Meter Readings

How Are My Meter Readings Taken? 

In 2015, T.I.P. Rural Electric Cooperative installed an advanced metering system. These meters work on a mesh system over a 900 MHz radio system. In other words, one meter will talk to a neighboring meter until it reaches a gatekeeper or collection device. This collection device will send the information by DSL or cellular internet connection to a web based cloud. We are able to get 15 minute information from the meters and we are able to bring all that information together so we can better inform the members of the amount of kilowatt hours they are using and when.

The dial will rotate between three registers.

1.    A reset screen of (888888) - Do not use as it is a reset mode.
2.    Hops to a collector (2R1857) - Tells T.I.P. how many hops the meter is taking to get to the collector
3.    Meter reading indicates how many kWh's used.

(Note: Many meters now have a multiplier which is located on the middle left side of the nameplate.  You will have to take the new reading, subtract the old reading, and then take that difference times the multiplier in order to find your actual kilowatt hour usage.  If your meter does not have a multiplier, subtract the reading on your meter from last month's meter reading to calculate your kilowatt hour usage.)

Repeaters

Repeaters

In areas that we have trouble with communication due to terrain or trees, we have installed repeaters. These repeaters are mounted on transformer poles throughout the territory to help with the communication paths.

Gatekeeper

Gatekeepers - Collectors

T.I.P. Rural Electric Cooperative has 10 collectors on the project which collect the meter reading data and upload it to the internet Cloud. These gatekeepers or collectors use DSL and Cell internet connections to upload the data. This data is downloaded into the SmartHub program.

Meter Usage Data on SmartHub

SmartHub is a program located on our website used by members to access their meter information. Smart Hub will show the daily or hourly usage on the meter as well as a line graph indicating the average temperature for the day. You can also check on the amount of your bill while in SmartHub and pay your bill online.