ZIMBABWE ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION

COMPANY

INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE

From : Donemore Torerwa At : METERING DEPT

To : Network Development Engineer At : N.R.O
Date : 09 MAY 2013 Ref: N/A
SUBJECT : REPORT FOR THE ATTACHMENT AT METERING DEPARTMENT.

Please find attached the Progress Report for D TORERWA for the period 01 April 2013
to 26 April 2013.

DONEMORE TORERWA

P.G.T ENGINEER
Cc: Human Resources Manager (N.R.O)
Engineering Manager (N.R.O)

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METERING DEPARTMENT REPORT

The Meter test section is one of the critical sections of the organisation. It deals with all
issues pertaining to metering and ensures that the organisation will not be deprived of
revenue collection. The section provides to the electricity industry through the following
activities.

1) WORKSHOP SUPPORT SERVICES

a) They are the owners of all meters.

-They have the specifications and are the ones who buy the meters.
b) Testing and verification of meters to meet the laid down standards.
c) Repair meters.
d) Calibration and adjustments of meters for proper operation.
e) Repair all instruments and test equipment from districts e.g Link sticks,
Voltmeters, ammeters e.t.c
f) Verification and testing of C.Ts, V.Ts and metering units.

2) FIELD SUPPORT SERVICES

a) Maximum Demand (M.D) Metering.

- This is for customers whose installed capacity is 300kVA and above.
- Installation and commissioning of M.D points.
- Maintenance of M.D meters.
- Consultation on M.D metering for some customers have their own local load
management systems.
N.B. A bill for an M.D metered customer comprises also of a penalty fee for poor
power factor (<0.95) as indicated by then formula below.

Penalty fee = 9((0.95/p.f) – 1) x Peak kWH.

In order to limit this cost customers get advice from the section.

b) Statistical metering
The section is responsible for installation, maintenance and commissioning of
statistical meters.
The main use of the meter is for planning purposes in which audits are supposed
to be carried to minimize losses (technical and non technical). This in turn
improves customer relations and facilitates the design of tariffs.

N.B. Lack of metering units is going to affect the planning section for priority is
given to metering customers so statistical meters are taken if the one used for
customer become faulty.

c) Site Tests
Upon request by customer or the authority based on suspicious readings the tests
are carried out. These are done to avoid either overcharging or undercharging the
customers being a result of meter either too fast or too slow.

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 d) Installed prepaid meters inspection.
This is done to check whether the contractors have done the job up to standards
and check if the meter is in the correct tariff (1,2 or 3) where 1 is for domestic, 2 is
for commercial and 3 is for ZESA staff electricity benefit. Also this is done to verify
the functionality of the meters that, can it accept new credit or can it switch off
when the credit is finished.

Components of a Metering system

In Out

Metering unit

Meter

A metering unit constitute instrument transformers (Voltage and Current transformers)

whose purpose is mainly to reduce line voltages or currents to levels compatible with the
meter.
Instrument transformers also provide isolation and protection to meters/relays against
short circuits (de-coupling).
Three phase meters (MD) are rated (standardized) at 1A or 5A, voltage coils at 110V or
230-380V rating hence VTs usually reduces line voltage to 110V with a class of ±5% to the
rated voltage.
CTs transform line currents to either 1A or 5A with a class of 0.1 to 0.5
Class entails the accuracy range of the device

In some cases a combination of CTs (in conjunction with main CTs) are used to either step
down/up currents to the rating of the meter (Interposing CTs) or to sum up different
currents from different feeders into a single meter i.e. Summation CTs.

Interposing CTs
These CTs are used to reduce the ratio of main CTs to a level required by the meter e.g.
from 5A to 1A or vice versa.

Summation CTs
Summation CTs are used when you want to meter multiple feeders, to provide a sum of
currents belonging to one belonging to one voltage level e.g. in statistical metering.

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CTs succumb to a number of errors, so regular maintenance and testing is needed, some
of the errors are due to the following:

(i) Current source- Most CTs show increased phase shift at low currents. If higher
accuracy is required, high precision current sensors must be used e.g. 5A secondary CTs
with ratings to 0.1% accuracy.

(ii) Stray pick up- Low primary current levels correspond to very low signal levels.

(iii) Sensor overload- Measurement errors can result from overload of input current
signal. If a current sensor is rated at N amps the instantaneous current level through the
sensor should not usually exceed 2(N) Amps.

(iv) Circulating DC- CTs lose accuracy if the measured current contains a significant D.C
component, such as that which might be created by a half rectified load.

PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN.
1) M.D METER PROGRAMMING

I was involved in programming some M.D points for Chegutu, Kadoma, Selous, Ngezi
Mine and Harare. Fully integrated support software is available to program or read
the meter via an optical port or RS232 port. The software is MS DOS/E-MAN
(Windows based). I worked with the Enermaxplus. For any installed capacity above or
equal to 300kVA, the electricity act allows ZESA to charge M.D based tariffs, keeping
the recorded data, indicating active and reactive energy data as well as measuring all
phases nominal voltages and currents. Power is then obtained from integration of V
and I over a period T i.e.

P= 1/T∫ (Vins* Iinst) dt.

V and I signals are periodically and simultaneously sampled and digitized yielding
numeric instantaneous V and I sample values.
The V and I sample value are squared and low pass filtered, the square root of these
values are presented as the real time rms values.
The instantaneous values of V and I are multiplied to yield a signed instantaneous power
product (Vins*Iins) which is filtered and the output periodically posted as the real time
value of power and is integrated into the KVA register, the rms values of V and I are
multiplied and presented as the real time KW integrated in the KWh register. The M.D
meter registers are divided into running or real time and cumulative registers. MD
registers can be programmed to record any of the 5 primary measurements. At the end of
each billing period the value of MD is added to its associated cumulative MD register. The
MD running register is then reset to zero, the date of MD is recorded, independent time
control of each register is available.

TOU(time of use ) registers can be configured to be active at the same time, TOU registers
have different readings depending on time of day ,this allows charging of different rate for
electricity use i.e. On Peak(rate1) , Standard(rate2) and Off peak(rate3) periods
energy consumed is recorded discretely in blocks of 30 minutes e

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The software functions are to communicate with the meter through:
- Downloading of profile and billing data.
- Transferring set up files into meter.
- Reading billing data.
- Reading profile data.
- Clearing of profile data.

Data to be programmed in the meter include:

Engineering data i.e.

(i) CT ,VT ratio,

(ii) Integrating periods (interval),
(iii) Pulse weight,
(iv) Pulses required for power usage.
(iv) Reset mode
(v) P start
(vi) Display options.

N.B. An M.D meter measures voltage, current, time and so can compute engineering items
like power factor, apparent and reactive power.

Meter (Customer) details

Ø Location
Ø Name of point etc

Tariff data
v Rate
v Time(season)
v Public holiday
v Defining the time slots for normal, peak and off peak periods.

2) INSTALLATION AND COMMISSIONING OF PREPAID METER.

I was involved in the installation of a prepaid meter in Harare. This type of meter accepts
tokens or cards that can be bought and topped up respectively just like the cellular phone
airtime top up. If the customer stops paying for electricity supply will be cut off by a relay
fitted to the meter. The biggest advantage of this meter is that you can budget for how
much electricity you use by paying for it before you use it and it reduces the authority
operation costs i.e disconnections and reconnections. After installation we conducted
tests to see if the relay operates when required.

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METERING CIRCUITS
Meter wiring - 3- Ф meters

2 elements (3 wire systems)

For 2 elements the Yellow phase is used as a return path but its magnitude is resolved on
to the Red and Blue phases.

Three phase 3 wire whole current

V/ coil

I coil

V/ coil

I coil

R R
Y Y
B B

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Three phase three wire with CTs

V/ coil

I coil

V/ coil

I coil

R CT R
Y Y
B CT
B

3 phase, 3 wire with CTs and VTs

V/ coil

I coil

V/ coil

VT I coil

R CT
R
Y Y
B CT B

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3 Element meters, 4 wire with CTs and VTs

V/ coil V/ coil

CT

I coil
V/ coil

VT
I coil

R
Y CT

B R
CT Y
CT B
N

3 Element meters, 4 wire with CTs

V/ coil V/ coil

I coil
I coil
V/ coil

I coil

R CT
Y R
B CT Y
N
CT B
N

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3 Element meters, 4 wire whole current systems

V/ coil V/ coil

CT
I coil
V/ coil

I coil

R
Y R
B Y
N B
N

3) REPAIR OF METERS

I repaired single phase and three phase electromechanical meters. Induction meters
mainly fail due to age, lightning strokes. In the repair process attention was given to the
following:

· Current coil continuity test.

· Voltage coil continuity test.
· Disc shape and alignment assessments.
· Cleaning meter parts i.e. cyclometer with benzene, magnet with maskim tape.
· Cyclometer registers operation.

THE PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF THE METERS.

