A parliamentary question regarding the power consumption of SmartPower meters in Western Australia, specifically when the power is turned off at the meter board, and the number of residential customers with these meters. The answer clarifies that meter power usage is not billed to customers.

AnsweredQoN 4939Legislative Assembly
Asked
24 March 2011
Portfolio
Energy

QuestionView source ↗

(1) Is the Minister aware that when a Synergy customer turns off the power at the meter board connected to a SmartPower meter, the meter continues to use power?
(2) Is the Minister aware that this power use is billed as consumption to the Synergy customer’s account?
(3) What is the amount of energy used to run a SmartPower meter when:
(a) the power is turned off at the meter board; and
(b) when power is running through the meter?
(4) How many Synergy residential customers have SmartPower meters installed, as at 1 March 2011?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
17 May 2011
Responded by
Minister representing the Minister for Energy
Response time
54 days
(1) If the main switch is turned off the smart meter will continue to use power to maintain its communications and internal metering functions, such as the clock time.
(2) No power consumed by the meter is added to the customer's electricity consumption. The measurement element only records the consumption used by the customer. The internal power used by the meter to operate is not recorded as consumption.
(3)(a - b)
The smart meter consumes approximately 1 kilowatt hour of energy every 19 days regardless of whether the power is turned on or off at the meter board. This usage is within applicable Australian Standards for allowable meter energy consumption.
(4) Total 9034 residential customers (single phase 5212, three phase 3822)
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