Hi ‘allandorrington’
I fear you have a misconception regarding my post, as well as what meters are/are not available for solar installations on houses, even those such as mine that were completed ‘last year’. You can doubt all you want but despite what you say, just because a meter is not analogue does not make it smart. My Seiko watch from the 1970’s has digital numbers that look the same as the digital numbers on my watch from 2014 - however I can assure you that even though neither watch is analogue, I would not consider my Seiko watch a ‘smart’ watch
The only rule that was in place when my house was completed ‘last year’ was that the meter could not be analogue - it had to be a digital interval meter and it must be a net meter due to the solar. As such Essential Energy provided our sparky with a basic net interval meter - not what I consider to be a smart meter. In fact if our house was being built post December 2017 it is the retailer not the wholesaler who would be providing the meter as part of providing metering services through the new type of Registered Participant in the market - the “Metering Coordinator”. Anyone can become a Metering Coordinator as long as they satisfy registration requirements, but you’d have to ask AEMC what those requirements are. Retailers have to appoint this person for you unless you’ve appointed one yourself - you have the right to now.
A gross interval meter will send all your solar to the grid and a net interval meter will allow you to use your own solar and send the excess to the grid, apart from this gross and net meters are basically the same. An interval meter will measure your solar production and will measure the power you import from the grid, and will do this roughly every half hour. Interval meters allow you to access that information whichever way you choose - be that from the meter directly, a portal on your retailer’s/wholesaler’s website and coming soon to an app near you. Interval meters also give you access to billing options like TOU (Time Of Use) and single meter Controlled Load usage. Having 3 phase means that Controlled Load would be an option if I lived in an area where the wholesaler was not a Privateer lol. As it stands though having one phase dedicated to controlled load (or installing another meter) is not worth it financially. “Yarrrrr me hearties…we be giving you the power you need, but are ye willing to pay the price!” The difference between a basic digital interval meter and a smart digital interval meter is what happens next.
Whilst both types of interval meter allow you more choice when it comes to billing options, when you get access to that data is integral in you being able to save money. TOU billing is only worthwhile if you can make meaningful & timely changes to your power usage, which means getting information regularly to monitor what’s going on. Getting that every quarter (or longer) with a basic interval meter is close to useless for meaningful change. Having solar does not mean you automatically save money on your power, neither does having a battery. Having solar does mean that the power I use is a little greener than some, whether that be by using it myself or exporting it to offset the power I import.
To take full advantage of having solar and a battery I need a ‘smart’ meter. The interval meter that was installed when the house was built gathered the information, but that information could only be easily accessed every quarter - and only then if one of Essential’s readers could be bothered opening the meter box to actually read the meter lol. I’ve been seriously amazed how big a problem “Estimated” reads are in regional areas like Tamworth. I could understand it if you’re on a large property and the meter is hard to get to, but on a suburban street in a town as as large as Tamworth? Avast ye Essential me privateers - the meters here aren’t on the poop deck or crow’s nest ya know!
Having a ‘smart’ interval meter means that I can see the information on a web portal each day not every 3 months (or longer with “estimated” metering) as well as when I do my own meter checks. I use that information combined with the data I get from the app provided with my inverters, and data from both the app supplied with the Tesla and from logging in through the IP address when testing appliances. That means that my household can adjust usage often to better fit solar generation times which is the only real way to save money with solar. It also means that as the new energy market system is rolled out that we will have the option to sell our solar direct to other consumers at a fair price rather than the local privateer for peanuts.
A couple of quick notes to finish this epic lol. TOU billing is not an automatic saving for everyone - you should sit down and analyse when you use power to see if it’s suitable for you whether you have solar or not. It’s quite possible that if you’re a shift worker you could save a motza on your power with TOU billing.
Another point involves the installation of smart interval meters. If you live in an area that has poor communications network coverage (or where your meter will be installed has), then there is no real benefit between having a basic or smart interval meter for you - you will be relying on manual reads of your meter anyway. Just be sure if you have/are installing solar that it’s a net interval meter not a gross one so you can use your own power - the days of high FIT’s are over. Yes even for those of you locked into high FIT’s from the past the writing is on the wall lol.
TL:DR - Not all digital meters are Smart lol.