Energy Meter- this is an electrical device used to measure rate of power consumption
(energy) through measurement of current and voltage. There are mainly three types of
meters used in the ZESA system for both three and single phase namely Electromecanical
(induction) type, digital type and microprocessor based type.

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(1) - Voltage coil - many turns of fine wire encased in plastic, connected in parallel with
load. (2) - Current coil - three turns of thick wire, connected in series with load. (3) -
Stator - concentrates and confines magnetic field. (4) - Aluminum rotor disc. (5) - rotor
brake magnets. (6) - spindle with worm gear. (7) - Display dials - note that the 1/10, 10
and 1000 dials rotate clockwise while the 1, 100 and 10000 dials rotate counter-
clockwise.

The meter operates by counting revolutions of an aluminium disc which is made to rotate
at a speed proportional to the power being consumed by a load. The number of
revolutions is thus proportional to the energy usage. It consumes a small amount of
power, typically around 2 watts.
The disc is acted upon by 2 coils; a voltage coil connected in parallel the load in such a
way that it produces a flux in proportion to the voltage and a current coil connected in
series with the load, which produces a magnetic flux proportional to the current.
The field of the voltage coil is delayed by 90º so that eddy currents are produced in the
disc. The effect is such that force is exerted in proportional to the product of
instantaneous voltage and current.
A permanent magnet exerts a force proportional to the speed of rotation of the disc, this
act as brakes which stops the disc from spinning when power is no longer being drawn.
The equilibrium of these two opposing forces results in the disc rotating at a speed
proportional to the power being used.
The disc is supported by a spindle which has a worm gear which drives the register. The
register is a series of dials which record the amount of energy consumed. The dials maybe
of a cyclometer type where for each dial a single digit is shown through the window in the
face of the meter.

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Digital meters measure the amount of energy consumed by counting the number of
pulses equivalent to a unit of energy e.g. KWh in addition to measuring power solid state
meters also record other parameters of the load e.g. MD, Kvar, p.f etc

After repair I then tested and calibrated the meters.

Energy meters are tested and calibrated according to the metrological standards laid
down by the statutory instrument (Electricity Act).
Under normal circumstances these calibration/tests should be done after a certain period
as outlined below

Meter type Yrs in operation

1-Ф Induction 10 yrs
3-Ф induction 6yrs
1-Ф digital 6yrs
3-Ф digital 3yrs

The higher the precision of the meter the shorter the calibration cycle. high precision
meters are used for special customers and are tested more frequently.
All MD meter are on a strictly maintenance program between 1-3yrs unless a fault
occurs and also depending on the size of the metering unit

Testing is done on analogue meters, digital (single/three phase), at three different loads.
Tests can be carried out in batches or as single port

· Full load at unit power factor.

· Full load at 0.5 Power Factor
· 1/20 full load at unit pf

Full load Test @ pf=1.0

Test carried out to ascertain the performance of the meter when full load current is being
drawn (although full load current for most meters is 80A tests are carried out at 40A
because of the capacity of the test benches) except the Universal Test bench (EDI
Universal).At full load the Brake magnet is used for course and fine adjustment of the
meter, it applies brakes on the rotor, thereby affecting its speed.

Full load Test @ 0.5 pf

. Whilst still at 40A the pf is adjusted to 0.5 and the performance of the meter observed.

Low load (1/20*full load),

A flux interceptor on the voltage coil is used to calibrate the meter.

EDI Universal Test System

The EDI system is computerized so as to achieve high levels of precision

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Standard procedure is to load the meters and carry out five distinct tests

Ø Hardware test-hardware circuit status, no short ccts

Ø Eye Test-alignment, pulse averaging No: etc
Ø Full Load Test- 80A at p.f 1.0
Ø 0.5 Power Factor – 80A @ 0.5 p.f
Ø Low Load.- 1/20th of full load current

If any meter is faulty it can easily be picked up by the software and necessary adjustments
are done on the meter depending on the test failed as highlighted earlier.

However only verification is done on digital meters, pre paid meters since no adjustments
are done hence meters which fall out of the specification are discarded. Test benches are
calibrated yearly to ensure consistent of the measuring instruments.

N.B For proper operation, the error should be within +/- 2%.

4) SITE TESTS

During my attachment, I was exposed to site tests. We used an S.M 3050 which is an
electronic meter which is connected in series with the meter in question. Inputs to the S.M
3050 are meter constant, frequency and number of revolutions to considered. The %
error is given by the formula below:

Error = ((Energy registered by the meter – True Energy) / True Energy) * 100.

