-turbine/

 

[Bob Mehew]

As far as I am concerned the main feature of relevance is the ability for the meters to communicate with the supplier directly, so there is no need to read the meter any more.

Clearly Les you live in a crime free world.    There is at least one reason for inspecting a meter, namely is there evidence of tampering to bypass the meter.  (I hasten to add I am only aware of that because a colleague rented a house and found the tampering had been left in place when he went to read the meter.)  And of course there is the usual safety argument - especial for gas meters.

 

[Les W]

As far as I am concerned the main feature of relevance is the ability for the meters to communicate with the supplier directly, so there is no need to read the meter any more.

Clearly Les you live in a crime free world.    There is at least one reason for inspecting a meter, namely is there evidence of tampering to bypass the meter.  (I hasten to add I am only aware of that because a colleague rented a house and found the tampering had been left in place when he went to read the meter.)  And of course there is the usual safety argument - especial for gas meters.

Meter fraud is very real but as was mentioned above by Darwen Dave, and alluded to by me as well, the supply companies don't inspect the meters now anyway, even when there is a legal requirement upon them to do so.

 

[Chris Crowley]

hi Peter -there is a stautory duty on the supply company to 'inspect' the  meter installation every 3 years so there will eventually come a time when you have to have someone there to let them in -they  will usually accept your readings for about 2 years - better to have it outside- how much is that going to cost ! chris