I thought smart meters were supposed to tell Hydro exactly where the outage was?

The smart meters indicate an outage, not the problem.

The meters did tell hydro where the outage located. Now the crew will patrol that circuit and find the source of the problem.

Not as smart as we figured they would be, are they?

Maybe a future generation will be able to help.

This site is a never ending source of amusement, from people who considers themselves an expert on everything.

Ruez is correct

“The smart meters indicate an outage, not the problem.”

I seem to recall that Hydro knew that there was an outage before the smart meters.
===========================

So, Ruez, in 7 easy points, describe to me how BC Hydro used to tell there was an outage and its boundaries before the smart meters and how the smart meters have improved that ability reporting ability.

The smart meters can actually narrow down the boundary of an outage. A fault on a circuit can cause a wide spread outage covering a large area. When the fault is repaired and the circuit reenergized the meters can be poled to see if there are any continuing outages.

In the past an outage on only part of a circuit in order to be detected depended on affected customers to phone in. With smart meters an outage can be detected right away.

1. Previously, hydro only knew of an outage when someone called it in. smart meters report it immediately
2. Extent of outage (prior to a crew arriving on site) could only be deduced from incoming calls from customers. All smart meters out of power report in so extent is known in near real time
3. In many cases a crew would have to patrol the line past the location of the outage to be sure there weren’t unreported outages beyond that. Smart meters help to provide this info now.
4. Smart meters report when power is restored. Previously, the crew would have to check for signs of restoration (ie. lights are on) and/or Hydro Call Centre would have to call customer to check.
5.Smart meters can ascertain whether a customer-reported outage is related to Hydro equipment or if it’s on the customer side of the meyer. Previously, this required a tech on site.
6. Smart meters can tell if an outage is related to tampering with the meter.
7. The more comprehensive outage info provided by smart meters assist crews to properly equip and staff for initial response rather than have them go out and check first and call back for manpower, equipment, etc.