Meter Constant – A constant relating the energy registered by the meter and the
corresponding number of revolutions of rotor, either in revolutions per kwh or watt
hours per revolution. For proper operation the error should be within +/- 3% in the field.

ENERMAX METER

This basically is an electronic electrical energy meter which can be used for the benefit of
both the consumer and the utility company. It have got features of load management i.e If
programmed can produce pulses which resemble the load. This information can now be
used to maintain load and even power factor to avoid higher M.D charges. I was involved
in the concretizing of different customers on their need to use power efficiently and avoid
huge bills as the advantage of the consumer, and the utility company.

ENERMAX PLUS METER (an upgraded enermax meter)

The Enermax Plus three phase Energy and Demand meter from Strike Technologies
measures four quadrants of power and energy, is fully user- configurable with large
memory capacity to retain significant amounts of data.
Two docking bays are available allowing users to customise the meters for their own
particular needs. The modules provide communication facilities via RS232, RS484, PSTN
or GSM, plus Input/Output ports to increase the standard meter`s onboard inputs and

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outputs when required. The Enermax plus can be reconfigured using a computer that is
linked to the meter and running the Enerman Plus software.

This new meter allows large amounts of data ( power factor variations, energy
consumption, voltage fluctuations etc) to be recorded and data from two years back can
be retrieved for analysis or for reference should be there any complaints from the
customer. The old Enermax has a much smaller memory and loses data that is over six
months old.

Wiring of Enermax plus meters

The meter is capable of measuring energy and demand in 3 or 4 wire systems, and should
be wired accordingly. Depending upon the voltage of the system and the rating of the
meter, voltage transformers may be required for the voltage inputs. Special attention
must paid to the difference between the meter`s ratings for Line-Neutral and Line- Line
voltages.
In all instances ensure that the CT selector switch is set to suit the nominal current
transformers used. Wiring of standard inputs and outputs should be carried out according
to their functions and system requirements.

Typical wiring diagrams for the meter are :

· 4 wire supply,direct voltage connection (fig 1.4)

· 3 wire supply, voltage connection via VT`s (fig 1.5)

· 4 wire supply, voltage connection via VT`s (fig 1.6)

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Fig 1.4 showing a 4 wire supply, direct voltage connection.

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Fig 1.5 showing a 3 wire supply, voltage connection via VT`s .

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Fig 1.6 showing a 4 wire supply, voltage connection via VT`s.

Communicating with the Meter

This can be achieved in a number of ways. The Enermax plus has the standard optical
communication window. The optical port is linked to a computer using an optical head
that is supplied separately. Using a suitable expansion module communication with a PC
or PLC can be achieved via any of the following:
· RS 232 serial interface

· RS 485 serial interface

· GSM network

· PSTN line

· Ethernet

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 OBSERVATIONS

1) The nature of work when dealing with most of the metering aspects depends on
electricity. The problem encountered were that people would travel to M.D points
and unfortunately could not read or even program the meters. This in turn would
increase some operation costs significantly as revisiting would be done. I
recommend that the section should buy its inverter that is fed from a 12V battery
(That of the vehicle) which converts to 110V a.c or 230V a.c.

2) MD reading should be done by technical people/ specially trained meter readers

this enable earlier detection of faults, tampering by simply scrolling up and down
the registers a lot can be deduced.

3) De-centralization of the section, I suppose each region should have metering staff
who will urgently attend to metering queries this mean less expenses to the
company in terms of accommodation, transport and revenue generation(as faults
will be attended timeously)

4) Due to increased vandalism, I suggest the use of electronic meters is an option

since electronic designs protect meter against tampering i.e no room for further
adjustments like what is done to electromechanical meters. Electronic meters also
benefit the utility industry because of their improved accuracy and lower power
consumption as compared to electromechanical meters. This enhances the energy
audits that are under way. In addition to measuring electricity used, solid state
meters can also record other parameters of the load and supply such as maximum
demand, power factor and reactive power used e.t.c. They can also include
electronic clock mechanisms to compute a value, rather than an an amount of
electricity consumed, with the pricing varying by the time of day, day of week, and
seasonally.

Acknowledgements

My attachment at the Metering Test Section was very enlightening as it gave me a greater
understanding of the utility’s metering system. Profound gratitude goes to Mr Chisina for
giving me a chance to be attached at the meter test section. The technical knowledge I
gained from Mr P. Mufiri, Mr Nyoka, Mr T. Tavaziva, Mr Gandanhamo, Mr E.
Mutambayashata , Mr Mushambi and Mr Mutamba, will go a long way in moulding my
carrier, I thank for them all for that.

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